America's endeavors have no bounds. This country has made no secret of its political and military trampling across the world, and corporate America has also stretched its wealthy and powerful arm. In this realm, companies that provide consumer goods, such as Nike, Microsoft and McDonald's, come to mind.

But what if corporations were responsible for interrogating prisoners of war, providing troops with equipment and analyzing intelligence? That doesn't sound like something a private corporation should be doing, but that's exactly what they have been doing since the start of the Iraq war, and they have received billions of dollars from the federal government for doing a flagrantly incompetent and shoddy job.

Halliburton, the Houston-based U.S. oil services firm, recently announced that it is moving its headquarters to Dubai. This is extremely ironic in light of the gigantic paranoid fuss that Americans made when Dubai Ports World was set to begin managing port operations at six major U.S. ports. Apparently, they are not welcome to conduct business on our turf, but America is free to do it on theirs.

Since the start of the war, the government has paid Halliburton and its now independent military-services unit KBR to feed and house troops, conduct construction projects in Iraq and transport equipment and supplies in and out Iraq. Before he packed up and went to Washington, D.C. as our commander in chief's sidekick, Vice President Dick Cheney was at Halliburton's helm from 1995-2000.

From the very beginning of the war, Halliburton had it made. They locked in no-bid contracts from the government that guaranteed them billions of dollars in revenue. So far, KBR alone has made $20 billion from these contracts. Reacting to Halliburton's move to Dubai, which some suspect is an attempt to avoid paying taxes, Senator Patrick Leahy (Vt.-D) said, "This is an insult to the U.S. soldiers and taxpayers who paid the tab for their no-bid contracts and endured their overcharges for all these years."

Halliburton is not the only corporation that the government, or more specifically the Bush administration, has used to fight this war. In addition to Halliburton and KBR, the recently released documentary Iraq for Sale, by Robert Greenwald, also reviewed the activities of L3 Titan and CACI, which are corporations that have provided interrogators and translators for the war. The shocking documentary sheds light on the practices of these corporations.

Troops have to wait in line for hours to eat. They bathe in and drink contaminated water. Truck drivers were killed by insurgents, after corporations ensured them that the roads they used were safe. Interrogators and translators that have no training or certification, and have committed war crimes in Abu Ghraib-style interrogations, get off the hook because they do not work under the same laws as military men and women.

By operating on a cost plus system that maximizes revenue, all of these companies have found ways to overcharge the government on everything from laundry to tires. In the documentary, former employees recount how brand new trucks that needed minor repairs were destroyed so the companies could charge the government for them.

The situation is chaotic. Why is the government throwing money at these corporations, even after they have done horrible jobs and put American and Iraqi lives at risk? Why not do the obvious and pump this money into the military?

Maybe it is a favor to Cheney's buddies at Halliburton that they get these contracts. Maybe it is a convoluted interpretation of conservative economic theory that wants to get away from government regulation for everything. What ever the reason is, it needs to be investigated, and thankfully, Democrats in Congress are talking about hauling people in to do some explaining. American taxpayers are waiting for answers before the mess in Iraq gets any worse.

Reach columnist Hanady Kader at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.