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NEW YORK -- Feb. 21 -- New data from the Department of Defense demonstrates that while the Pentagon's "Big Three" weapons contractors - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Grumman - continued to control the lion's share of military contract awards, the biggest winners in the race for new contracts were all companies that played a direct role in providing logistics, rebuilding services, or equipment for the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
In its new report, "DOLLAR SHIFT: The Iraq War and the Changing Face of Pentagon Contracting," the World Policy Institute documents the rapid rise of awards to Iraq rebuilding and logistics contractors like Halliburton, which saw its Pentagon awards more than double from $3.9 billion to $8 billion from FY 2003 to FY 2004, the most recent year for which full data is available; this represented a sixteen-fold increase from 2002, when Halliburton received just $500 million in Pentagon contracts.
Other major winners included Bechtel (up 91%) and Fluor (up 58%), both major players in Iraq reconstruction; the Renco Group, whose AM General division builds the Humvee armored vehicle (up 92%); AP Moller Gruppen, whose Maersk subsidiary ships cargo and tanks to the Persian Gulf for the U.S. military (up 167%); and Alliant Lake City ammunition, which operates an small arms ammunition facility for the U.S. Army (up 157%).
"We are seeing the beginnings of a 'guns versus occupation' tradeoff developing within the Pentagon," argues William D. Hartung, a co-author of the report. "If a major U.S. presence in Iraq drags on for years longer, it will put further pressure on the Pentagon to cut big ticket weapons systems in favor of immediate equipment and services needed to sustain the occupation."
The full report is online at http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/Top102005Report.html
To receive a hard copy e-mail Frida Berrigan at berrigaf@newschool.edu.
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