Customer Reviews

Halliburton's Army: How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War

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"Halliburton's Army" provides detailed stories of corporate theft, bribery, and malfeasance that cry out for prosecutorial attention.

The author begins by relating the rapid growth of military privatization - from about 1% of those serving in the 1991 Operation Desert Storm to today's Operation enduring Freedom, where the number of contractors is about equal the number of military personnel.

The program was supposed to cut about 15% of military administrative staff and about $3 billion/year, as first proposed by Don Rumsfeld. The rationale made sense - a huge organization cannot be excellent in everything, and some military tasks such as feeding the troops, washing their clothes, providing messenger and mail service, and general logistics could likely be better provided by experts in those areas.

However, the program immediately fell victim to the same problem it was supposed to avoid - How can a single company, Halliburton, be expert in not only oil drilling but also large-scale logistics, feeding, etc.? In addition, the profit-incentive and pressures of wartime led to no-bid contracts and every form of skulduggery, penny-pinching and pressure known to keep the contracts and profits flowing.

"Halliburton's Army" begins citing how $5,000/day oil-well fire-fighters were brought in, despite the Kuwaiti's offering to do the job for free out of gratitude for Gulf War I and concern for their own environment. The situation rapidly deteriorated - potential whistle-blowers demoted or other wise threatened, overheads running 43-55%, overcharges for fuel - $2.64/gallon, vs. a local Iraqi source at .96/gallon (or even an internal Defense Dept. source at $1.32/gallon), splitting contracts to avoid bidding requirements associated with large dollar amounts, billing for hours not worked, ordering multiple items when just one was needed (cost-plus!), serving overpriced and sometimes outdated food to non-existent troops, failure to treat water with chlorine, using very-high-priced suppliers, electrocuting troops via improper electrical work, failing to pay required disability benefits to those injured on the job, etc.

Key Question: Were these just incidental occurrences, or pervasive? The multitude of sources clearly lean towards it having been pervasive.

Halliburton's Army by Pratap Chatterjee is so mind boggling that it jars the reader's brain as one attempts to assimilate the facts put forth.
There are scathing exposes' of those who had a hand in the daily running of this company. However, none match the abject evil of Richard Burton Cheney.

This is a book that shows what happens when companies are allowed to do as they choose without the benefit of checks and balances. There are no words to describe how poorly KBR/Halliburton have served this nation's troops- or have NOT served this nation's troops in their obsession to squeeze every nickel possible out of a no bid contract which they got The Evil One - Cheney to push thru early on in the Bush Administration.

Perhaps the most troubling of all events noted in this book is the documented mistreatment of KBR/Halliburton's employees, to include Americans, who got to Iraq to find out things were not as they were described as they hired on.

This is a troubling book, one that really makes a taxpayer wonder how did we allow these crooks to continually fleece America for many, many years!
The Pentagon did not stop them and interestingly enough, most of the whistleblowers are women!

For those who want a serious view of what has been happening to erode the image of America, this is a must read book!

I can relate thoroughly with many findings of this book, dating to Viet Nam and then having worked in Iraq for KBR/Haliburton. I talked with those construction guys back in Nam working on the base I was finally stationed at and then I lived the real deal in Iraq. Most of those guys were doing so many illegal things on the side ~ that would be hard to prove and then I was also privy to the "so-called" investagitors coming after-the-fact, and covering up and losing information. What a deal to live, see, and experience something that will live longer than muself.

Chatterjee quickly catches the reader's attention with a series of interesting snapshots of the people and services of Halliburton and its subsidiaries in Iraq in the Introduction and Chapter 1. Starting with Chapter 2, he gets into the history of Halliburton, and as the story unfolds, Chatterjee reveals the political connections - from both parties, starting with LBJ and going up to Cheney/Rumsfeld - that has enabled Halliburton to evolve and thrive over several decades. As the book progresses, he gets deeper into Halliburton's involvement in the `Global War on Terror' (Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Guantanamo, etc.) and effectively explains how this company, as the title says, "...revolutionized the way America makes war." Also covered in detail are the whistle-blowing, the resulting Congressional grilling, and the remarkable resiliency of this company despite the negative publicity, public outcry, and growing opposition to the Iraq war.

This book is objective because the author presents both sides of the military privatization issue: quotes from underpaid, uninsured contractors as well as from enthusiastic employees. You read criticism from media reports and high praise from military commanders. Readers can see both the pros and the cons of this new way of operating a war with soldiers doing military tasks, and outsourcing support services to the private sector. Chatterjee does a good job of presenting differing views and letting readers come to their own conclusions.

