Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq

by T. Christian Miller

An investigative reporter pens an explosive indictment of how the Bush Administration wasted billions in Iraq through sweetheart deals to G.O.P. supporters, outrageous contracts to corrupt companies, and absurdly naive assumptions.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Middle East, Politics, War

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

T. Christian Miller joined ProPublica as a senior reporter in 2008. Before that, he worked for the Los Angeles Times, where he covered politics, wars, and was once kidnapped by leftist guerrillas in Colombia. His first book, Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed In Iraq was called one of the “indispensable” books on the war. He teaches data journalism at the University of California at Berkeley and was a Knight Fellow at Stanford University.

Reviews

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Journalism at its best. A type of book I'd recommend to people. It's a lot less popular than it should be. Miller is someone I'd like to meet and congratulate for this work. Multiple aspects of the reconstruction of Iraq are presented in great detail.

Miller expounds upon the subjects of public policy, economic development, human rights, corruption, history, and others, as they relate to the war in Iraq. He uses personal testimony and interviews as source for much of his information, and the story he tells with that information is a truly heart-breaking and haunting story.

Miller exposes the poor decisions, incompetent leadership, and poor execution on the part of the US. From failed communication infrastructure to electricity grid disasters to wasted First Lady pet projects to corporate greed to outsourced military personnel to ruined lives and the creation of violent enemies, this book touches on some of the most important consequences of this war.

For those who wish to comment on anything dealing the war in Iraq, this book is a must-read.

Other investigative journalists I've read may be slightly more captivating in their storytelling methods, but if you're interested in the subject, the book is a thrill to read.

[Brady Koetting · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book that describes the true cost of war both in dollars and lives. While the first ~20% of the book was not exactly my cup of tea, the discussion around the shift to becoming more reliant on private companies to fill in gaps of the military was extremely fascinating. With the goals of nation building and company profits many times at odds with each other, this leads to incredible amounts of corruption, waste, and hostility.

A recipe for disaster formed in regards to reconstruction in Iraq. This included reliance on private security/private housing for military, lack of any real planning around the reconstruction that was to take place after Bagdahd was captured, and a skewed sense of priorities where a $50m children's cancer hospital was prioritized over basic health care needs. These ingredients resulted in a rush of American companies ready to meet the needs of the government through "cost plus" contracts where the incentive was to inflate expenses with no regard for accomplishing the mission.

Highly recommend to anyone interested in getting a deeper understanding of the impacts of modern wars. Of those impacts, one of the most significant being the disturbing trend of relying on private markets on the battlefield in a world of Crony Capitalism and a profit-first mindset.

[mohamed seven · Rating 4 out of 5]

ي الله علي العرب ، ي الله علي العالم ، كل العالم بلا استثناء تئامر علي العراق..منهم من شارك بالايجاب ومنهم من شارك بالصمت
دخول العراق جاء بعد ضربة 11 سبتمبر حيث استغلتها الاداره الامريكيه والرئيس المجرم بوش كحجة لدخول العراق وليس لما يروجهو البعض ان السبب هو ضرب الكويت وحرب الخليج .. اشعلت النيارن بحجة ان صدام يمتلك اسلحة دمار شامل (بيلوجيه..كيميائيه..نوويه) وما ان دخلو البلد ونهبوها ودمروها أعلن كبيري مفتشي هيئه الطاقه الذريه ان لا يوجد اي من أسلحة الدمار في العراق ..تم قتل نجلي الحاكم وتم اعدامو فيما بعد
من ضمن الاسباب التى أدت الى تدمير العراق وتفتيتها الى مناطق بور..هي الطائفيه وكيف ان جزء كبير من الشعب خان البلد وخان صدام وتأمر مع الامريكان بحجة الفلوس الوهميه
تم دخول المقاولين التابعين للشركات الامريكيه وشركات المالتى ناشيونال مثل البيتشلز والبلاك ووتر وهربمتان واستغلال فلوس الربح العائده من آبار النفط لـ ايهام العالم ان الولايات المتحده لديها خطه اصلاح حقيقي داخل البلد..وماذا بعد ؟ وماذا الان ؟

[Collin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exploration of the privatization efforts of the Bush administration in relation to the military and primarily the Iraq war. It details the financial waste associated with the contractors who managed Iraq after the US’s illegal invasion of the country, and explains how the failures were essentially allowed to happen because the goal of the war from an administrative perspective seemed more about distributing contracts and assuming this would magically work out than actually taking responsibility for the country that they had chosen to destroy, and committing a war crime in doing so.

