Talk:War profiteering

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see lists of open tasks and regional and topical task forces. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.
Start	This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.
Additional information and associated task forces: This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-Class status: Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion not met Structure: criterion not met Grammar: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion not met Associated task forces (general topics): Military science task force Associated task forces (periods and conflicts): World War I task force World War II task force

Contents 1 Move 2 Major changes, tightened scope of accusation 3 Reversion 4 Re: Reversion 5 Extending Profiteering all the way down? 6 Possible Clarification

[edit] Move

I motion to move this to the Wiktionary, as it is a definition, not an encyclopedia entry. Lypheklub 06:48, 26 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I see this as a stub; one can envision a long article on the the phenomenon of war profiteering, Loren Rosen 06:53, 26 Aug 2003 (UTC)

i understand that the term is a loaded one, but i don't think that should prevent us from listing actual war profiteers. i think we can be earnest, truthful and literal. carlyle group, halliburton, bae, all defense contractors that actively push for war.

[edit] Major changes, tightened scope of accusation

What I found on this page seemed to take the ultra-literal tack that anyone who profits from a war is a war profiteer. I highly doubt that this is the common usage. It's so broad as to lose its meaning. Many people unknowingly own a piece of an arms company through mutual funds, etc., and soldiers buy sunglasses, flashlights, clothes, etc. from companies that have no idea what's happening. Even Silly String has a military use.

[edit] Reversion

I reverted the recent anon changes since they were very POV, and read in essay style. —Morven 06:04, Sep 14, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Reversion

War profiteer is by nature a pejorative term. Please by all means help me improve my work-edit the heck out of it, but leave in the facts.

I've reverted again to a version that was NPOV. There is some good stuff removed in the process I admit, but most of what has gone is blatantly POV. I'll try to find some time to reinsert the good stuff, but meantime some serious study of Wikipedia:neutral point of view is recommended.

Creating a userid is also recommended, particularly if you're going to work on controversial pages. It costs nothing, logging in remains optional, it increases your privacy by hiding your IP, and it makes communication easier. Andrewa 17:38, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC)

In 1342 b.c. moses started war profitering with the egyptians. He barted with king solomon that his horse can reach the capital faster then his horse in Kassouth County. The wager was 16 gypsies and 11 arrowheads of all shapes and colors. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 205.221.90.96 (talk) 22:38, 7 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Extending Profiteering all the way down?

I want to know if employees of these companies should be called War Profiteers also; It's sort of a gray area in my mind and a good discussion may clear it up. I'm talking about the individual guys that perform regular jobs such as truck driving, cleaning, food service, administration, etc. etc. for these companies such as KBR, Bechtel, Sandi Group, First Kuwaiti, and even smaller ones such as IAP, GBG, & Fluor Daniels. To my knowledge, the amount of work which the US Government has contracted out in Iraq is unprecedented in American history, and needs a closer look. Pros: They are making grossly inflated salries, anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 per month, to perform menial work. They are supporting the US military during wartime in a warzone, which is why they get paid high salaries; danger pay. Cons: $5,000 to $15,000 per month is hardly getting rich... If they are working for a fiscal year they move up into the lower middle class bracket. The work they do hardly falls into the particulars of the shady business that typically defines war profiteering.

What category do they fall into?

I don't think Wikipedia should be in the business of calling particular groups War Profiteers. If such popular sentiment arises elsewhere, then by all means cite it, but advocating a position which is based upon intent of the perpetrator seems far from a neutral pov. Also, while the level of contracting used by the US in this war is certainly interesting, I don't think it fits into this article which should be pretty narrow in scope. Overall I think the article is pretty good how it is written, but it's hard to strike a balance between citing every time a person has ever been called a proiteer and cherry picking a handful of representative accusations which represent some views more than others. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.120.27.196 (talk) 20:18, 3 May 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Possible Clarification

Can a whole society be built on a war effort so that everyone becomes a war profiteer? I am thinking of Kuwait. The whole economy has prospered because of the Iraq war making it hard to distinguish between who is profiteering and who is not.

Another thing that needs clarification is the notion of profit. Is this a monetary based term or is prestige also a form of profit? Am I a war profiteer if I gain prestige from the war through my work? It would be good to leave open the question, for example, of whether journalists can sometimes find themselves profiteering from a war.

Samihermez 16:29, 6 November 2006 (UTC)