$1.9 billion in Iraqi money going to U.S. contractors

Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.

$1.9 billion in Iraqi money going to U.S. contractors

By Ariana Eunjung Cha
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Halliburton and other U.S. contractors are being paid at least $1.9 billion from Iraqi funds under an arrangement set by the U.S.-led occupation authority, according to a review of documents and interviews with government agencies, companies and auditors.
Most of the money is for two controversial deals that originally had been financed with money approved by the U.S. Congress but later shifted to Iraqi funds governed by fewer restrictions and less rigorous oversight.

Officials of the former Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) have said most of the contracts paid from Iraqi money — obtained from sales of Iraqi oil and frozen foreign accounts from Saddam Hussein's regime — went to Iraqi companies, for the benefit of the Iraqi people.

Through the first 14 months of the occupation, the CPA provided little detail about specific contracts and the identities of companies that won them, citing security concerns, so it has been impossible to know whether these promises were kept.

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They get these huge government contracts and don't have to hire any overpaid, prima-donna, unionized American workers. Just a bunch of Iraqi's who'll be happy to work for slave labor wages.