Defense Contractor Gets Defensive at Documentary

"Halliburton's KBR engineering and services unit has launched a strike against the documentary, 'Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers,' that filmmaker Robert Greenwald plans to release nationally during 'Patriotism over Profit Screening Week' set for Oct. 8-14," reports O'Dwyer's. A Halliburton statement called the movie, which accuses it of ripping off U.S. taxpayers, "nothing more than a theory in search of a conspiracy." The defense contractor also slammed Greenwald for not including information that it had provided him, "because the facts did not support their thesis for the film." Greenwald did request interviews with Halliburton CEO Dave Lesar several times. Cathy Mann, Halliburton's director of communications, did not respond to any of the requests. O'Dwyer's "emailed Mann, asking why she did not respond. ... She referred [O'Dwyer's] to Halliburton's statement." The Greenwald movie does include an interview with an ex-KBR procurement manager, who said, "I wouldn't run a local lawn service on the business practices that Halliburton has."