There are NIHAC members who are concerned about corporate war profiteering. Please see info below. There is a national call in to let your senators and representative to know your view on these bills.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2004 9:34 AM
Subject: National Call-In: Support, War Profiteering
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EPIC Iraq Alert - 3/24/04 |
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In This Issue:
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Millions march in Global Day of Protest, EPIC begins Nationwide Speaking Tour |
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CALL TODAY! National Call-in Day against War Profiteering in Afghanistan and Iraq |
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A Closer Look at War Profiteering: $18.6 Billion On the Loose |
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Iraqis Express Hesitant Optimism About Their Future |
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Stop the President's June 30th Election-Year Plan for Iraq |
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Featured Links:
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Millions march in Global Day of Protest, EPIC begins Nationwide Speaking Tour
The one year anniversary of the Iraq War was marked by global protests on Saturday, March 20. Millions of people marched in cities across the world. Spain and Italy saw some of the largest protests. An estimated 1 million gathered in Rome, signaling potential trouble for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who, like recently defeated Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
More anniversaries will occur on April 9, one year after the fall of Baghdad, and on May 1, one year after President Bush announced an end to major combat operations under a banner declaring “Mission Accomplished.” The war has already claimed the lives of 10,000 Iraqis and 586 U.S. service members (447 since May 1).
To rally support for the people of Iraq and our soldiers during this time, EPIC Director Erik Gustafson and Iraq Peace Team veteran Ramzi Kysia are on national speaking tours. On Saturday, Ramzi addressed hundreds of protestors in Tallahassee while Erik rallied over a thousand in Houston under the shadow of Halliburton’s headquarters. Additional stops are planned for Minneapolis and cities across Wisconsin.
To bring EPIC's March 19-June 30 Speaking Tour to your hometown, call Ashianna at 202-543-6176 or visit the speaking tour website at:
CALL TODAY! National Call-in Day against War Profiteering in Afghanistan and Iraq
On Saturday, you rallied in the streets for Peace in Iraq. Now take that message to Congress! Today, March 24, has been set as a National Call-in Day to Support Peace, not War Profiteering in Iraq.
Call your elected representatives and urge them to support improved oversight and open bidding, an end to war profiteering, and the cancellation of all contracts that work against Iraqi self determination.
ASK YOUR SENATORS to cosponsor the War Profiteering Prevention Act, S. 1813 by Senator Leahy (D-VT). This bill would prohibit profiteering and fraud relating to military action, relief, and reconstruction efforts in Iraq , and for other purposes.
ASK YOUR REPRESENTATIVE to cosponsor the companion bill in the House, H. R. 3673 by Rep. Emanuel (D-IL).
And for the House, urge your Representative to also cosponsor H. Res. 494. Introduced by Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA), this bill would create a select committee to investigate and oversee the awarding and carrying out of contracts to conduct activities in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Contact your elected officials via the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121!
See below for additional talking points and more information on war profiteering.
To find your member of Congress, go to
A Closer Look at War Profiteering: $18.6 Billion On the Loose
Before the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration promised a short war and estimated low costs. But one year has passed since the start of the war and the costs keep rising. Last November, American taxpayers were asked to foot the bill and Congress gave the Bush administration $18.6 billion to cover the ongoing reconstruction of Iraq.
After decades of war, sanctions and tyranny, Iraq can clearly use a massive influx of funding to rebuild the country, but the Pentagon has been more willing to dole out multi-billion contracts to many companies with long-standing connections to the Bush administration, than to the Iraqi people.
Well-connected, U.S. corporations such as Halliburton and Bechtel, are making hundreds of millions of dollars in war profits despite growing stories of financial fraud, cost over-runs, and poor performance in Iraqi communities. Recent revelations about contract abuse and corruption raise important questions about the quality of government oversight in Iraq and whether the Bush Administration is adequately protecting the interests of American taxpayers.
The following are key recommendations for Congress and the Bush administration.
Improve oversight and open bidding. End all no-bid contracts and open-ended “cost-plus” multi-billion dollar contracts such as those awarded to Halliburton and Bechtel before the start of the war. All companies bidding for contracts should meet rigorous standards of accountability, and should be required to submit their history of compliance with the law for any contract bid.
