Defense Minister: Favours Iraq War?

According to the federal government lobbyist registry, our new Minister of Defense was a paid lobbyist for infamous war outsourcer Brown & Root—a wholly owned subsidiary of Halliburton, the company US vice-president Dick Cheney ran as CEO before becoming the running mate of George W. Bush.

Halliburton: War is good for business

When one looks at business interests in the Iraq war, it doesn’t take long before eyes rest upon Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR). Better known simply as Halliburton, its subsidiary KBR is the largest provider bar none of outsourced services to the US military where the company is involved in everything from digging latrines to building military bases at home and abroad. Military outsourcing contracts generates tens of billions of dollars of revenue for Halliburton.

Headquartered in the United States, Brown & Root has a long history of using political connections (legally and illegally) to achieve its agenda which is of course to make profits and built its business. The namesake of the company used his influence and illegal contributions to put a U.S. President into power, Lyndon B. Johnson. Then, like now, Brown & Root’s political connections reached directly into The White House, and then, as now, those connections helped ensure the company was awarded massive contracts in support of the war of the day (Vietnam then, Iraq now).

The historical record of the company includes numerous scandals that, if prosecuted under today’s laws, would almost certainly land senior executives in jail for decades. Back in the present, numerous criminal and civil investigations have been launched in connection with KBR and Halliburton roles in the war in Iraq and the US’s general war on terror. The bottom line: War is good business for Halliburton.

O’Connor’s Halliburton Connection

While our new Minister of National Defense, Gordon O’Connor was employed by marketing and lobby firm Hill & Knowlton, KBR lobbied and eventually managed to secure sole-source and other contracts in support of war on Iraq from the US military worth at least 7 billion dollars.

What’s particularly interesting about O’Connor’s activities on behalf of KBR is the timing. While George W. Bush and his crew were building up excuses to invade Iraq, from February 19th, 2002 to January 3rd, 2003, O’Connor lobbied the federal government on behalf of Brown & Root. For what? Military outsourcing contracts, like those which KBR provides the US Military in Iraq.

What kind of Minister will O’Connor be?

Lets be blunt and to the point – we can infer from O’Connor’s work done for KBR two important conclusions:

And now Mr. O’Connor, former defense lobbyist for some of the largest military industrial companies on the planet – companies which profit best in times of war – is Canada’s Minister of Defense. No matter where one’s partisan heart is beholden to, the appearance of bias and conflict of interest requires that the spotlight remains focussed on Mr. O’Connor.

Indeed – the entire foreign and domestic security and policy apparatus is now under the control of pro-Iraq war advocates including Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, Vic Toews, Minister of Justice, and leading the charge, Prime Minister Harper, who criticized the government of the day for failing to join the United States in an illegal and unjustified war on Iraq.