The detailed events elevate this book above similar ones, as it’s quite well researched and offers compelling details about specific malpractices that altogether killed thousands of innocent people and wasted billions of dollars.

Where this book suffers is with its American bias which favors American money and life above Iraqi society and life. To me, the primary crime of Iraq wasn’t the wasted US money or dead US soldiers, it’s every single Iraqi who dies due to the cruel sanctions, illegal invasion, and bloody occupation. It’s also how Iraq, a highly intellectual and developed society, was destroyed to satisfy the arbitrary will of a few rich old American aristocrats. This book does detail how that happened, but I think its heart is still fails to recognize Iraqi lives as equally important to American ones. Maybe that’s more a fault of the publishers and English speaking audiences than anything the author has done.

Highly recommend for anyone seeking to speak authoritatively about the US invasion of Iraq and US foreign policy priorities.

[Ahmed Nada · Rating 3 out of 5]

لاجديد يذكر ولاقديم يقال دول يقودها مجرمين فتكت ببلد غالي على قلوبنا وللاسف اصبح العالم كله يعرف بهذه الحقائق ولم يتم اى محاسبة او حتى اعتذار لك الله ياعراق

[Robby Delaware · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked up Blood Money at the local University bookstore recently. This book is an very critical take on the occupation of Iraq and the absolute boondoggle that reconstruction was. The author does not present a cartoonish "we're evil, America is bad" type of argument. Instead, the main argument that I take away is that we dropped the ball in thinking that the second we invaded a country a group of Tom Jeffersons and George Washingtons would rise up, and quickly usher in a free market paradise. No dice on that one, for sure.

The book points out the huge sums of money that the United States poured into Iraq, and lost. Did you know that right after the invasion Laura Bush helped to steer billions of dollars to a high tech cancer ward for children? While of course her heart and motives were in the right place, Iraq at the time didn't have clean water or even the electricity to run a high tech children's hospital.

A good parable to our experience in Iraq. This book is highly, highly critical of Rusmfeld and Cheney.

[an]

Selubung persengkongkolan…
Tak lain tak bukan motif pendukung Irak: Uang Haram

Wartawan senior Los Angeles Times, T. Christian Miller, menyuguhkan hasil investigasi mendalam tentang perputaran ‘uang haram’ atas nama pembangunan Irak Baru.
- Perusahaan semisal Halliburton mendapat kontrak-kontrak raksasa tanpa tender, lalu mempekerjakan buruh miskin dan sangat membutuhkan demi memperlebar margin keuntungan.
- Para pejabat Amerika memberikan sejumlah uang tunai untuk membayar kontraktor—dan memotong sebagian untuk membeli mobil sport mewah dan arloji bermerk terkenal.
- Warga Amerika memilih seorang mantan agen mobil bekas untuk membeli senjata bagi militer Irak—hasilnya bias ditebak.
- Dan masih banyak lagi….

Serapi dan secantik apapun praktik manipulasi ini berlangsung, Miller akan menyajikan hasil investigasinya kepada anda dalam buku ini.
Bagaimana Amerika sedang menggali kuburnya sendiri??

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

To fully understand the nature of America's fiasco in Iraq, one has to understand how the profit motive, inflamed by an anti-regulatory political climate, steered the country's military commitment there. This book is a idiot's tale, full of sound and fury, to borrow from Shakespeare.

I find myself almost unable to read anything further about Iraq, and increasingly, about Afghanistan either. The symptom of a declining empire is its tendency to substitute wise diplomacy and statecraft with militaristic muscularity.