End war profiteering. To stop the excesses of military contractors and the military itself, increased oversight of the rebuilding process is required. During previous U.S. wars Congress has used war oversight committees to investigate corruption and root out waste.
Cancel all contracts that work against Iraqi self-determination. Contracts that give U.S. companies the right to "privatize state-owned enterprises" should be cancelled or amended. Under the principle of self-determination, such decisions are best left to a sovereign Iraqi government once it is established. To help curb unemployment and increase Iraqi self-determination, the ban on awarding contracts to Iraqi state enterprises should be lifted; contracts should give preferential treatment to Iraqi companies and to contracts that include Iraqis as subcontractors.
Demand an end to the Pentagon’s control of Iraq reconstruction funds. Even after the CPA is replaced by the world’s largest U.S. embassy on June 30th, the Bush administration plans to keep the Pentagon in charge of postwar contracting. Yet the Pentagon’s control of Iraq reconstruction funds has led to billions of dollars of waste, obstructs economic and political rebuilding by Iraqis, and discourages the support and participation of the international community.
Click here to read more on war profiteering. This article on Bechtel, which ran in the Washington Post in February, is an example of U.S. firms being awarded contracts while capable Iraqis are left out in the cold.
Iraqis Express Hesitant Optimism About Their Future
According to an Oxford Research International poll, Iraqis are ambivalent about the U.S.-led invasion of their country, but not about its effect. Among a random national sample of 2,737 Iraqis, 48% feel the invasion was right while 39% opposed the invasion. Iraqis were almost evenly divided between feeling that Iraq had been liberated (42%) or humiliated (41%).
Yet despite misgivings on how the war began, Iraqis are optimistic about the future. 70% of those polled believe that there lives are "good" today and 71% thought life would improve in a year. Out of a list of issues that concern them the most, regaining public security was rated most important, followed by rebuilding the infrastructure and job creation. 68% trust the Iraqi police force, which has had a bumpy beginning.
When asked how long Coalition forces should remain in Iraq, most Iraqis polled said Coalition forces should remain until an Iraqi government is in place or until security is restored.
Overwhelmingly, Iraqis want the chance to participate in deciding the future of their country, and distrust the leadership that currently exists. Six out of ten Iraqis cannot name a single leader they trust. But on a list naming 40 Iraqi leaders, 10% of Iraqis stated that Ahmed Chalabi could not be trusted. According to the poll, Iraqis have less faith in Chalabi than they do in Saddam Hussein.
As far as their individual involvement in Iraq's government, 75% of Iraqis polled said they would never join a political party; 70% said they would never take political action such as demonstrating; and 82% said they would never use violence or force for political reasons.
Given a choice of three possible political systems, 49% of Iraqis prefer a democracy, 28% favor a strongman, and 21% prefer an Islamic state. EPIC believes the 49% preference for either a strongman or an Islamic state reflects concerns about instability and lack of security. With distrust for the U.S. and Iraqi Governing Council growing, some Iraqis are beginning to question whether a democratic state formed by the U.S. and its governing council can assure security, jobs, national unity or a role for Islam.
Even though there are drastic differences in opinion between Iraqi Arabs and Kurds about the war and their future, on average, 79% would like to see a unified Iraq with a strong central government in Baghdad. 14% wish to see autonomous regional states united by a federal government. Only 4% wish to see Iraq divided into separate states.
Stop the President's June 30th Election-Year Plan for Iraq
Looking forward, there is no date that is more important than June 30th.
Last week EPIC began a national mobilization to sound the alarm about June 30th and President Bush's election-year plan for Iraq. To learn more, use the Featured Links (to the left, above) to download our EPIC Alert about the June 30th plan.
For the next three months, join us in demanding that the U.S. step aside and allow the UN to work directly with Iraqis to facilitate a political process and constitutional framework that all Iraqis can agree upon and participate in. Help us stop the June 30th plan!
Become part of a growing solidarity movement for a safe and sovereign Iraq, where basic security is established and maintained by Iraqis, without the presence of foreign troops.
You can help by bringing EPIC's March 19-June 30 Speaking Tour to your hometown. Organize an “Iraq Culture Night." Or set up your own event. For more information and assistance, call Ashianna at 202-543-6176 or visit EPIC's website at:
Special thanks to Erik Leaver of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) for contributing to this alert.
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