Documentaries: Money for Nothing, Taking On Halliburton

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Depending on whom you ask, filmmaker Robert Greenwald is either a fearless chronicler of corporate greed or a lefty propagandist—Michael Moore with better manners. One thing's for sure: he's got guts. After making exposés about Fox News and Wal-Mart, Greenwald, 61, takes on Halliburton and big-ticket war contractors in his unsettling new film, "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers." He spoke with Devin Gordon.

Would you say your films are balanced?
No. But they're truthful. Do I have to show a side that isn't truthful—that doesn't have the facts behind it—in order to create balance? I argue no.

I presume you tried to speak with the companies scrutinized in this film but were rebuffed?
Watch through the end credits. There's three minutes of footage showing our 25 to 30 phone calls trying to reach these guys.

(snip)
How do you think Halliburton et al. would defend themselves?
They'd say that it's war-time, and they're doing an important job. And then I'd say, "Yes, but should the head of Halliburton have made $42 million last year?" The thing about corporate culture is that an attitude permeates from top to bottom. The culture at Wal-Mart is "Anything to squeeze a buck." And at Halliburton, it's "We're getting paid anyway—it doesn't matter." This profit motive at such an extreme level needs to be fixed. When you hear story after story, that's when you conclude that this is a real, systemic problem.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14752512/site/newsweek/