The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

by Naomi Klein

A select group of companies was invited to apply to provide unlimited “logistical support” for U.S. military missions, an extremely vague work description. Furthermore, no dollar value was attached to the contract: the winning company was simply assured that whatever it did for the military, it would have its costs covered by the Pentagon, plus a guaranteed profit—what is known as a “cost plus” contract. These were the final days of the Bush Sr. administration, and the company that won the contract in 1992 was none other than Halliburton. As the Los Angeles Times’s T. Christian Miller noted, Halliburton “beat out thirty-six other bidders to win a five-year contract—not surprising perhaps, given that it was the company that drew up the plans.”