OIL FACTOR: BEHIND THE WAR ON TERROR 4 OF 6

THE OIL FACTOR: BEHIND THE WAR ON TERROR PART 4 OF 6

The largest beneficiary of reconstruction work in Iraq has been KBR (Kellogg, Brown & Root), a division of US giant Halliburton, which to date has secured contracts in Iraq worth $13bn (#7bn), including an uncontested $7bn contract to rebuild
Iraq's oil infrastructure.

Other companies benefiting from Iraq contracts include Bechtel, the giant US conglomerate, Bearing Point, the consultant group that advised on the drawing up of Iraq's new oil legislation, and General Electric. According to the US-based Centre for Public Integrity, 150-plus US companies have won contracts in Iraq worth over $50bn.

30,000 Number of Kellogg, Brown and Root employees in Iraq.

36 The number of interrogators employed by Caci, a US company, that have worked in the Abu Ghraib prison since August 2003.

$12.1bn UN's estimate of the cost of rebuilding Iraq's electricity network.

$2 trillion Estimated cost of the Iraq war to the US, according to the Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.