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Notes from: Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers

Created: 2012-09-17 06:46  |  Updated: 2012-09-18 03:18
(from wikipedia) A 2006 documentary film made by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films about the ongoing Iraq War and the behavior of companies with no-bid contracts working in Iraq. 
Specifically, the film claims four major contractors - Blackwater, K.B.R.-Halliburton, CACI and Titan - are over-billing the U.S. government and doing substandard work while endangering the lives of American soldiers and private citizens. The documentary contends these companies are composed of ex-military and ex-government workers who unethically help their companies get and keep enormous contracts and milk the American taxpayer.
Halliburton contends the film is "yet another rehash of inaccurate, recycled information."[1] During filming, Greenwald had requested interviews with the contractors, but they turned him down.

  1. Begins with the interviews with the parents of the Blackwater security personnel who were killed in Fallujah
  2. Blackwater emerged profitable and unscathed after the incident
  3. Interview with ex-interrogator at Abu Ghraib, Anthony Lagouranis, language enthusiast who was reading the Bible in Greek, Latin and Hebrew who needed to repay his student loans.  Army promised to repay.  He got secret clearance and became an interrogator.
  4. Former Brigadier General of Abu Ghraib: Janis Karpinski.  
  5. Shareef Akeel, Civil Rights Attorney describing how his clients were tortured at Abu Ghraib and first revealed that there were civilian interrogators.
  6. Pratap Chatterjee, Executive Director Corpwatch explaining how CACI used it's loosely tied contract to the Army to supply civilian interrogators to the prison.
  7. Explanation of how there were so many unnecessary contractors in Iraq.  
  8. Food for Freedom, eat more so that you become overweight, get a health discharge and then return as a contractor making 6 times as much as before.
  9. Average Ahmed, term used for the taxi driver, the pizza deliver guy who was wrongly picked up, under the suspicion that they belonged to a terrorist organization.
  10. Titan is the company that provides the linguists throughout Iraq.  Some were terrible at it, had no training at all, or were not even translating, just interpreting their own thoughts.
  11. The US MPs were held accountable for their actions in Abu Ghraib, but the civilian contractors were never held by accountable.  Why?
  12. The two ringleaders who abused people at Abu Ghraib were able to return within weeks of their being sent home because they were not held accountable.
  13. Military contractors consist of retired military personnel.  This allows them to get these contracts.  Washington is an incestuous place.
  14. Titan/CACI becoming experts at buying political influence and power to secure their position as military contractors (profitability).
  15. Quote from Pope John Paul about greed not being motivation enough for sustainable entrepreneurship
  16. Radio Specialist explaining how he had to train the KBR gov't contractors in radio repair (literally walk them through it) and then later he was put on guard duty (stripped of the opportunity he thought the military would give him)