The Iraq war is many things to different people. It is called a strategic blunder and a monstrous injustice and sometimes even a patriotic mission, much to the chagrin of rational human beings. For many big companies, however, the war is something far different: a lucrative cash-cow. The years-long, ongoing military effort has resurrected fears of the so-called “military-industrial complex.” Media pundits are outraged at private companies scooping up huge, no-questions-asked contracts to manufacture weapons, rebuild infrastructure, or anything else the government deems necessary to win (or plant its flag in Iraq). No matter what your stance on the war, it pays to know where your tax dollars are being spent.
Following is a detailed rundown of the 25 companies squeezing the most profit from this controversial conflict.
1. Halliburton
The first name that comes to everyone’s mind here is Halliburton. According to MSN Money, Halliburton’s KBR, Inc. division bilked government agencies to the tune of $17.2 billion in Iraq war-related revenue from 2003-2006 alone. This is estimated to comprise a whopping one-fifth of KBR’s total revenue for the 2006 fiscal year. The massive payoff is said to have financed the construction and maintenance of military bases, oil field repairs, and various infrastructure rebuilding projects across the war-torn nation. This is just the latest in a long string of military/KBR wartime partnerships, thanks in no small part to Dick Cheney’s former role with the parent company.
2. Veritas Capital Fund/DynCorp
At first blush, a private equity fund (and not, say, Exxon-Mobil) being the number 2 profiteer in the Iraq war might sound strange. However, the cleverly run fund has raked in $1.44 billion through its DynCorp subsidiary. The primary service DynCorp has provided to the war efforts is the training of new Iraqi police forces. Often described as a ‘state within a state‘, the sizable company is headed by Dwight M. Williams, former Chief Security Officer of the upstart U.S. Department of Homeland Security. With this and other close ties to defense agencies, Veritas Capital Fund and DynCorp are well-positioned to capitalize on Iraq even more.
3. Washington Group International
The Washington Group International has parlayed its expertise the repair, restore, and maintenance of high-output oil fields into $931 million in Iraq-related revenue from 2003-2006. The publicly traded 25,000 employee company’s other specialties include the building and maintenance of schools, military bases, and municipal utilities, such as watering systems. Some have complained that Washington Group’s hefty government payoffs have served primarily to raise its trading price on the New York Stock Exchange. One thing is for sure - with oil prices continuing to rise, there will be no shortage of demand for the oil protection services Washington Group International brings to bear.
4. Environmental Chemical
All war zones eventually becomes cluttered with spent ammunition and broken/abandoned weapons, creating a lucrative niche for any company willing to clean it all up. In Iraq, this duty has fallen into the hands of Environmental Chemical. The privately held Burlingame, California company has stockpiled $878 million by the end of fiscal 2006 for munitions disposal, calling upon its “decade of experience planning and conducting UXO removal, investigation, and certification activities.” The company has close ties to several defense agencies and is staffed by graduates of the U.S. Navy’s Explosive Ordinance Schools, as well as the U.S. Army’s Chemical Schools at Anniston.
5. Aegis
Aegis has done the United Kingdom proud after reeling in a contract to coordinate all of Iraq’s private security operations. The Pentagon contract is good for $430 million (incredibly lucrative by any standard) but it has landed Aegis in some hot public relations water. The company’s decision to contribute to Iraq war efforts has lead to a rejected membership application from the International Peace Operations Association. According to The Independent, the influential trade organization does not consider Aegis worthy of inclusion in the “peace and stability industry.” It remains to be seen whether Aegis will continue to be ostracized for participating in the training of Iraqi security forces.
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Check it out: A funny comic explaining the 2007-2008 Mortgage crisis.
W.
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DailyKos.com is *that* way, folks. Thought this was a biz blog.
Blackwater?
Disappointing to see you moving more and more to political statements in this blog.
Cool post, but I don’t think Fluor is based in Aliso Viejo.
Great information! I will immediately stop doing business with HSBC because of this. Thanks and keep up the good work.
You got your facts wrong. I work for Perini and we dont do envionmental cleanup. We are construction overhead covers to protect the troops from mortar and rocket attacks.
Poor research my friend.
