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US lawmakers have a financial interest in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a review of financial documents has revealed. Members of Congress invested nearly $196 million of their own money in companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars a day from Pentagon contracts to provide goods and services to US armed forces, say nonpartisan watchdog groups. Lawmakers charged with overseeing Pentagon contractors hold stock in those very firms, as do vocal critics of the war in Iraq, says the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP)

 

In all, 151 current members of Congress - more than one-fourth of the total - have invested between $78.7 million and $195.5 million in companies that received defense contracts of at least $5 million, according to CRP.

Senator John Kerry, the Democrat from Massachusetts who staked his 2004 presidential bid in part on his opposition to the war, tops the list of investors. His holdings in firms with Pentagon contracts of at least $5 million stood at between $28.9 million and $38.2 million as of December 31, 2006. Kerry sits on the Senate foreign relations panel.

Members of Congress are required to report their personal finances every year but only need to state their assets in broad ranges.

Other top investors include Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, a New Jersey Republican with holdings of $12.1 million-$49.1 million; Representative Robin Hayes, a North Carolina Republican ($9.2 million-$37.1 million); Republican Representative James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin ($5.2 million-$7.6 million); and Representative Jane Harman, a California Democrat ($2.7 million-$6.3 million).

Senator Jay Rockefeller, the Democrat and former governor of West Virginia who chairs the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, invested some $2 million in Pentagon contractors. Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=90809