At the close of World War II, as the Marshall Plan was beginning its reconstruction of Western Europe, war profiteering was a hot button issue. A profiteer (as defined in the Merriman-Webster dictionary) is one who makes what is considered an unreasonable profit especially on the sale of essential goods during times of emergency. War profiteer’s do their profiteering in times of war and conflict, which is especially reprehensible as vital supplies are usually in short supply, with normal distribution channels severely disrupted if not outright destroyed. President Truman made an early name for himself as a crusader against war profiteering. He considered it treason, and I have to say I agree with him. Concern about the possibility of war profiteering during the implementation of the Marshall Plan was such that its funds were administered by an agency that was independent of the White House. General Marshall pledged that the Marshall Plan’s priorities would be determined by the people of Europe and not by American interests. And guess what? He made good on that pledge.

If only the Bush ‘Administration’ would do the same! They didn’t seem to think that it was a problem to almost assign a $600 million dollar contract to Halliburton to 'rebuild’ Iraq, in a process that was to be secret, and of course without competitive bids from other companies. Halliburton, you remember, is the company that made Dick Cheney rich, and continues to do so to the tune of $1 million a year. Halliburton also set up subsidiaries so they could do business with Iraq back in the 1980’s, when it was illegal for any US company to do so. Hmmm… that’s rather interesting. I wonder what our Vice President has to say about that? Cronyism (you know, rewarding one’s cronies when one can, preferably monetarily) runs rampant in the Bush Administration. I wonder… is Dick getting a kick back?

Kuwait was ready to go to re-establish cell phone service in Iraq. They have the infrastructure to do it and they’re right next door… seems like it would be common sense to go with Kuwait. But wait! I’m forgetting that Kuwait uses the European standard for cell phone networks. American companies aren’t going to make any money if the new system isn’t using the American standards & equipment! So instead the contract goes to MCI, a company that really doesn’t have such a great track record. For one thing they’ve never set up a cell phone network before, and for another, their management pulled off one of the biggest accounting frauds in modern business history. But we’re supposed to trust them with our tax dollars? Former Bush Administration officials have even set up shop in Iraq as “facilitators” to companies seeking to participate in the goldmine that is Iraq’s reconstruction. The facilitators help these companies find the right people so their bids will be successful. I can feel the greased palms from here.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Texas, George W. Bush’s Pentagon can’t be bothered to get the soldiers who are stuck in Iraq, and getting picked off like sitting ducks, the right kind of body armor: the kind that can stop rounds from AK-47 machine guns. One quarter (yes... that's 25%!!) of American soldiers don’t have this body armour when the most prevalent type of gun in Iraq is supposed to be the AK-47 machine gun. But that’s not surprising because these same American soldiers aren’t getting other essentials, like enough water. Why should they expect body armor? The privatization of the military’s logistical & supply delivery systems (something the military, the Army in particular, is actually quite good at) has resulted in American troops dying of heat stroke. It seems that the companies who now perform these functions, like Halliburton subsidiary Brown & Root, get antsy going into war zones. According to the Newhouse News Service, "U.S. troops in Iraq suffered through months of unnecessarily poor living conditions because some civilian contractors hired by the Army for logistics support failed to show up." Seems civilian contractors and the companies that insure them get so spooked by the very thought of going into a war zone that they don’t fulfill their contractual obligations. Imagine! Armies actually going into war zones! I wonder if these same companies that didn’t show up still got paid. Kind of reminds me of George W. Bush’s National Guard attendance record. The Financial Times reports that the dismal performance of contractors in Iraq has raised strong concerns about what would happen in a war against a serious opponent, like North Korea. And of course none of this takes into account the suffering of the people of Iraq. They need water and their basic needs met, too.

War profiteer: one who makes what is considered an unreasonable profit, especially on the sale of essential goods, during times of war.

by Anne Geever, Nov. 2003