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| Iraq |
| Iraq for Sale |
| 2006-10-14 |
| I'm just curious, have any Rantburgers heard about this movie? It seems to be causing quite a stir lately. I'm wondering what folks here think about it. Charles Lewis, the founder and executive director of the non-partisan Center for Public Integrity is one of the experts featured in the film. His team created the massive online resource Windfalls of War: U.S. Contractors in Afghanistan & Iraq. Here's what he had to say about war profiteering: Regardless of the war, the administration, or the various sophistries for expending human lives as a matter of government policy, profiteering from it universally offends all citizens, whether they are Republicans, Democrats, Independents, other parties or no shows. Most Americans, regardless of party or ideology, want to believe that any government “of the people, by the people and for the people,” as once put forth by Abraham Lincoln, necessarily must dispense the people’s business and money in a fair, honest and accessible way. As a “developed” democracy, for decades we have established extensive, government procurement processes to ostensibly ensure such full and open bidding for contracts. But of course the street reality is much worse. And unfortunately, despite political rhetoric and platitudes about “competitive bidding,” the indisputable fact is that in Iraq and Afghanistan and the entire, massive Defense budget, those companies winning the largest, most lucrative government contracts have been consistently among the most politically influential in Washington. They have expended millions of dollars to hire former Pentagon officials, to finance federal campaigns, to lobby the legislative processes. We are supposed to believe it is merely coincidental that the recidivist recipients of U.S. contracts, some of whom have committed fraud, price fixing or other abuses in the documented past, also just happen to be those who have most greased the skids in our nation’s capital. The Center for Public Integrity in Washington is the largest nonprofit investigative reporting organization in the world, publisher of 15 books and roughly 300 investigative reports since 1990, its work receiving three dozen national journalism awards. The Center won the George Polk Award for its October, 2003 online report, Windfalls of War (updated several times since), which posted all Defense and State Department contracts awarded for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, first revealing that Halliburton had received the most lucrative contracts of any company. The Center’s 2004 report, Outsourcing the Pentagon, won the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) award and profiled the 737 companies receiving at least $100 million in Defense contracts over a five-year period. No-bid contracts have accounted for more than 40 percent of Pentagon contracting since 1998, which amounts to some $362 billion in taxpayer money to companies without competitive bidding. This insider game will continue for the favored few as long as the public allows it, as long as Congress doesn’t investigate it, as long as the national news media doesn’t expose it. Only by discourse and illumination will the nation become engaged and enraged and awaken our various official or self-appointed watchdogs. Charles Lewis Founder, and for its first 15 years, the executive director of the Center for Public Integrity |
| Posted by:eltoroverde |
| #6 in addition: in a war zone, I would expect that the 10% (domestic) rule of thumb doesn't apply - too many risks - 20-30% would seem more in order |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-10-14 19:19 |
| #5 typical public works contracts assume 10% minimum profits for contractors, otherwise they won't bid your projects - too many bureaucratic headaches in reporting, EEO, etc.... This whiner's agenda is overriding his data |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-10-14 19:17 |
| #4 Thanks for the comments, anon. Sorry, meant to include a link to the trailer in original post. http://iraqforsale.org/trailer.php |
| Posted by: eltoroverde 2006-10-14 17:42 |
| #3 first revealing that Halliburton had received the most lucrative contracts of any company It's easy to fisk this stuff. Lucrative means to make large profits. Public companies do not publish their profit or loss on individual contracts for the very good reason they do not want their competitors to know. Therefore, the writer does not whether any given contract is lucrative or not (assuming it's not a cost plus contract, which almost by definition can't be lucrative, becuase the profit margin is fixed). Since the writer can not know whether any or all contracts are lucrative or not, to assert there is war profiteering is without foundation and ignoring he makes the claim without saying what consitutes excessive (profiteering means to make excessive profits). Haliburton's overall profitability and return on assets are both 12%. I can't be bothered to Google norms for comparable businesses but I doubt Haliburton is too far from the average. 12% is about right for a fee for service business. Twaddle peddled to the ignorant. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-10-14 17:42 |
| #2 oops should read: a non-partisan We knew it was a fraud when they listed all the journalism awards. You only get those for extreme bias. |
| Posted by: anon 2006-10-14 16:44 |
| #1 Shouldn't this sport a Master of the Obvious graphic? Gosh... whoda thunk it? Corporations that lobby the most in washington get the most lucrative contracts. first revealing that Halliburton had received the most lucrative contracts of any company I'm shocked! Shocked! I tell you to see a non-partisan company coming out right before an election to point out that Americans don't like war profiteering and that it names ONLY the boogy man Halliburton (controlled by the neocons and Cheney and pulls the puppet strings on Bush). Non-partisan means that you don't push partisan buttons to make a point where there is plenty of blame to go around. |
| Posted by: anon 2006-10-14 16:42 |