Iraq: American Deaths and Corporate Greed

By Don Hazen, AlterNet. Posted September 5, 2006.

Recently, while watching Robert Greenwald's new film, "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers," I began to grasp the enormous scope and implications of the corporate takeover of the war in Iraq. I asked myself, "Why isn't this a huge issue for Americans of all political stripe?" After all, making money off war, while American soldiers are dying, strikes many people as just plain wrong.

It's all in Greenwald's film: American tax dollars paying for the enormous profits enjoyed by a gaggle of well-connected companies that have revolving doors with the military and the U.S. government. Wars waged in our name creating ballooning CEO salaries, gigantic waste, and the loss of control of the role of the military. But the viewer is unprepared for the really shocking realization -- the lives of hardworking, patriotic Americans are sacrificed, stupidly and callously, and soldiers are put in unnecessary danger all to make a buck -- many, many bucks.

Today's lead story, "The 10 Most Brazen War Profiteers," by Charlie Cray (who appears in "Iraq For Sale"), is the newest installment in our ongoing coverage of war corruption. Cray writes: "From criminal mismanagement of Iraq's oil revenues to armed private security contractors operating with virtual impunity, this war has created opportunities for an appalling amount of corruption."

Sara Anderson's recent piece, "Blatantly Boasting War Profiteers," which documents profiteering business execs bragging about their windfalls to potential investors, appeared last Wednesday.

And on Thursday, staff writer Joshua Holland explores the implications of outsourcing torture, taking a close look at CACI, a corporation featured in Greenwald's film and in Cray's article. According to Susan Burke, an attorney hired by the Center for Constitutional Rights, CACI and another company Titan "engaged in a conspiracy to torture and abuse detainees, and did so to make more money. "

"Iraq for Sale" is having its San Francisco premiere on Sept. 13 at an event sponsored by AlterNet, Amnesty International, Working Assets, and Equality California. We hope to see you there. Click here here to preorder a copy of the DVD.

Don Hazen is the executive editor of AlterNet.

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