Tim/Doug - this is a business blog, that’s why he gave a top 25 list of companies that were earning huge profits. Just because they were connected to the war doesn’t make this a political statement.
Wow, I thought Sure Dictator Bush himself would be at the top of the list!
JT
http://www.FireMe.To/udi
The next time an important oil producing country needs to be rebuilt we need to send in a group of high-minded people with no practical skills.
Why isn’t Blackwater on the list?
Just because it is an uncomfortable truth it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have its place here.
Is this the Daily KOS or the Huffington Post?
wow are you kidding me? i have news for you, people start a company to make money. i know this is a shock to you, and that most of you still live with your partents. but remeber you start a company to make money. you are liberal fools if you don’t understand this. some one has to make guns, trucks, machines of war. and they should be paid well for it.
I think the new Biz Pundit is starting to get its legs. Contrary to Tim’s comment, I congratulate you on taking on a topic that IS relevant but is avoided by many business news outlets for fear of rocking the conservative boat.
How the government spends billions of dollars is extremely important to business, and how it hands out huge contracts to large corporations is even more important to small business. The politically agnostic tone of the article is highlighted by one tidbit that I found particularly valuable - the Feinstein connection. I may be on the left of the isle, but I don’t blindly adhere to my party or its members when they do bad things.
As the article points out, it doesn’t matter what your views are on the war, it’s important for businesspeople to know these things. (Though I would suggest that businesses who are investing in Iraq with their own money with the intent of rebuilding the economy should be congratulated, as they are taking on a huge risk, as opposed to those who are there on the taxpayer’s dime and will leave as soon as their contract is up.)
While many companies folks have never heard of are profiting greatly from the war, it’s worth remembering that the biggest beneficiaries are the established defense contractors. L3 and General Dynamics are a couple examples, but don’t forget Lockheed Martin, Boeing, BAE Systems, Raytheon, SAIC, Pratt and Whitney, General Electric, Northrop Grumman, ITT, and the list goes on.
Those companies have a lot of contracts we can’t see. In some cases they’re working on technologies inspired by the situation in Iraq, but not yet in use. There’s a whole new office called Joint IED Defeat (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/02/06/president_requests_boost_for_ied_fund/) that is funneling hundreds of millions into these companies. And the war indirectly stuffs their coffers not only through the depletion of existing resources that they get to manufacture anew and sell to the government, but by fostering the cult(ure) of national security that ensures defense appropriations always remain robust.
The defense giants rarely make headlines, but they, and the military officers for whom they are a golden parachute (and the congressmen who rely on them to provide jobs in far-flung constituencies) are the most egregious war-profiteers. Haliburton is peanuts compared to some of those companies I listed.
Shameful that there are so many businesses profiting from dealing in death. I hope they can’t sleep well at night AND that some day they will get theirs.
What do chagrined rational human beings, to paraphrase from your second sentence, call the Iraq war? Just curious, because that didn’t sound particularly “politically agnostic.”
Our Armies exist for one reason and that is to protect and promote the business interests of American corporations. If our soldiers can volunteer their lives for this purpose then it would seem to me to be only right that the corporations whose interests are being protected should volunteer their profits as well. There is no reason why any business should EVER make a dime off of a war that is purported to be protecting our liberty and freedom.
Someone please explain to me, why is it that a soldiers life is expendable but corporate profits are not.
I mean, if the army is protecting our independence and autonomy and if we are in such grave danger from these supposedly evil forces and young men and women can volunteer their lives and their futures then why are corporations making money from their blood?
It just seems to me that it would be the height of patriotism and duty that GE and Westinghouse and Dupont and all the others members of the military industrial complex would stand firmly behind the lives of the soldiers and volunteer to make a much smaller sacrifice, their profit. Anything less, to me, is unconscionable, and these corporate bloodsuckers should be taken out and hanged for dereliction of their American duty and utter failure to value and honor the sacrifice of our volunteer forces.
The rational human being is far from “chagrined.”
This is simply business as usual, folks. The US has been a war profiteer for many straight decades now. War, empire, exploiting people and “their” resources around the world is what makes this country.
