MiloMindbender The story of the connection between the privately held corporations that have profited from the war in Iraq without oversight and the Bush administration has been revealed in bits and pieces over the years. This film attempts to connect the links and highlight the impact that it has had on the lives of those most affected. It is admirable that a first time director would tackle such a feat, but it could be done more successfully. Better editing and a little more research into the issues could have made this film stronger. There are a few things that I find annoying in the film. First is the sloppy use of Powerpoint like graphs & tables. The directors show names of companies and individuals in boxes and lines in between them, but never really backs this up with any explanation of what the boxes & lines represent, much less actually proving that links between the many people mentioned actually exist. The directors also make heavy-handed use of dramatic music, which usually gets on my nerves. If the story is dramatic (which it is) and effectively presented (this could have been done with better editing), such hyperbole isn't needed. A lot of the information has been previously reported in The Nation, The Christian Science Monitor & Democracy Now, what this documentary adds is the personal toll that the privatization of war has had on those who fight it. Many of the interviews are very good, though a bit repetitive in their message. A clearer structure to the film, either by a timeline or using an omniscient narrator, would have made it stronger. As it stands the film is repetitive & I found myself (someone already familiar with the story) nodding off at about the half way point. Some talking heads (NGO representatives, academics, etc.) would have also strengthened this film and give it a bit more analytical edge to it.

timberlax Just recently saw this on DVD and I have to say it opened my eyes to some of these issues with private contractors. Now I knew already that Halliburton and CACI and all those other companies really had no logical place in a war such as the one in Iraq, but some of the stuff they did like purposefully destroy their own equipment (in some cases sending their own employees in harm's way and having them killed by insurgents) because they would get compensated for it and profits would rise, is just plain monstrous. Not only that, but the amount of money that Congress has subsidized these companies is just incredibly outrageous. Money that could be used towards the $8 TRILLION dollar debt, or improving the health care system, or funding the education system better. And then using private contractors to do intelligence operations, such as interrogations...you saw what happened at Abu Graib - half the sickos who did the torture weren't even the military.I mean WTF, America it's time to wake up!! Congress is incompetent since the majority always turns down all the major amendments that would control these types of criminal activities, with lobbyists controlling almost all of the legislative branch. And since Deick Cheney is the former CEO of Halliburton, you can see where this is connecting the dots.

RadioactiveRat Iraq For Sale is a truly horrifying documentary about the state of war profiteering in Iraq as allowed or encouraged by Washington in the United States. Not to be misunderstood or understated, it is terrifying how reckless the companies mentioned in the film (Halliburton et al) act towards their customers (US Military) and their employees in pursuit of the mighty dollar. Sending out trucks on delivery missions empty because they can charge the government for sending them to the bases. Providing dubious contaminated water to the troops from their water treatment plants, and charging $100 to wash a bag of laundry to mention a few. What is even more terrifying is that the Pentagon just ignores the abuse or gives the companies a slap on the wrist for their trouble, all the while continuing to funnel billions or more dollars into their pockets. I used to accept that war was about ideology and defense, this documentary proved me wrong. War is about the pursuit of wealth and power!

MisterWhiplash Robert Greenwald is a filmmaker I'm familiar with well from his very prolific output of politically charged documentaries (with one regular dramatic feature also) from the past several years, my favorite being Outfoxed. Now he comes with Iraq for Sale, a documentary aimed at exposing one of the gravest injustices to come out of the invasion of Iraq. The contractors who have been given carte-blanche (primarily Haliburton aka KBR) to take control of how the military is taken care of and that just to turn a profit (albeit a major, huge one) people who didn't sign up to fight for the USA die off. Greenwald, as in other docs, takes on the subject matter from two angles- the emotional side, where those close to those who died air their grievances and outrage at losing members of their family and friends; and the factual side, where it's laid out pretty plainly the message- something very, very corrupt and fascist is going on in both the so-called protection of the soldiers and in the Abu-Gharib scandal.Greenwald's film-making style isn't too bad at all, and is held back from being flashy with the usage of graphics and charts and such when interviewing his subjects. And a lot of the archival footage and testimonies do all add up to something that leaves one with a feeling of near hopelessness (saying near because there should still be hope that this can change). But at the same time I also felt that Greenwald could only go for so much in the 70 minute running time. He un-earths a couple of things I didn't know of, such as the corporations Caci and Titan, one of which was partly responsible for the torture in the prisons (half in military get-up, half in just regular attire, all torturing mostly random civilians). The numbers are also pretty staggering at times, though at this point with the practically one-party rule in the country- where corporate interests go hand in pocketed hand with lobbyists and firms- things shouldn't be surprising at this point. But that it feels a little rushed at times too is my only real complaint overall about the picture.It's really worth a viewing though, regardless of political affiliation (even as the Right would get uncomfortable and have to take their views into account when seeing Bush and Rumsfeld on screen). It deals with things that should be of consequence to all Americans, who are the ones paying out their tax dollars to intolerable problems in monopolized power structures. It almost comes off towards the last part, in discussing Halburton, like watching something out of a ice-cold communist structure where people in high places getting paid a lot give menial, awful conditions to those who are technically those to take care of. As Greenwald shows to his most prominent point, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and in this case during this 'war on terror' going on in Iraq.