--- Dan Minette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > But, few of the stockholders will be at personal > risk. I'm guessing that > we will not see the board of directors of > Halliburton in Iraq for any > prolonged period of time either. They will not be > working longer hours for > Iraq. So, the compensation in terms of larger > profits should be for > business risk only.
Yeah, but the business risk is significant. Insurance costs, equipment costs, etc. It's a war zone. The number of companies that are even willing to operate there - or have the capacity to do so - is very small, something like 2 on any large scale, actually. > OK, how are no-bid contracts awarded > fairly...especially when the costs are > uncertain? When things are done in a hurry, the > normal procedures are not > followed, and the paper trail is minimal or > non-existent, how are things > properly checked out? > Dan M. Rather than arguing about this in detail, let me point you to Dan Drezner's articles on the topic, which are quite persuasive and well-researched. Drezner is hardly a Bush partisan - he wrote an article titled "Bush the Bumbler" for Slate. http://www.danieldrezner.com/archives/000860.html http://www.danieldrezner.com/archives/000868.html You can also look at a very good NYT article on the topic: http://www.pepeace.org/current_reprints/16/Nation%20Builders%20for%20Hire.htm I should also note that - like most people in Washington - I have friends and family in the Federal Government and they, Republican or Democrat, all think that it's simply _not possible_ to manipulate the system in a corrupt fashion. There are too many checks - so many, in fact, that the cost of running through them almost certainly vastly excedes the cost of the corruption that is prevented. ===== Gautam Mukunda [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Freedom is not free" http://www.mukunda.blogspot.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
