How to Profit Off War: Iraq, Afghanistan and Big-Money Special Interests (2003)

• published: 18 Jan 2015
• views: 2

A war profiteer is any person or organization that profits from warfare or by selling weapons and other goods to parties at war. The term has strong, negative connotations. General profiteering may also occur in peace time. More recently, companies involved with supplying the coalition forces in the Iraq War, such as Bechtel, KBR, Blackwater and Halliburton, have come under fire for allegedly overcharging for their services.[3] The modern private military company is also offered as an example of sanctioned war profiteering.[4][5] On the opposing side, companies like Huawei Technologies, which upgraded Saddam's air-defense system between the two Gulf Wars, face such accusations. Groups that potentially profit from war, or the threat of war, are military contractors like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics, to name a few. These companies provide goods and services such as vehicles or weapons to a government for a profit. Lockheed Martin is one of the bigger contractors, generating nearly 8 billion dollars solely from its missile department.[8] Old military material has to be discarded due to age or is lost due to fighting and new and different military material is needed by the military to maintain strategic advantages over the military technologies of foreign nations which are hostile or are potentially hostile. Equipment that is not discarded outright is sometimes given to non-military branches of government. Through a military surplus program, US law enforcement agencies have acquired 165 MRAPs, military vehicles equipped with armor and turrets. Criticism of companies such as Halliburton in the context of the Iraq War draw heavily on the stereotype of the businessman profiteer. Slogans relating to 'blood for oil' have a similar implication. Steven Clemons, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation think tank, has accused former CIA Director James Woolsey of both profiting from and promoting the Iraq War. The Center for Public Integrity has reported that US Senator Dianne Feinstein and her husband, Richard Blum, are making millions of dollars from Iraq and Afghanistan contracts through his company, Tutor Perini Corporation. Feinstein voted for the resolution giving President George W. Bush the authority to invade Iraq. Indicted defense contractor Brent R. Wilkes was reported to be ecstatic when hearing that the United States was going to go to war with Iraq. “He and some of his top executives were really gung-ho about the war,” said a former employee. “Brent said this would create new opportunities for the company. He was really excited about doing business in the Middle East.” The War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2007 intended to create criminal penalties for war profiteers and others who exploit taxpayer-funded efforts in Iraq and elsewhere around the world. War profiteering cases are often brought under the Civil False Claims Act, which was enacted in 1863 to combat war profiteering during the Civil War. Major General Smedley Butler, USMC, criticized war profiteering of U.S companies during World War I in War Is a Racket. He wrote about how some companies and corporations increase their earnings and profits by up to 1700% and how many companies willingly sold equipment and supplies to the U.S that had no relevant use in the war effort. In the book, Butler stated that "It has been estimated by statisticians and economists and researchers that the war cost your Uncle Sam $52,000,000,000. Of this sum, $39,000,000,000 was expended in the actual war period. This expenditure Yielded $16,000,000,000 in profits." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_profiteering#In_the_United_States