Left/Right, D/R, the only that matters to both of them is the bottom line. Don’t think for a second that Democrats will sacrifice profits for ethics. There is no morality in business, especially in business on this scale.
lockheed martin?
As an INDEPENDENDENT voter, a Former U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant, I live with my Wife of 56 years on Social Security ONLY, in a One Bedroom Senior Apartment, I an SICKENED by the waste I see above. As we used to say in The U.S. Marine Corps, when attempting to win an impossible argument, ” It is like urinating INTO the wind.”
PLEASE QUOTE THE LATTER. Anything further is as said, Urinating INTO the wind.
P.S. - I used to use enlisted prisoners, IN KOREA DURING THE WAR, to hammer the explosive out of bombs, Tetrolite explosive.
While you do mention income from government contracts, you fail to mention what percentage of company income comes from contracts related to the Iraq war.
CACI does less than 1% of its total business in interrogations in Iraq, and none of its employees have been indicted, nor were any in the abuse photos. Only 36 employees were Iraq interrogators, out of more than 12,000.
Control Risks has employees in more than 100 countries on five continents, and offers dozens of non-military services, including crisis management for businesses and employee screening.
Cummins had $7.9 billion dollars in revenue (before liabilities)… which means that the “huge” $45 million contract was 0.005% of their total business last year.
Profits mean nothing without a out of context. How about some Rate of Return figures, or total earnings data?
Shoddy economic reporting - you tried too hard to prove a political point here. Anyone with dial-up internet could prove that more than half the companies on this list don’t belong here.
What’s more important is who are the chairmans, primary investors, etc… And on and on…
Rarely, if ever, will it be found, a system in which every corporation and a White House along with a Senate and Congress so corrupt with out of control greed supported by the most incompetent ignorance ever displayed at one and the same time for the ostensible purpose of promoting total corruption, fraud, torture, dismemberment, murder and mayhem upon it’s own citizens. One of the sorriest and most despicable chapters in the history of America written, orchestrated, and perpetrated by the Republican party, Republican led Congress and Republican led Senate (12 years they ruled) led by the most corrupt Republican White House in the history of the United States of America
Bechtel, Kroll, Bluewater & blackwater.
How could you make a list like this and leave off Blackwater?
Good point on Blackwater but overall a good post. Add in Katrina related work and then lets see where things stack up.
Quite amusing to see the closed minded comments coming from people who can’t understand how this article is related to business. Don’t you know you can’t say “business” and “ethics” in the same sentence in the USA without ending up on a CIA list. I am happy that someone pointed out that in the US war has always been about profits…yes ever since the revolution when the businessmen revolted against the government. (the worst act of terrorism ever committed on U.S. soil)
Didn’t Bush start this whole war to line his business buddies pockets and give himself a nice retirement fund? Humans are a parasitic species by nature so making money out of the death and destruction of war is normal behaviour. Sad truth but truth none the less the truth. Every “conflict” in human history has fed profiteers.
As an American living in the UK we get a less censored version of information and the US is a laughing stock and will continue to be so as long as the Republicans are in power.
Article has too many flaws, poor investigation. Check here next time, you will be supprised how little you know:
http://www.defenselink.mil/contracts/
To say nothing of the oil companies now moving in to secure their interests/control of the oil - the granddaddy reason for the fiasco that has so bankrupted our people (present and future.) Funny how it barely gets a fleeting blip in the media.
To all those bashing this article for “their Iraq money doesn’t make up much of their overall revenue” reasons…
The article *never claimed* to be listing companies with the largest Iraq profits as a percentage of revenue. It was an article naming the companies who have made the most money there. $40 million is a huge amount of money whether it comprises a huge chunk of the overall pie or not.
Try judging the article on its stated purpose, not the one you’re trying to refit it for.
To Ron, et al.
It’s extraordinarily relevant how much money a company makes from the war as a percentage. Companies making 80-100% *could* be called profiteers - they’re dependent on it. Companies making 1% - regardless of how much the dollar figure is - barely have the Iraq market on their radar screens.
Someone here on *business* pundit ought to explain why profits are so wrong in the first place. Profits ensure a corporation (or individual’s) survival and are its razon d’entre).