I learned a lot reading this book. Before, I had no idea how widespread the cancerous corruption is, or what LOGCAP meant. I knew Halliburton was awarded contracts in Iraq and had a history with Dick Cheney, but before reading this book I had no idea of the extent of Halliburton and its subsidiaries' involvement with military support services (too many aspects to list here), and the impact this has had on our military personnel. I was also surprised to see just how many Halliburton people had one foot in the US government and the other foot in Halliburton's corporate operations. The book remains true to its title: a tightly-focused and intelligent story about how Halliburton changed the way our country manages wars.

Wow! Everyone thought it was Cheney. Try Lyndon B. Johnson in the thirties. Very enlightening book. I don't know which is worse Soros' gangster left or the corporate, industrial military complex. The author should have titled this book, "The Raping of America." When will the American people finally wake up.Halliburton's Army: How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War

I was always curious about who and what Halliburton really is and how they were able to secure as many government contracts as they did. This book thoroughly answers these questions. As always, read with the knowledge that the author has a point of view. This is not to say that he is not accurate or at least reporting the facts as he knows them. Just keep an open mind.

Should I now sell my stock in KBR? While much of what was written doesn't surprise me, I have come to expect big business to cheat and bend the rules to their benefit, but:
If the stories about the way employees are treated is true, this is scary. Lack of medical, put into dangerous situations, Rape alligations, etc...The book was interesting and certainly puts some things into perspective. Much of what companies like this do is very important and valuable, but to what end?

The truth is out there - but not in this book. I, too, have read the book - as well as the comments below by "i-Palikar". (I also believe that I know who "i-Palikar" is.) I, too, was in USACE as a senior supervisor during the time these events took place. I, too, am mentioned in this book. And although there are many skeptics criticizing i-Palikar's remarks, from my former vantage point I would have to agree with most, though not all, of what i-Palikar wrote. To my knowledge, the author did not interview the vast majority of the senior people "characterized" in the book - and the author certainly did not interview me. I would also say that the author took much more than simple poetic license in presenting the facts. Some of the so-called facts as presented are too far from the truth for any real credibility.

I would also caution those anti-Bush/anti-war skeptics who have become ardent "conspiracy enthusiasts" concerning the US government to take such allegations with a very small grain of salt. The sheer number of people that were involved in these highly public issues makes it virtually impossible for any conspiracy to have existed. However, the Government contracting is now so complex, arcane, and convoluted, that it can be very easily presented in a convincingly specious light. The unvarnished truth would be very disturbing to most die-hard "conspiracy enthusiasts" in revealing how easy it is for the media too fool most of the people most of the time. I also would like to note the curious fact that certain people who were key activists on critical policies were never mentioned nor referenced by the author.

As one witness to this history, I refuse to believe that the author did any real investigative journalism at all. Rather, as a former insider, it is quite apparent that the author engaged in collecting one-sided, un-vetted information creating a story, not presenting facts - and deliberately skewing that story for the sake of capturing popular anti-Bush/anti-war convictions and sales. It is all easier than you may think - and it generally sells more books to the unwitting public. I can also assure you that the Justice Department (past and present) has investigated these issues with a microscope and found nothing of substance - because the vast majority of the allegations are simply trumped-up.

As for anonymity, many of us who were there to witness this history and are now happily retired still wrestle with the split emotions of presenting the truth, pointing out fallacies -versus- relinquishing our precious privacy. The truth is out there - but not in this book.

Nothing really new. Rather repetitive. Most people know how Halliburton has been ripping off the country for years

The truth is NOT in this book ! Halliburton's War is not only factually inaccurate - it displays a blatant disregard for the truth. And how do "I" know? I know because I am one of the figures in this book - and I was officially investigated as such. HOWEVER, unlike the FBI, the DOJ and the DCIS, the author never once bothered to interview me nor contact me in anyway. The author never once bothered to check the facts or get the context correct. The author never once bothered to be concerned about the truth. As a result the author never got the facts, the context or the truth anywhere near correct - and he simply didn't care to because fiction normally sells much better than the plain truth!
>>>>Don't get me wrong - EGREGIOUS MISTAKES WERE MADE and MALFEASANCE WAS COMMITTED ! But the truth is NOT in this book ! When you are as familiar with the facts, the context and the truth as well as I am - it is quite clear that the author simply rehashed a slew of older erroneous publications (e.g. Vanity Fair)with unsubstantiated rumors and fanciful poetic license. I don't blame the public for being upset about the falsehoods that the author paints - because he does a very good job of blending fiction with a little bit of fact. However, those who praise this book have simply chosen to be hoodwinked by everything and anything they read that is remotely aligned with their personal and political affinities. For just the way we don't have honest politicians - WE DON'T HAVE HONEST POLITICAL REPORTERS EITHER ! The truth is NOT in this book!