‘Uncategorized’ Archives
Halliburton Edges to the $20 Billion Mark
Thank you my dear source in Iraq for sending me the new Halliburton Task order signed in May with a price tag of $4.9 billion. The Pentagon did it all very quietly, I suppose, because task orders are deemed sort of insignificant, even it it does bring Halliburton's total billings in the War on Terror to almost $20 billion. Still, it makes a niffty [...]
Iraq UN Envoy Says US Marines Murdered his Cousin
This sounds like a huge blunder, not to mention, atrocity. Then again, it may not be true. Maybe. Reuters reports July 2 that "Iraq's U.N. ambassador has accused U.S. Marines of shooting to death in cold blood his unarmed 21-year-old cousin in western Iraq and demanded an immediate investigation." The report continues: Ambassador Samir [...]
Victor Bout Gets the Boot?
Iraqi officials have whittled down the number of air frieght forwarders working in the country from 27 to seven, according to several sources. Among those told to consider Iraq as a "no fly zone" from now on is Russian arms trafficker Victor Bout, one source said. The Los Angeles Times reported Dec. 14, 2004, that Bout was then affiliated with [...]
Good Manners Pay off in Baghdad
There is a winnowing of security companies taking place among Iraqi officials who are deciding who's in and who's out, according to a former CPA guy who I spoke to recently (and a winnowing of other select industries as well, according to other sources). He credits it to survival of the polite. Security companies that were rude to local officials [...]
Halliburton Iraq Oil Deal Leads to Rumsfeld?
The Army Corps of Engineers' top contracting official delivered explosive testimonty today with claims that the controversial, no-bid $7-billion contract to restore Iraq's oil infrastructure was under control of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. We're talking about "every aspect" of the contract awarded to Houston-based Halliburton [...]
Private Security Contract Gone Sour
The genesis of the strike by Global Security that shut down Baghdad International Airport for two days likely can be found in a contract originally inked by the Coalition Provisional Authority. The idea was that it would be paid for by revenues from Iraqi oil revenues (the Development Fund for Iraq) under control of the CPA, but when that [...]
Iraq a Training Ground for Urban Terrorists
From the downfall of the Soviet Union to the notable absense of WMD in Iraq, the CIA has missed the mark on accurate assessments in the past, but this prognosis is truly scary: WASHINGTON, June 21 - A new classified assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency says Iraq may prove to be an even more effective training ground for Islamic extremists [...]
Fair and Balanced
There's a working theory that survival in modern corporate culture demands advanced skills in butt-kissing just as much as the usual skills normally advertised -- perhaps even more. Transfer that working theory to media conglomerates and it may explain the news gathering of many modern-day corporate journalists looking for the competitive edge [...]
Pentagon’s Insurance Problem
The Pentagon is shocked, just shocked, to discover that it is paying ten times the going rate for insurance on Iraq contracts. Once it gets over the taxpayer outrage, maybe the powers-that-be will get around to pressuring the same insurers -- especially AIG, the mother-of-all underwriters for contractors in Iraq, including Halliburton's KBR -- to [...]
Arrested Security Contractors Make News Around the Globe
More than 350 stories are run by newspapers and broadcast operations around the world following my story. Not bad. Not bad at all for a one-man band.
