Friday 26th of April 2024

armed robbery .....

armed robbery .....

The White House has proposed military spending of $647 billion in 2008. Adjusted for inflation, that would be the highest level since World War II - topping even expenditures during Vietnam and the Reagan years, calculates Hartung. The current request for Iraq-related spending for 2008 is $116 billion, which would raise total Iraq war spending to $567 billion.

Who's getting all that money? Sometimes it can be difficult to tell. "There isn't good visibility on where the money goes," says Steven Kosiak of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. But you can get a snapshot of who's been getting a good chunk of the Iraq-related spending in two ways.

The first step is to scour a vast database of more than $400 billion in annual government contracts, more than 70% of which are from the Department of Defense. It's called the Federal Procurement Data System. I turned to a private contractor of my own, Eagle Eye, for some (free) expert assistance in navigating the database.

The second step is to look at the Pentagon's own budget to see which companies are building the major weapons systems that support the war in Iraq.

Who's Profiting From The Iraq War?