Pratap Chatterjee on “Halliburton’s Army: How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War”
Despite a storm of controversy involving allegations of bribery and wrongful death, the military contractor KBR has been awarded a new $35 million contract for electrical work in Iraq. We speak to award-winning investigative journalist Pratap Chatterjee, author of the new book Halliburton’s Army: How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War. [includes rush transcript]
AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. As the US government says that the troops will draw down over the next year, year and a half, in Iraq, what’s happening with Halliburton and, as you call it, Halliburton’s Army?
PRATAP CHATTERJEE: Well, the US military is completely dependent on Halliburton. Despite all the news that you read of, you know, soldiers being electrocuted, drivers being shot, the company continues to get contracts. And it’s because half the people in Iraq are contractors, and a large number of them are KBR employees. You know, they’re South Asian workers, they’re Indians, Pakistanis, they’re Southeast Asian Filipinos. They are Halliburton’s Army, and they make this military tick. They make this army—allow this army to march forward on its stomach. It’s because they feed that stomach.