Interview · moment 13 of 14
Saudi Arabia, Halliburton, and the War Economy
from Live From The NY Comedy Festival (with Russ Baker) · #80
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
4 minGuest
Russ describes the deep, decades-long business ties between the Bush circle and Saudi Arabia, the ongoing Saudi power struggle, and how war has become America's most profitable industry, illustrated by his encounter with Halliburton contractors in Bosnia and Betsy DeVos's family ties to Blackwater.
- 52:19Tim details how Bush administration officials and contractors like Halliburton and the Carlisle Group are entrenched in business with Saudi Arabia.
- 52:52Trump allegedly in league with the Saudi family faction that placed a major prince and American company investor under house arrest.
- 53:13Tim jokes the Twitter character limit doubled because of the Saudi upheaval.
- 53:47War is America's largest and most profitable industry, never openly discussed.
- 54:08The military is the single biggest purchaser, so every business wants a piece of defense contracts.
- 54:48Betsy DeVos, education secretary, is Eric Prince's sister—he founded the mercenary company Blackwater, now called Academy.
- 55:23Pentagon lost track of $5 trillion in the five years after 9-11.
- 55:36SIGAR, the Afghanistan inspector general, reports that schools built with billions in US aid either don't exist or are collapsing with unqualified teachers.
warBetsy DeVosBlackwaterHalliburtonDick CheneyPentagonSaudi ArabiaBush familyEric PrinceCarlisle GroupAcademySIGARDonald Trumpprivate equity