I’m not questioning whether it makes sense to ever track which companies are profiting from war (or peace or our love of ice cream). What I object to is the smartass tone set by the very first sentence.
Most surely that made your buds in the dorm smile, but for me it renders everything that follows as suspect.
Thomas - no one for a second thinks profits are bad; bilking taxpayers is bad; poor fiscal management of foreign affairs is bad; the infamous $1,000 hammer is bad. Moreover, just because a company’s misdeeds only contribute marginally to its bottom line does not make it right. If a wealthy man steals $10,000, is he not guilty of theft because he has millions more in the bank?
This is not to suggest that all the companies on the list are thieving evil-doers. However, one cannot immunize them all from public scorn solely because their unsavory actions do not materially impact their balance sheet.
Tim - who is the smartass, the author who makes a presumptive statement that all rational people disagree with an endless war (when statistically this is likely true), or you, who makes a silly quip about the lack of education or experience of either the author or all people who disagree with you? THIS author graduated with his undergrad degree in business a LONG time ago, as well as a law degree, ran several successful start-ups, and currently enjoys a great law practice. I think I can comfortably assume to be your intellectual equal.
What? No Blackwater?
179 days till the end of the Bush administration!
I can’t offer an argument for or against the accuracy in minute detail or figures here or even in one case a correct representation of what the company’s business is. Also I didn’t try to divine the author’s agenda or intent however, it’s quite a tell how people are so offended by being reminded of the nation’s hand-in-glove-love-affair between our major corporations and the business of war.
I gather that many of the regulars here are unaware that at it’s core the U S has a Keynesian-military economy with military bases sprinkled liberally but with purpose, in practically every state - a gift to the proles from their representatives which soon became our addiction, fed by the ‘dealers’ of our corporations? I wonder how these people think USans gained control of all the land, water, oil, resources and inputs of business and industry. Obviously they learnned what they know about history in or before the fifth grade.
You think being reminded is offensive to you? Imagine how I feel!
I guess this website is all about business punditry. Of course that means telling only the truth to the nation and the world about the condition of American business. No cheerleading, no wishful thinking, just the facts!
Glad to see that some would have the reputation of American capitalism remain squeaky clean while striving for the highest ethics and ideals, as it always has been.
And what United States Senator has earned the most from his investments in defense contractors? Hint: He served in Viet Nam.
“Lawmakers’ investments in these contractors yielded them between $15.8 million and $62 million in income from 2004 through 2006, through dividends, capital gains, royalties and interest, the Center found. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), who are two of Congress’s wealthiest members, were among the lawmakers who earned the most income from these contractors between 2004 and 2006, with Sensenbrenner making at least $3.2 million and Kerry reaping at least $2.6 million.”
http://www.opensecrets.org/capital_eye/inside.php?ID=342
Does it occur to anyone that war profiteering means encouraging warfare in order to make money from making implements and services of war?
I think what most people fail to understand is that many of these companies have the MOST influencial lobbyist groups in existance today. So between the oil companies, weapons manuctacturer’s and nation rebuilder’s (haliburton), do you really wonder why we are constantly in a state of war in oil-based countries? Is it that hard to see?
They have TOO much influence over our foreign policy.
I don’t mind profiting at all, that’s the FOUNDATION of our economy. However, some of these companies have too much vested interest in perpetual war and have accumulated entirely too much influence to go with it.
BILDERBERG GROUP.
Check it out on Wikipedia
Ben Bernake attended their conference in Virginia earlier this year.
WHY WASN’T THIS IN THE NEWS?
Because the peons of the world DON’T NEED TO KNOW what the neocons are doing to our country/WORLD.
Interesting article. It will be enlightening to hear who got rich off the Oil for Food Scam that was going on between Saddam and his cohorts in the U.N. prior to the invasion of Iraq.
You do have an article in progress on that, don’t you?
Oh, and let’s not forget the war profiteers who raked in big bucks for Bill Clinton’s little excursion into Kosovo.
By the way, does the name Loral Aerospace mean anything to you?
Thanks for keeping your eye on the rascals and keep up the good work!
The Pentagon and the Military Industrial Complex in the US needs Wars to sustain itself.
All these companies are part of it.
