Without a strict definition, it’s impossible to objectively determine who might be the worst war profiteer in the Iraq war, and the broader “war on terror.” But there is no shortage of bad actors.
by Carlie Cray
Forty-five dollar cases of soda; $85,000 trucks, in need of minor repairs, torched and abandoned; tens of millions of dollars in gasoline surcharges; thousands of meals prepared but never served to the troops, while Third World nationals, paid a pittance by their subcontractors get fed spoiled leftovers; contaminated water served to the troops. These are among the many abuses committed by Halliburton/KBR and its subsidiaries in Iraq, brought to light by a relative handful of whistleblowers and government officials.
Halliburton has been the biggest contractor in Iraq, receiving some $20 billion from both its oil and troop logistics contracts, but it is not alone. The Iraq war is the most privatized war in U.S. history, and many corporations have gotten fat feeding off the public trough.
Stuart Brandes, author of Warhogs, a history of war profiteering in the United States, suggests that all wars introduce new meaning to the term “war profiteer.”
In the Revolutionary War, officers of the Continental Army were convicted of defrauding troops of their pay, embezzlement and misappropriating government property.
During the Civil War, stories about the adulteration of supplies made “shoddy” a dirty word, leading Congress to pass the Frauds Act of 1863 — the legacy of which survives in the False Claims Act.
Anticipating the country’s entry into World War I, Congress made the deliberate inflation of prices (“profiteering”) during wartime a crime. By then it was clear that war profiteering not only harmed taxpayers, but also undermined the military’s own mission.
During World War II, Senator Harry Truman held hundreds of hearings on the issue, saving taxpayers an estimated $15 billion (in 1940s dollars).
As Edwin Sutherland suggested in his 1948 book White Collar Crime, the first comprehensive look at corporate crime, industry regulations for most of the major war-related industries “were made chiefly by representatives of the large industries and in their favor.” The result was after-tax profits of 100 percent and higher in the steel, meat and chemicals sectors. Despite their considerable influence over war-time standards, many large corporations were charged with violating price regulations, restraint of trade in war-related materials and tax evasion, according to Sutherland. Some (such as RCA) were accused of treason for passing technological secrets (in this case, related to radar) to the enemy (the Department of Justice dropped the issue when the chief of the Signal Corps, who pushed for the prosecution, went on to work for RCA).
The historical record throughout these wars, and others, suggests that the definition of “war profiteering” is — perhaps out of necessity due to ever-evolving corporate perfidy — “disturbingly imprecise,” as Brandes puts it.