Why Does War Have to be so
Damn Profitable for Insiders?

By Chuck Kelly OpEdNews.com Jun 17, 2003

     For the sake of argument, let's say the war in Iraq is a moral one and it needed to be done. Let's also say that it's worth the expense to the American taxpayer—even with the cuts in funding for American schools, health care, roads, police, firemen, cleaning up the environment, ad infinitum.

     But damn. It's not just the paranoid "biased liberal news media" that suggests that corporations and government insiders salivate at the prospects of war. Today's (June 16) front-page report in The Wall Street Journal is outrageous:

Rebuilding Iraq Proves to Be
A Gold Mine for Middlemen

Ex-Soldiers, Diplomats Open Doors
And Broker Deals in Chaotic Region

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—Mac McClelland did some quick math as he steered his Lincoln Navigator through chaotic Dubai traffic.

He'd just learned of a contract to supply food to 12,500 U.S. soldiers in Iraq. If he won it, he'd be a subcontractor to a subcontractor on a deal that originally went to Kellogg, Brown & Root, which provides support services to the military overseas.

"Twelve thousand five hundred mouths," he mused. "That's about 40,000 meals a day." He figured if he could clear 10 cents profit on each meal, he could make as much as $4,000 a day. "That's real money," he said to himself.

Rebuilding Iraq will take billions of dollars, and dozens of entrepreneurs such as Mr. McClelland are angling for a share of that money. These businesspeople—mostly retired military or diplomatic personnel who spent their careers in the Middle East—act as middlemen for hire. They do everything from rounding up local suppliers for construction projects to helping companies set up branch offices in the region.

Mr. McClelland, a retired Marine Corps major, figures he's got three dozen deals cooking right now related to Iraq reconstruction.... (and) ...describes himself as a "bit player" in the Iraq gold rush. But even for the bit players, there's the potential for big money. "If 10% of the projects come through, I'll have made enough to retire twice over," he says. A couple of big ones, such as the food contract, could make his year.

Middlemen and go-betweens with strong military contacts always appear wherever there's a war and wherever there's money to be made supplying the U.S. armed forces. What makes Iraq different is the size of the rebuilding effort the U.S. has taken on and the huge number of U.S. troops involved. The U.S. government is spending several billion dollars a month on troop support, fuel, equipment and, to a lesser extent, reconstruction.

Rather than bid out each individual project, the U.S. government has awarded large contracts to a handful of corporations, including Bechtel Group Inc.—which won a $680 million deal to coordinate the rebuilding effort—and Halliburton Corp.'s Kellogg, Brown & Root, which has taken in about $425 million of U.S. Army work, much of it related to supporting troops with food and housing in Iraq and the Gulf. Those big players then offer hundreds of subcontracts to other companies. Bechtel, for instance, is subcontracting about 90% of its work....

     Are these people doing things that need doing? Of course. Are they competent? Sure. Are their inside information and contacts useful to our country. Obviously.

     But for well-intentioned patriotic citizens, they're sure taking a huge cut out of our tax dollars for their services—and becoming a new class of American aristocracy in the process. And remember, there are layers upon layers of these subcontractors at the trough.

     And when the desirability of war is discussed, let's not pretend that there aren't highly motivated people who intend to profit handsomely when it happens. And if they do profit handsomely, (despite our government's supposed efforts to run the war economically, and without favoritism), let's not reward them additionally with huge tax breaks—while we cut funding for impoverished children at home.

Chuck Kelly is at http://www.KellySite.net. He holds a Ph.D. in industrial communications from Purdue University, is now a retired management consultant, and author of the books, THE DESTRUCTIVE ACHEIVER, THE GREAT LIMBAUGH CON, and CLASS WAR IN AMERICA. This article is originally published at opednews.com. Copyright Chuck Kelly, but permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media so long as this credit is attached