The acts of US business contractors in the Iraq war are depicted in this documentary. According to interviews with current and former workers of Halliburton, CACI, and KBR, apparent arrangements that provide such contractors tremendous flexibility to profit from delivering support and supplies to American troops while offering minimal supervision are the result of government corruption. Survivors of deceased employees debate whether the firms cared more about profit than the wellbeing of their employees, and troops argue that the quality of services given is unsatisfactory and in complete contradiction to the relatively large profits made. The filmmakers’ unsuccessful attempts to obtain corporate spokespeople to reply to the allegations leveled by the interviewees are also presented.
Opinion and Thoughts About the Film
The movie focuses on how private contractors overbill the US government despite performing significant labor. They also put the lives of American soldiers and civilians at risk. The video also revealed that ex-military and ex-government personnel had aided such contractors in an unethical way (Deudney, 2017). The lives of soldiers, truck drivers, and others reveal the harsh background of Iraq’s reconstruction project. In the profiting process, the link between private contractors and decision-makers has impacted countless lives. At first glance, it seems that it is necessary to blame the executive power, which allowed these frauds to be allowed. However, there are too many people involved to identify the culprits more clearly. To solve this problem, it is also necessary to change the legislation, which will more clearly regulate the contracts issued by the state.
Research After Watching the Film
It is an excellent opportunity to examine what, if anything, these firms say on their Web sites now that they are not speaking for themselves in “Iraq for Sale.” For example, Halliburton issued a news statement in which the company’s public relations staff describes “Iraq for Sale” as a documentary-style production (Otenyo, 2017). This is a phrase hinting that the facts presented by the films are made up and have nothing to do with the events that really took place. CACI’s home page contains a link called “Facts About CACI in Iraq” that does not refer to the video specifically but rather to “new inaccuracies” being reported about the corporation (Speer, 2017). Thus, these companies are trying to divert attention from the problem. They talk about how successfully the work was done, ignoring the facts stated in the film.
References
Deudney, D. (2017). Realism, Liberalism and the Iraq War. Global Politics and Strategy, 59(4), 7-26. Web.
Otenyo, E. E. (2017). Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: Contractor corruption and election campaigns. Corruption, accountability and discretion. Public Policy and Governance, 29, 163-181. Web.
Speer, I. (2017). Reframing the Iraq War: Official sources, dramatic events, and changes in media framing. Journal of Communication, 67(2), 282–302. Web.