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Ceaseless attacks on contractors and facilities have also increasing security demands, with up to 16 percent of all project costs now being spent on hiring armed guards, improving site protection and providing equipment like hardened vehicles and telecommunications systems.

An April report by the U.S. Government Accounting Office found that monitoring of civilian contractors in Iraq was so poor that there was no way to determine how many contractors are working on U.S.-related security and reconstruction projects in Iraq or how many have been killed.

The Jordanian businessman at the centre of claims that George Galloway secretly bought oil from Saddam Hussein has a major contract to sell US military technology in Iraq, The Independent reveals.

The information revolution has spawned a global industry of private intelligence services. Some members of the U.S. Congress have recently asked whether their activities should be regulated.

As much as 16 percent of the $21 billion reconstruction budget would be spent on providing security for its projects and workers -- roughly double the original estimate.

The International Advisory and Monitoring Board has repeatedly criticized the American government for its loose spending controls during the period it controlled Iraqi assets, from the invasion in early 2003 to the transfer of sovereignty last June.

The Indigenous Environmental Network, the International Indian Treaty Council and Greenaction issue this call to action to stop George W. Bush's plan to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Called "spineless," the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has held no hearings on whether civilian contractors in Iraq - particularly Halliburton, the company Vice President Cheney used to head - have mismanaged and overcharged the government by billions of dollars, much to the consternation of Senate Democrats.

A federal court decision that the False Claims Act applies, together with the Justice Department's supporting stance, will be widely seen as a green light to whistle-blowers.

Many Halliburton contractors leave Iraq with debilitating injuries and deep psychological scars. Then they return home only to find that the insurance they need to rebuild their lives is out of reach.

More than 4,000 translators work for San Diego, Calif.-based Titan, which supplies the U.S. military with Arabic- and Kurdish-speaking linguists. The company reported record revenues last month, but its death toll also is far higher than any other civilian contracting firm in Iraq, including those with many more workers.

It's not every day that you get invited to a meeting you're not allowed to attend. Halliburton called earlier this week to ask if I was coming to the company's annual meeting today at the Four Seasons. There was one catch: The company wasn't allowing outsiders in the meeting. That included the press.

More than 200 protesters flanked Halliburton Co.'s annual shareholders meeting Wednesday, adding drama to an otherwise perfunctory gathering to elect directors and retain auditors. Fifteen were arrested.

'Those knowledgeable with the cut-throat, multi-billion dollar global security contractors' business would not quickly dismiss the claims by Askar Security that it was asked by Kroll Associates and South African Coin Security to recruit thousands of Ugandans for security work in Iraq and elsewhere.'

Undeterred by the risks, up to 1,000 mostly young men marched, jogged and goose-stepped around a suburban park after a local company, Askar Security Services, said it had been hired by "international partners" to recruit Ugandans for work in Iraq and other countries.

Two years after Mr. Hussein's ouster, revelations about his alleged bribery system have developed into a full-force international financial scandal. The controversy involves both the nature of bribes and the zeal, or lack thereof, of the United Nations reaction.

The United States did not do enough to curb corruption by American companies involved in the United Nations' oil-for-food program in Iraq, say Democrats on a Senate committee investigating abuses in the program.

Time is running out. So much to be done. Enter the International Day of Action against ExxonMobil. Pressure Point, a Seattle-based nonprofit, is coordinating a Call to Action against Bush's biggest supporter and the worst of the "Greenhouse Gangsters" --ExxonMobil. The actions/ protests are scheduled for the 11th of July. This year, we'll be declaring our independence from corporations like ExxonMobil.

Oil-for-arms deals helped cement a relationship that would later enable little-known BayOil of Houston to emerge as the largest supplier of Iraqi crude to the U.S. market under the United Nation's oil-for-food program, Senate investigators say.

A report released last night by Democratic staff on a Senate investigations committee presents documentary evidence that the Bush administration was made aware of illegal oil sales and kickbacks paid to the Saddam Hussein regime but did nothing to stop them.