Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers
 Or why Dick Cheney and the Bush administration ought to be hung
and these corporations ought to be charged with a host of crimes

Buy The DVD

Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers is a 2006 documentary about the ongoing Iraq War and the behavior of companies with no-bid contracts working within Iraq. The movie was made by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films. The story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war. Acclaimed director Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed) takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children who have been changed forever as a result of profiteering in the reconstruction of Iraq. Iraq for Sale uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq (Blackwater, Halliburton/ KBR, CACI and Titan) and the decision makers who allow them to do so. 

Specifically, the film claims four major contractors -- Blackwater, K.B.R.-Halliburton, CACI and Titan -- are over-billing the U.S. government and doing substandard work while endangering the lives of American soldiers and private citizens. The documentary contends these companies are composed of ex-military and ex-government workers who unethically help their companies get and keep enormous contracts and milk the American taxpayer.

Halliburton contends the film is "yet another rehash of inaccurate, recycled information."[1] During filming, Greenwald had requested interviews with the contractors, but they turned him down.

This was the first film to raise substantial production funds from small donations online: $267,892 from 3,000 people in 10 days.[2] 

[1] Dan Harris, ""Documentary slams U.S. companies working in Iraq", ABC News, September 4, 2006 (accessed November 16, 2006) 
[2] William Booth, "His fans greenlight the project", Washington Post, August 20, 2006 

Movie Review

Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (2006)

NYT Critics' Pick This movie has been designated a Critic's Pick by the film reviewers of The Times.

September 8, 2006
Deep Pockets in Iraq
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS
Published: September 8, 2006

Robert Greenwald’s documentaries are like sledgehammers of rage against everything he finds wrong with America, including Wal-Mart, Fox News and the Bush administration. He wants to rile us up, and he’s not subtle. But then, neither are his targets. In “Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers,” Mr. Greenwald compiles a horrifying catalog of greed, corruption and incompetence among private contractors in Iraq, focusing primarily on Halliburton, Blackwater Security Consulting and CACI International. Leading off with the infamous torture and murder of four Blackwater employees in Falluja in 2004 — men whose families contend were callously placed in harm’s way — the movie goes on to trace connections between the contractors and the Republican Party, assert the buying of influence and explore what it says are questionable accounting systems that encourage exorbitant waste of taxpayer money. And that’s just the first 30 minutes. One after another, military personnel, journalists, former Abu Ghraib prisoners and former employees of the companies in question present a litany of shocking accusations, from private interrogators working without supervision or accountability to outsourced food services that allow Halliburton to charge soldiers $45 for a six-pack of soda. The movie also addresses the effect of private-sector soldiers on military retention and morale: Why work for $3,000 a month when you can earn six figures with a corporation? A febrile blend of facts, liberal outrage and emotional manipulation (like his colleague Michael Moore, Mr. Greenwald knows the visual power of a grieving mother), “Iraq for Sale” has an us-versus-them sensibility that’s extremely effective. “Their greed goes against our grain,” says one disgusted interviewee. Indeed.