They will never want PEACE because they then face extinction.
Jim says he ‘doesn’t mind profiteering,’ ?? I wonder, did he actually mean war profiteering or merely turning a profit.
That suggests how we have ‘evolved’ over the years - from the time when George Washington said a nation should NOT have a standing army because of the temptations of greed and profits. He considered profiteering by men who had a part in decision making regarding war, to be treason and I may be wrong but as I recall, he mentioned hanging! If we hung all of our treasonous war profiteers right now - we’d have…. A FRESH START!!
Many (a majority of?) Americans believe that democracy and capitalism are inextricably linked too! What a nation! God’s ‘chosen people’!
Anyway it explains how we all manage not to think of all those little Arab children, wounded, dismembered and burned by our weapons. Maybe we still think the Iraqis attacked us on 9-11 and those brown skinned babies are just the collateral damage of a ‘just war’??
Suppose we knew that there was a vicious criminal hiding out in an American neighborhood? How would we feel about the Police captain who just indiscriminately bombed the neighborhood? Now, tell me how that’s different than what we did ‘to rid Iraq of Sadaam’ or ‘to bring democracy to Iraq’?
Google General Smedley Butler…
So many people have quoted (mis-quoted) Eisenhower’s warning about the Military Industrial Complex, it would be good to hear ALL that he had to say about it. Not just what the neo-communist Left wants you to hear.
“A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.”
Furthermore…
” American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions.”
There is one group Eisenhower warned us about… but that warning has been nearly forgotten - in favor of the oft misued quote about the Military Industrial Complex…
” The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded.”
Of course, since the people who are constantly warning us about the EVILS of the Military Industrial Complex are part of the group Eisnehower warned us about in this last quote, is it any wonder that this last warning of Eisenhower has been nearly lost to memory?
Thanks, GEJ,
That clarification was important to the discussion AND would have been equally helpful without the name calling.
I presume that you have a ‘rule’ that one must never quote a part of any statement, paper, book or testament without quoting the entire thing? If so, you just broke your own rule quoting the parts that you thought at least, supported your point of view.
Are you suggesting somehow, that you don’t interpret that last sentence as a warning against the potential evils of such a military-industrial-complex and it’s involvement, it’s inveigling itself into all other aspects of our lives?
Now perhaps you’d like to edify us ‘neo-communists’ with a summary of our last 100 wars, what they were fought for and what exactly qualifies any of the last 100 as a ‘just war’ - a war of self defense?!?! OR maybe you’d prefer just the most recent 10?
C’mon, give it a go!
Well, since you’ve completely ignored my point about Eisenhower stating the need for the Military Industrial Complex, I feel no need to answer your non-sequitur about “just wars” (after all “War Profiteering can occur in “just wars” too).
Just how do you define profiteering? Just because a company that makes arms or provides services to the military makes a profit, is that “profiteering?”
And where is the “connection”? The Number 4 company on the list, which disposes of unexploded bombs is supposed to be an evil war profiteer because it hires graduates of the U.S. Explosive Ordinance Disposal School (or so the author implies)?
Well, call me old fashioned, but I don’t want some Liberal Arts Major from U.C. Berkley messing around with unexploded bombs!
“Jim says he ‘doesn’t mind profiteering,’ ?? I wonder, did he actually mean war profiteering or merely turning a profit.”
Fredo, I meant profiteering in general. The problem I have is that our congress is more influenced by corporate interests and that’s led us to create policies (both foreign and domestic) that are so far off from the constitution and bill of rights that’s it’s just downright scary.
“Now perhaps you’d like to edify us ‘neo-communists’ with a summary of our last 100 wars, what they were fought for and what exactly qualifies any of the last 100 as a ‘just war’ - a war of self defense?!?! OR maybe you’d prefer just the most recent 10?”
Just wanted to bring up a point here in that we have also developed a disturbing trend with these “pre-emptive” wars of late. We’ve opened a Pandora’s Box with that line
and creates a whole litany of issues, the least of which is how we determine the scale of threat and where do we draw the line? And the way congress has given up their powers of declaring war over and over again, it just depends on what the Executive Branch feels like doing based on the input they are given.
Sorry to get off topic…