Inside Giant Energy Company Halliburton

H O U S T O N, May 4 -- Halliburton, the giant American energy company, is deeply involved with U.S. operations in Iraq. The company and its subsidiaries attract interest and criticism because it was once run by Vice President Dick Cheney and has been accused of business irregularities that benefit the company at the taxpayer's expense.

The company, founded 85 years ago, has 103,000 employees on oil, gas and construction projects in 120 countries.

"We are building a road in Ireland," Halliburton CEO David Lesar told ABCNEWS. "We are running a railroad in Australia. We are drilling for gas in the Rocky Mountains to bring more gas supplies to the U.S. We are drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. We are building ships in Brazil. We are about 100,000 people doing things on a day-to-day basis."

Halliburton built Camp Delta to house suspected terrorist at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and it provides many other infrastructural services to the U.S. military — 24,000 Halliburton employees work in Iraq alone.

The danger in Iraq notwithstanding, hundreds of people from all over the country looking for work — or work that pays better — are being prepared to go to Iraq to work for Halliburton.

"We have 100,000 people that have applied for our jobs," said Lesar. "That is our backlog today. We are still sending 300 or 400 a week."

They are employed as construction bosses, electricians, plumbers and cooks. Many former military men and women who were out of work are finding new employment as private contractors.

"I'm looking for capital to start my own business, and this is a good way to get it," said one Halliburton job applicant.

Dangers of Working in Iraq

In Iraq, the military has farmed out everything from base construction to food preparation and laundry washing. Halliburton supplies workers who deliver the mail, fix the trucks, and even drive them.

Halliburton jobs in Iraq pay annual salaries of $80,000 after taxes, sometimes more.