Halliburton is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Have you ever heard of Nuor, Bechtel, or SYColeman? They are merely chunks off an icy flotilla of the government’s favored contractors.

Daily news reports are filled with hints of the abuse of taxpayer dollars. In Blood Money, Miller spells it out in sickening detail. The very people who the American public have entrusted to “take care of business” are doing just that, and lining their own pockets in the process. No project, or life, is too big next to pockets of green.

The Iraqi reconstruction process is plagued with poor planning, poor implementation, and misguided funding. Contractors are put in the line of fire in order to repair or rebuild infrastructure, and much of it falls apart after they leave due to the lack of training and/or necessary tools to keep it going. In some cases, the “reconstruction” efforts may have lasting negative effects on Iraqi citizens.

Especially alarming is the possibility that botched repairs of a water infusion plant by a highly-paid American contracting group may be contributing to permanent damage to Iraqi oil fields. In the desert, the lack of ground water affects the pressure needed to allow oil to seep up from the ground, and the infusion plant does just that: infuses water into the ground to increase that pressure. Making matters worse are the broken pipelines that cause oil backups at working wells, forcing well workers to pump it back into the ground.

Then there are the “expendable” third-world workers and blue-collar truck drivers brought in by some contractors to fill job orders - only to be mowed down by insurgent fire.

The examples of political and corporate abuse are so abundant that even reading a few chapters will enrage people who oppose the war and worry supporters. It is clear that the Iraqis need reconstruction help, but there needs to be more accountability.

T. Christian Miller is the kind of investigative reporter who promises to walk in the shoes of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. His tireless efforts and thorough sourcing are to be highly commended, as it takes a brave person to speak up against the powerful people he takes on in this book.

Future journalism—and ethics—classes will do well to add this sad chapter to their lessons.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
9/3/2006

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