Cronies at the Trough
GNN, Center for Responsive Politics, March 21, 2003
"Halliburton Co. has been awarded a $9.7 million contract to build
an additional 204-cell detention camp at the U.S. naval base at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to hold additional suspected al Qaeda and Taliban
prisoners." - Reuters, July 27, 2002
It is indeed fitting that the first U.S. battle fatality came at an oil
facility in southern Iraq. While oil is not the only reason for
Operation Iraqi Freedom, securing Iraq's oil fields is a crucial
part of the Bush Cabal's rationale for invasion, as well as their larger
plan for a Pax Americana. Whatever your politics, to deny this is
absurd. At 112 billion barrels, Iraq's proven reserves are currently
second only to Saudi Arabia's, whose regime is increasingly under
pressure for its role in financing terror and is a long-term liability in
terms of stability.
This week, the U.S. declared that the United Nations, the latest addition
to the Axis of Evil, will be boxed out of any postwar deals to help
rebuild Iraq. Instead, according to a new report from the Washington
watchdog group the Center for Responsive
Politics, a select group of Republican-connected firms
are poised to win the super lucrative contracts to rebuild Iraq's
infrastructure.
The short list of crony companies contributed a combined $2.8 million -
68 percent to Republicans - over the past two election cycles, according
to the report.
Last week, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) asked
Bechtel Group Inc., Fluor Corp., Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg,
Brown & Root, Louis Berger Group Inc., and Parsons Corp. to
submit bids last week for a $900-million contract to repair and
build water systems, roads, bridges, schools and hospitals. The firms
that land the contract are also likely to make the short list for future
projects in Iraq, which include plans to develop the country's oil
industry, according to CRP.
The CRP report states: "Bechtel, the engineering giant that employed
the likes of former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, former Secretary
of State George Schultz and former CIA Director William Casey before they
took their government posts, gave $1.3 million in individual, PAC and
soft money contributions between 1999 and 2002.
As it prepares its bid for the postwar project, Bechtel is facing
allegations that it contributed to Iraq's military buildup nearly two
decades ago. The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that a German
journalist uncovered a document prepared for the United Nations by Iraq
that says Bechtel was among 24 U.S. companies that supplied the country
with weapons during the '80s.
Kellogg, Brown & Root and parent company Halliburton-which was headed
by Vice President Dick Cheney until 2000-was the second-largest donor of
the group, with more than $709,000 in contributions. Halliburton also
gave more to Bush's presidential campaign-$17,677-than any of the other
bidders combined.
Fluor, which gave more than $483,000 in individual, PAC and soft money
contributions in the previous two election cycles, also has ties to the
Defense Department. Kenneth Oscar, the company's vice president of
strategy and government services, recently served as the acting assistant
secretary of the Army, where he directed its $35 billion-a-year
procurement budget.
Representatives from Bechtel and Halliburton told reporters this week
that they were asked to submit a bid because they've done similar work
with USAID in the past. Both companies participated in the rebuilding of
Kuwait, particularly its oil fields, after the Gulf War."
http://www.guerrillanews.com/war_on_terrorism/doc1229.html
