War & Disaster Profiteering

Ronald Chavez reported to higher authority within the Halliburton chain of command the vulnerabilities at Baghdad Airport regarding to terrorist attacks, according to his father, Eli Chavez. Ronald further stated that higher authority was upset at his recommendations, his father said. Read More

 MARK COLVIN: War today isn't just about privates; it's also about privatisation.The use of private contractors on the battlefield has been a distinctive element of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.And today the Australian Government's defence think-tank weighed in with a study that says it's time to create a legal regime covering the use of "business on the battlefield".Graeme Dobell reports from Canberra.GRAEME DOBELL: Call it the "Coalition of the Billing". There's bucks to be made on the battlefield. Read More

A grieving family is suing Halliburton for the wrongful death of Tony Johnson, a truck driver killed while en route on the deadliest day the Iraq war has seen so far. Did the company knowingly place their workers in harm's way? The Johnsons -- and the flood of families waiting to file similar lawsuits -- say they did. Read More

Reports said that many security guards recruited from Fiji by Timoci Lolohea's Meridian Services Agency were still unemployed, two months after arriving in oil rich kingdom that borders war-torn Iraq. Read More

Halliburton officials are being investigated for taking millions of dollars in bribes while staying at a lavish seaside resort in Kuwait, in return for sub-contracts to supply the US military in Iraq. Jeff Alex Mazon is the first of these Halliburton managers to be indicted for corruption. Read More

In many cases, contractors charge twice for work done, a member of the Sadr City Advisory Council said. Schools cost about $10,000 to fix up, according to previous information from the Ministry of Education. That price tag can include paint, new tile and plumbing work. Read More

The commission investigating the United Nations oil-for-food program in Iraq cleared Secretary General Kofi Annan of exercising any influence in the awarding of a program contract to the company that employed his son. Read More

We allow our Navy brethren who serve with us to wear our uniforms because they share our sacrifices and our values. But civilian workers do not share those sacrifices. While they may share our values, they do not serve under an oath of fidelity in harm's way, but under a contract based on monetary gain. Read More

The administration's reluctance to prosecute has turned the Iraq occupation into a "free-fraud zone," says former CPA senior adviser Franklin Willis. After the fall of Baghdad, there was no Iraqi law because Saddam Hussein's regime was dead. But if no U.S. law applied either, then everything was permissible, says Willis. Read More

It is the use of U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund a TV show that encourages violent, extra-judicial revenge on people who have not been tried or convicted of any crime that stands in sharp contradiction of the Bush administration's claims to have successfully exported "democracy" to Iraq. Read More