War & Disaster Profiteering

Pentagon officials now say the costs for stricter safeguards on price information, cost accountability and conflicts of interest will cost $25 million to $75 million just three weeks after Army said there would be no "significant costs" in restructuring the contract for the Future Combat System. Read More

Deficit-plagued Washington's checkbook remains open to military contractors and nearly all of Europe's leading defense firms are pressing for more U.S. military business. Read More

For now, the United States remains well positioned, at least when it comes to energy supplies. The proven reserves in the Middle East make it the expected primary global supplier of crude oil. Iraq, where the United States has forcefully established a beachhead, has proven oil reserves of between 78 and 112 billion barrels. Read More

The chief executive officer of BNP Paribas-North America acknowledged the bank had committed "avoidable errors" in handling some of the vast program's accounts, but said an extensive internal probe had uncovered no outright fraud related to questionable transfers. Read More

Science Applications International Corporation, one of the Pentagon's largest contractors, has agreed to pay the government $2.5 million to settle accusations that it illegally made a 30 percent profit on environmental cleanup work in Texas for the Air Force. Read More

In 2003, conquering Iraq looked like a great package deal, what with all that oil -- second only to Saudi Arabia -- and the manufactured photo ops of cheering Iraqis. This was a win-win, as the corporate guys like to say. Read More

Chalabi is taking over the ministry at a critical time. It must make decisions on which companies get preference for oil sales, which contracts are honored and which will be renegotiated. The ministry also faces frequent sabotage against its oil pipelines. Read More

Contractors are reaping rewards of a surge in defense spending from a little over $300 billion before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States to about $500 billion now. Read More

Rioting and threats of work stoppages at critical transportation hubs needed to rebuild the war-torn Iraq have erupted in recent months following payment disputes between contractors originally hired by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority and Iraqi officials skeptical of the billings and the CPA's handiwork. Read More

While Filipinos "play a crucial role in the allied effort to bring peace and democracy" to Iraq, U.S. officials recognize the the Philippines' concern in bringing its workers home, according to the U.S. embassy in Manila. Read More