NEW WAR PROFITEER WEBSITE LAUNCHED ON ANNIVERSARY OF IRAQ INVASION
CorpWatch
March 19, 2004
corpwatch.org
warprofiteers.com
Oakland, Calif. - Exactly one year after the United States launched the dawn
invasion of Iraq, war profiteering by multinational companies is at an
all-time high with military contractors dramatically boosting revenues by
19% over 2002.
Today Corpwatch, an Oakland, California, based non-profit is launching a
brand new version of the popular War Profiteers website to track these
military contractors on a regular basis. The website, which can be found at
<http://www.warprofiteers.com>, is the one-stop shop for communities,
citizens, taxpayers, policy makers, media, students and activists to learn
about the new merchants of global conflict.
"Profiting from killing is wrong. What makes it even more outrageous is that
taxpayers have to foot the bill. We intend to investigate these abuses and
inform the public about what these companies are doing. This new website
will be the premier place for the pubic to find out what is happening behind
the scenes of the so-called war on terrorism," said Pratap Chatterjee,
program director at Corpwatch.
Today one in ten personnel in the 2003 invasion of Iraq come from private
industry, a dramatic ten-fold increase over the previous Gulf War in 1991.
Not only were most of these employees drawn from the biggest military
contractors in the United States: the company that won the most new work was
the company that the Vice-President Dick Cheney headed up before he took
office: Halliburton Corporation and its subsidiaries (e.g., Kellogg, Brown,
and Root) have won over $8 billion in contracts. Their military revenue in
2003 of $3.9 billion was a staggering 700% higher than the previous year!
The new website will feature weekly updates and regular investigative
features from our new military researcher, Adam Clay Thompson, based in
Washington DC. A special "Focus on Iraq" section will provide the latest
news about companies profiting from the continued occupation of that
country, continuing Corpwatch's award winning coverage of companies like
Halliburton and Bechtel.
In addition, it will have selected profiles of major war profiteers and
explanations of the main sectors: weapons making, security, intelligence,
military logistics, reconstruction, policy & planning, multilateral and
bilateral finance and the mineral extraction industry. The website will also
offer updated fact sheets, action items and a calendar of events.
The War Profiteers web site was originally created to distribute the popular
War Profiteer deck of cards, which has sold over 10,000 sets to date. This
deck will is available for a donation to the Ruckus Society, one of the
original creators of this popular game.
Corpwatch mission: CorpWatch counters corporate-led globalization through
education, network-building and activism. We work to foster democratic
control over corporations by building a diverse movement for human rights
and dignity, labor rights and environmental justice.
CONTACT:
Pratap Chatterjee
Tel: + 1 510 759 8970 (mobile phone)
Email: <pratap@corpwatch.org>
CorpWatch
1611 Telegraph Avenue., #702
Oakland, CA 94612 USA
Tel: + 1 510-271-8080
corpwatch.org
warprofiteers.com |
