H -°, L 55° | Tomorrow: 
H 85°, L 67°When Kelly Dougherty was deployed to Iraq in 2003, her unit was assigned to escort truck convoys, usually from Kellogg Brown and Root Inc., then a subsidiary of the Halliburton Company. Dougherty remembers one incident when her unit was guarding a broken-down truck containing produce and a crowd of destitute Iraqis assembled and begged for food. After Halliburton told them to destroy the truck, Dougherty and other soldiers asked if they could distribute the food first, but were refused because it would be "too hectic."
"We sat there and burned produce in front of people struggling to get by, living not only under an occupation, but without jobs, without healthcare," Dougherty said.
To most people, this is wanton cruelty. However, under Halliburton's "cost-plus" contract, they made a profit by charging the cost of that truck, the produce, plus an extra percentage, to taxpayers. With Halliburton recruiting at a University of Wisconsin job fair, the Campus Antiwar Network is rallying tomorrow at noon in front of Bascom Hall. We will march to the job fair and demand Halliburton leave our campus.
At the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, Halliburton was first to reap the profits. In 2002, months before the war began, President Bush told reporters, "Of course, I haven’t made up my mind we’re going to war with Iraq." However, according to the Wall Street Journal, Halliburton met with Vice President Dick Cheney weeks later to discuss rebuilding Iraq's oil industry. In January 2004, KBR received a $1.2 billion contract to rebuild the oil industry in southern Iraq, adding to its 2001 contract to provide logistics. Like most contracts in Iraq, the deal is cost-plus, meaning KBR charges the government for any expenses, plus an additional percentage as profit. The more KBR spends, the more money it makes — regardless of its performance.
That performance has been abysmal. In January 2005, the Associated Press published internal KBR documents revealing it had served soldiers water contaminated with fecal matter. According to one document, "The level of contamination was roughly 2x the normal contamination of untreated water from the Euphrates River."
Because KBR charges for each cargo truck it deploys — instead of the amount of cargo delivered — the company makes money by regularly sending empty trucks though dangerous territory. According to Knight Ridder, KBR truckers dubbed their cargo "sailboat fuel."
KBR has been reckless with its employees' lives, and some have been killed. In April 2004, a KBR truck convoy was ambushed outside Baghdad on a road the Army knew was under insurgent control. Seven KBR drivers were killed. One of the survivors, Edward Sanchez, said, "At orientation, I was told that only one KBR/Halliburton employee had been killed in Iraq and that it was his own fault. … I was told that we would not be sent into battles or areas of known attack. Unfortunately, KBR/Halliburton broke that promise."
Halliburton's record reveals its motives are not to provide for the troops, but to guarantee greenbacks in its pocketbooks. Its drive for profits has jeopardized the health and safety of Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers.
Not only is it shameful that UW would allow such a loathsome corporation to woo its students, but it is a humiliation to the profession of engineering. Our School of Engineering teaches the National Society of Professional Engineers code of ethics: "Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public. … Avoid deceptive acts. … Conduct yourself honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully." Halliburton is a malevolent doppelganger of the profession.
Bush and his corporate toadies have made clear their contempt for Iraqis and U.S. soldiers, but the war economy has also swindled students. While Bush funnels billions of dollars into obliterating Iraq, student debt is higher than ever, and we have fewer job options. According to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, two-thirds of our generation will have a lower standard of living than our parents. Although some argue that demonstrating at a student job fair will exacerbate those students' troubles, we believe our generation needs a movement to change our society's priorities. We can begin by demanding less money for Halliburton and more for education.
When Kelly Dougherty returned from Iraq in 2004, she and six other vets founded Iraq Veterans Against the War, which today has twenty chapters across the country. "Our lives were really not important when compared to corporate profit and the U.S. gaining dominance in the region," she said. Just as veterans are organizing against the war and for their rights, students also need a movement to reclaim their future. Protest with us tomorrow. Our lives are worth more than their profits.
IP hash: 95906b31
Really instead of a story concerning the evil profit off the war company of Halliburton, couldn’t CAN just take out an advertisement for their “Protest” instead.
Wow a company goes to a war zone to make a profit, who would’ve thought companies would be in a “profit” making business? Maybe if the students involved in CAN spent as much time in their economics 101 class instead of protesting such glaringly obvious economic practices would not seem to totally befuddle them.
IP hash: 95906b31
One has to wonder just how much “CAN” has profited from this war as well. I mean afterall who really heard of them before the Iraqi War? Now we see their membership go up, those working for them probably get a little something in the form of a paycheck, and stories like this give them free advertising.
