Halliburton Company was known as the provider of clean, safe water for cooking and drinking for U.S. troops in Iraq. However, there were no actual testing procedures approving the high quality of water. In fact, the water was extremely contaminated. What is more threatening is that the military were not informed about potential risk this water posed to their health.
The soldiers and other employees involved in military actions used this water for drinking and showering with no awareness of the diseases by which they can be infected. With regard to the violations by the company can be regarded as white-collar crime because Halliburton committed illegal business operations aimed at gaining profits.
A white-collar crime refers to the illegal monetary gain that is committed by individuals taking privilege social positions. The main causes of violations committed by legal individuals are connected with threats to human health and safety. In this respect, in case the entity ignores these issues for the sake of gaining profits, it can be considered as an illegal act against the employees.
In addition, a white-collar crime also refers to the cases of unequal treatment of employees predetermined by their social position. Finally, the consequences of white-collar crime are not purely financial because they negatively affect the physical and mental welfare of the employees. Being ignorant of the company’s activities, employees are under the risk of losing their positions in case they refuse to perform certain tasks.
With regard to the above-presented features, Halliburton Company can be accused of white-collar crime against military troops in Iraq due to several reasons. First, the company gained high profits at the expense of employee’s health by providing contaminated water and low quality food provision.
Second, their business operations created a serious threat to safety and health of U.S. employees because of the conditions under which they lived, as well as contaminated water they provided. No testing procedures have been introduced to ensure that the water is safe to consume. Finally, Halliburton Company introduced services whose pricing was much higher than it should be. For instance, the soldiers needed to pay $ 99 for laundry instead of $ 3 that was an accepted price (WeAreONEBigFamily).
The company also provided troops with foods whose expiration date had passed. The Halliburton managers gave order to their workers to remove bullets from packages in trucks to give the food to unaware soldiers. The costs for various products and services had been tripled due to the increased taxes imposed on consumers.
The evidence suggests that the company’s breach of established regulations were crucial because managers failed to introduce social corporate responsibility that would ensure safety and protection of their consumers.
Gaining profits, therefore, was not acceptable as soon as the health and welfare of consumers were concerned. In fact, Halliburton executives actively ignored the cooperation with government auditors in the United States, as well as failed to warn the soldiers and providers of potential dangers of transporting goods and medicines.
In conclusion, it should be stressed that the Hamilton committed a serious white-collar crime against military troops in Iraq by violated their consumer rights. The case refers to ignorance of quality standards in delivering food, water, and other products, which threatened employees’ safety and health. Finally, all the business activities were aimed at gaining profits by increasing costs and raising taxes.
Works Cited
WeAreONEBigFamily. “Halliburton Poisoned Their Own USA Soldiers in Iraq! Ex Marine Speaks Out”. Online video clip. YouTube. 8 Sept. 2011. Web.