[Greynomad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personally I would have the whole Bush administration in jail for life. Bush has never and I mean never done anything right in his life. He is the fool's fool.
From Bush's rush into Iraq trying to find and justify the quest for weapons of mass destruction to the slew of village idiots that his administration sent there along with the loss of over 4000 US dead. Lets not forget the lost of life on the Iraq's side.
Bush can be blamed for the mess that is now afflicting the middle east…………..

[Robert Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an eye opener about how taxpayers and Iraqi money is and was wasted supposedly rebuilding infrastructure for the good of the Iraqi people. War is about squandering money........

[Ryan]

Still looking for this book.

[Mark Friedel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this before my sleepy boy era.

Weird comedy but slaps nonetheless

[Nawrast]

كتاب خطير جدا

[Wilma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't help linking the movie War Dogs as its partial visual aids.

[Bill Launder · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good

[Ahmed Khalid AL-ameed · Rating 3 out of 5]

ضريبة الدم - ت . كريستيان ميلر / الكتاب يوضح الأخطاء و الفشل الاميركي في مشروع عملية " اعادة اعمار العراق " الذي اطلقه بوش بعد الانتهاء من الغزو .. حيث يحدد الكاتب جذور الفساد عند الاميركان في العراق و يشير بأصابع الاتهام الى بوش و زوجته و اصدقائه .
فيوضح ان الولايات المتحدة قدمت في السنوات الثلاثة التالية للغزو اكثر من 30 مليار دولار من اجل اعادة اعمار العراق .
جميعها ذهب في جيوب الشركات الفاسدة و المشاريع الوهمية .
و يكشف عن خطة اعدها الاميركيون و عملاؤهم في الحكومة العراقية المؤقتة ، تهدف الى بيع ما قيمته 40 مليار دولار من العتاد العسكري العراقي الثمين . قال المعلق " انها اكبر جريمة ارتكبت خلال كل العصور و الحروب " .
ارتكبت هذه الجريمة بناء على امر صدر عن الولايات المتحدة و انكلترا ، و بموافقة و معرفة كاملتين من ( علاوي و الچلبي و شعلان ) .
و برئاسة " دايل ستوفل " الذي صنف على انه ( مدير الظل لوكالة الاستخبارات المركزية في العراق ) ، و الذي سيقتل في ظروف غامضة في التاجي شمال بغداد .
يقول الكاتب ان الاميركيين وجدوا بلد على شفير الانهيار ماديا ، و اخلاقيا ، و فكريا . كما ان نظام العناية الصحية في العراق في حالة انهيار تام .
كما يناقش شجع الشركات الاجنبية و استهانتها بأرواح الاجانب العاملين بها و العراقيين معا . حيث يتطرق الى حادثة مقتل المتعاقدين الاميركيين في الفلوجة الذين احرقت جثثهم و علقت على الجسر . و الاسرى النيباليين الذين قتلوا على يد جماعة انصار السنة .. كما يناقش و احدى المعارك مع جيش المهدي .
يبين الكتاب ان من " ثمانين او مئة " شركة امنية تعمل في العراق و يقدر عدد موظفيها اكثر من "خمسة و عشرين " الف شخص مسلح . بحيث اذا جمعوا سوية فأنهم سيشكلون ثاني اكبر مجموعة مسلحة في البلاد ، لم يسبق قط ان اجتمع هذا العدد الكبير من الشركات الامنية الخاصة في بلد واحد مثلما حصل في العراق .
و يوضح الكاتب و بالاسماء فساد عقود تسليح الجيش العراقي في عهد حكومة علاوي .

و بالنهاية يناقش الكاتب انتحار ارفع ضابط عسكري اميركي في العراق ، بسبب فساد و جشع الشركات العاملة هناك التي تعتبر هدفها الاول و الاخير هو جمع الاموال .
و نختم بقول ضابط في الجيش الاميركي ..
" أن السلوك غير الأخلاقي في هذه البلاد ( العراق ) هو طريقة حياة ".
سلبيات الكتاب / الشرح الطويل للاحداث ، كذب و تجميل صورة الجانب الاميركي في بعض الامور خصوصا في انجاز المياه و الشوارع في النجف و مدينة الصدر .
2017/11/23