Halliburton's Army: How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War - Tapa blanda

"A sordid tale of politics and profiteering, courtesy of the Bush administration and a compliant military... A report that deserves many readers, about many matters that deserve many indictments." -Kirkus 'In a calm and measured but insistent voice, Chatterjee charts the pattern of wrongdoing built into KBR from its origins in the late Thirties... If the dust finally does settle over Iraq, while moving onto Afghanistan, the new secretary of state may well find many more questions to ask about the company's conduct in recent years. President Obama's track record suggests that her boss too will be wanting some answers. Anyone reading this important book will be demanding answers too.'-The Telegraph"

Halliburton's Army is the first book to show, in shocking detail, how Halliburton really does business, in Iraq, and around the world. From its vital role as the logistical backbone of the U.S. occupation in Iraq-without Halliburton there could be no war or occupation-to its role in covering up gang-rape amongst its personnel in Baghdad, Halliburton's Army is a devastating bestiary of corporate malfeasance and political cronyism. Pratap Chatterjee-one of the world's leading authorities on corporate crime, fraud, and corruption-shows how Halliburton won and then lost its contracts in Iraq, what Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld did for it, and who the company paid off in the U.S. Congress. He brings us inside the Pentagon meetings, where Cheney and Rumsfeld made the decision to send Halliburton to Iraq-as well as many other hot-spots, including Somalia, Yugoslavia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, and, most recently, New Orleans. He travels to Dubai, where Halliburton has recently moved its headquarters, and exposes the company's freewheeling ways: executives leading the high life, bribes, graft, skimming, offshore subsidiaries, and the whole arsenal of fraud. Finally, Chatterjee reveals the human costs of the privatization of American military affairs, which is sustained almost entirely by low-paid unskilled Third World workers who work in incredibly dangerous conditions without any labor protection. Halliburton's Army is a hair-raising expose of one of the world's most lethal corporations, essential reading for anyone concerned about the nexus of private companies, government, and war.