How A Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized The Way America Makes War"Pratap Chatterjee, Nation Books
“A sordid tale of politics and profiteering, courtesy of the Bush administration and a compliant military… A report that deserves many readers, about matters that deserve many indictments.”
–Kirkus
“Chatterjee keeps the pace of the narrative at a quick clip and nimbly marshals his extensive evidence to reveal—without sanctimony or stridency—Halliburton’s record of corruption, political manipulation and human rights abuses.”
–Publishers Weekly
–Publishers Weekly
On September 10, 2001, precisely one day before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told senior staff that the Pentagon was wasting $3 billion a year by not outsourcing many non-combat duties to the private sector. “At bases around the world, why do we pick up our own garbage and mop our own floors?” he asked. Soon after, this fortuitously-timed shift in the way the military wages war would bring immense profits to Texas-based military contractor Halliburton, an oil industry service company whose former CEO was Vice President Dick Cheney. Armed with lucrative no-bid contracts, Halliburton/KBR, its affiliates, and sub-contractors would soon provide most of the infrastructure that supports the war in Iraq. Ultimately, the company would face allegations of corruption, negligence, fraud, and corporate crime.
In HALLIBURTON’S ARMY: How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War (Nation Books; February 9, 2009; $26.95), muckraking journalist Pratap Chatterjee conducts a highly detailed investigation into Halliburton and its former subsidiary KBR’s activities in Kuwait and Iraq, uncovering much new information about its questionable practices and extraordinary profits. Becoming a Halliburton and a KBR shareholder in order to gain access to as much inside information as possible, Chatterjee also moved to Dubai, where the company recently relocated its headquarters. This Middle Eastern base also afforded him access to interviews with many Halliburton/KBR workers, subcontractors, suppliers, and military liaisons, including Texas engineers and Filipino day laborers, who each played a part in Halliburton’s enterprise.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Pratap Chatterjee is an award-winning investigative journalist and managing editor of Corpwatch. He is the author of Iraq Inc. He has hosted a weekly radio show on KPFA, was global environment editor for Inter Press Service and has written for the Financial Times, the Guardian and the Independent. Chatterjee has also appeared on the BBC World Service, CNN International, Democracy Now!, Fox and MSNBC. He is a shareholder of both Halliburton and KBR. He is the winner of a Lannan Cultural Freedom Award and lives in Washington, DC.
Pratap Chatterjee is an award-winning investigative journalist and managing editor of Corpwatch. He is the author of Iraq Inc. He has hosted a weekly radio show on KPFA, was global environment editor for Inter Press Service and has written for the Financial Times, the Guardian and the Independent. Chatterjee has also appeared on the BBC World Service, CNN International, Democracy Now!, Fox and MSNBC. He is a shareholder of both Halliburton and KBR. He is the winner of a Lannan Cultural Freedom Award and lives in Washington, DC.
