reviewed by Gabriel Carlyle

This is an important book that deserves a wide readership. Based in part on materials that first appeared on CorpWatch’s warprofiteers.com site, Iraq Inc. is the first book to be published concerning what one might call the corporate invasion of Iraq - roughly, that combination of war profiteering, graft and market fundamentalism the mainstream media usually calls rreconstruction.'

The book is split into four chapters, examining the roles of: Halliburton; Bechtel; private mercenary companies (many of whom have headquarters in London, see http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1763.html ); and SAIC and RTI (who were involved in trying to set up new governmental and media institutions in Iraq following the invasion).

Combining on-the-ground reporting, investigative journalism and a wide range of press sources, Iraq Inc covers a wealth of interesting material and even the most seasoned Iraq-watcher will learn something new. On the minus side there is little or no examination of the potential future profits to made from Iraq’s oil or other resources. Several questions are also left hanging in the air - or not asked at all, presumably for lack of information.

Of the latter, maybe the most interesting is: where has all the money gone? The Bush administration has already spent over $100bn on the invasion and occupation, yet the contracts Chatterjee examines make-up only a small fraction of this total. One suspects that, at present, many of those making the biggest profits from the occupation are doing precisely that: profiting from the maintenance of the occupation rather than the much more widely publicised 'reconstruction' effort.

More information: Iraq, Inc. - A Profitable Occupation by Pratap Chatterjee, Seven Stories Press,
2004. £7.99.