Search

Government officials assigned to oversee a contract with CACI used to provide civilian interrogators at Abu Ghraib prison all but abdicated their responsibility, leaving it to the private contractor to set terms for its work, according to a congressional report.

Federal record-keeping on the contracts was so poor that there were not enough data to determine how many contractors are working in Iraq or how many had been killed there, a GAO report said.

After reports of U.S. pressure, Philippines clarifies that call for Filipino workers employed by contractors to leave Iraq is only voluntary. "We are ready to implement mass repatriation if it becomes necessary, but the government is only undertaking voluntary repatriation of workers from Iraq" said Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Cotecna Inspection S.A., the Swiss company that monitored the shipment of humanitarian goods to Iraq under the oil-for-food program, has accused the committee investigating the program for the United Nations of making "false, misleading and malicious" statements.

The reputation of Custer Battles has been shattered by accusations first aired in lawsuits against it by DRC, the Alabama-based disaster services firm headed by globe-trotting former FBI agent Robert "Bob" Isakson. Now Custer Battles has filed a counterclaim -- sort of a lawsuit within a lawsuit -- accusing DRC of the similar activities, such as fraudulent billing, leveled by Isakson.

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.

The U.S. freezes the assets of 30 firms and four people linked to Russian Victor Bout.

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.

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.

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.

"You start to think 'it's not so bad here.'" A joke e-mail being circulated among contractors in Iraq.

Former Supply U.S. Army Sgt. Matt Novak and some of his buddies immediately went looking for their own windfall, and they found one: $200 million packed in 50 boxes of $100 bills. Before they knew it, soldiers were grabbing bundles of bills. The Army offered amnesty to any soldier who returned cash, but Novak says not all of the money found in Iraq was returned.

Tim Bell's family will get together to mark his second birthday since the Mobile man disappeared in Iraq on April 9, 2004 following an attack on a truck convoy for a Halliburton subsidiary. Bell's mother and children joined a lawsuit against Halliburton in Texas state court charging that Halliburton concealed the dangers of working in Iraq.