It would seem Halliburton is not the only “organization” profiting off the backs of our Soldiers now would it???
IP hash: 6a90dfda
Halliburton is now separated from KBR and has no presence in Iraq or any contracts with the military. A protest against a company that has nothing to do with the war seems a bit misguided. Halliburton is an oil field service company with an outstanding safety record in a very dangerous industry. Perhaps some fact checking instead of rhetoric would help your cause.
IP hash: 4e80a476
I thought this was supposed to be an opinion article, not propaganda?
I mean, I don’t like the shady deal that took place, either, but I think that this is a dangerous slippery slope that CAN is taking. (However, I also think that is was inevitable.) If you remember, 27 years ago, there were violent protests against Dow Chemical because they supported the Vietnam War. The same will happen tomorrow.
What if tomorrow’s protest turns violent like what happened 27 years ago? It would certainly play out a blaring contradiction in which an antiwar group is willing to start a war in order to stop one.
Will we next have student takeovers and riots that results in violent massacres like what happened at Kent State almost three decades ago? It’s a possibility that everyone - government, leadership, and students - will make the same mistakes their previous generation made? I hope not. But this will be a step in that direction.
IP hash: a2f7c561
Because they have been a lightning rod for Bush/Cheney opposition since 2000 and therefore the only Iraq war contractor I have ever heard of, it’s obvious to me that Halliburton is the 1) worst ethical offender in Iraq, 2) worst at their job, and 3) the only company employing UW engineers whose actions one could find something significant to protest about.
Love, -Naive CAN protester
IP hash: 9c771276
They’re not just anti-war, they’re on the other side.
Except for ending slavery, fascism, nazism and communism — war has never solved anything.
IP hash: 70b34d21
CAN members are definitely not paid.
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“Except for ending slavery, fascism, nazism and communism — war has never solved anything.”
Haha, it’s funny because those things still exist. Sarcasm, I read you loud and clear.
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i’m curious if the authors have any knowledge of al gore’s bolshevic connections to armand hammer and his no bid sale of US naval oil fields to hammer’s petrol company as he left office in 2000. or does that not matter to a lefty
IP hash: 6a90dfda
dude,before you post your opinions check the facts about halliburton. It is a purely oil services company.
IP hash: a1431f70
5:32— Really, the point of going to war with our tax dollars is to in turn give it away to corporations?
5:34— CAN was formed AFTER the war started, so I highly doubt that they are merely using the war to publicize themselves or somehow profit.
11:07— “Except for ending slavery, fascism, nazism and communism — war has never solved anything.”
Yeah, we gotta kill them to free them.
12:25— “or does that not matter to a lefty”
Not all “lefties” support democrats blindly.
And Mike, how is protesting Halliburton a step toward “violent protests” and “massacres”?
IP hash: f783e93d
Hey Mike, I agree with you, but get your facts straight. 27 years ago was 1980. We got out of ‘Nam by 1975. The Dow riots were in 1967. Too bad we don’t still have the draft, which would probably send most of CAN to CANada… -LEO
IP hash: f3d160fe
I don’t understand why it’s so offensive to destroy food in front of hungry people. Most restaurant employees in the US are paid to do the same thing every single day….
IP hash: 6d945764
I can’t believe this. The first comment and the one right before this…just because “America does stuff” and “companies like profit” - does that make it right? Does that make it good?
First of all, I think the situation with restaurant employees in America is usually different then with starving children in Iraq, or Africa. And of course, in some parts of America…it’s not so different. So you can joke about it like that?
To the first comment: A company makes profit off the war. Is it not a slippery slope to justify your company’s actions as being “for the good of the country, I’m building weapons to defend them” to saying “hey, I kind of like these no-bid contracts, how can I get me some more?” - That’s the problem with Halliburton, and why it is a prime example to be fought against. They are a WAR-PROFITEER, not just a company that happens to be building stuff for the war. They are in this war to profit, not to help America. If some helping of America happens on the side, they’re all for that. Or are they? The longer we stay at war, the more money they could have made…although thankfully oversight committees are FINALLY getting their act together and trying to hold Halliburton and KBR accountable.
But just because KBR and Halliburton are no longer connected doesn’t mean that we’re going to let Halliburton off the hook, and nor should anyone else. Halliburton hired KBR, and only released them when they had to. It wasn’t because of “hey, this subsidiary is bad news.”
P.S. - I’m glad we we’re not paid, because if we were, then we would be accountable to whoever was writing the checks. No, instead we’re just students and activists doing the right thing for the country. I’m not angry at people who intellectually disagree. But I do get upset at people who write us off as liberal fools without doing any research about why we do what we do.