Even before the war in Iraq began March 20, the Bush administration was considering plans to help rebuild the country after fighting ceased. According to news reports in early March, the U.S. Agency for International Development secretly asked six U.S. companies to submit bids for a $900 million government contract to repair and reconstruct water systems, roads, bridges, schools and hospitals in Iraq.
The six companies -- Bechtel Group Inc., Fluor Corp., Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root, Louis Berger Group Inc., Parsons Corp. and Washington Group International Inc. -- contributed a combined $3.6 million in individual, PAC and soft money donations between 1999 and 2002, the Center reported on its news site, CapitalEye.org. Sixty-six percent of that total went to Republicans.
opensecrets.org
It's a PR stunt. Trying to punish the non-allied in the public spotlight as a means of humiliating and teaching a lesson to those that don't fall in line with the US's policy of global reorganization.
Halliburton (Cheney) and Bechtel (Rumsfeld) already have their contracts in place. What does Bush get? Campaign dollars.
Halliburton:
Separately, Halliburton reported Wednesday that its third-quarter revenue rose to $4.14 billion from $2.98 billion a year earlier, in part because of KBR's government work. Of this we're already starting to see them
milk it for all it's worth.
Bechtel:
Faced with escalating costs and continued instability in Iraq, U.S. officials in Baghdad have decided to boost Bechtel Group Inc.'s postwar reconstruction contract by $350 million, or more than 50%, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
So let's get this straight - Halliburton and Bechtel are taken care of first off, no bidding, we've taken care of some of our election dollar donations and our buddies, and the rest is a carrot we'll wave in the face of everyone who didn't back us. That should be a lesson to them, and a message to the world. It's a public relations game they play, failing to see that they might be wrong but wallowing in the hubris of self-righteousness.
There might be more to say when we see who gets the 18 billion and how it's actually spent. Not to mention the money they spend when they (inevitably) go over budget.
For all the money Halliburton and Bechtel have gotten, what has happened in Iraq? Bush says all kinds of great things are happening despite daily attacks on US troops. Just like he told us there'd be a ton of WMD's. How can you make progress in a country that simply does not want you there, or governing over them?
Yes, there are people among us who believe that the US is yet to turn Iraq into utopia, however, there is still the example of
Afghanistan, a job of "liberation" not even quarter finished before the US trounced on Iraq. Where's the commitment? Now there's talk of Syria, Iran, Korea, Cuba... how much will they accomplish with dwindling resources in Iraq when Bush is so attack-happy, wants to build weapons in space at the same time AND has the idea of sending a mission to the moon. The man is delusional. To think he or his administration has the ability to deliver any country from "terror" is both presumptuous and foolish, and we've seen that his method of combatting terror does not work, but rather breeds it.
So this 18 billion dollars for contracts - so? It's blood money. Let them wave their bloody carrot, I'm glad Canada doesn't take any of the money. There are far better ways to make money on this planet than by destroying countries then paying yourself (or other minions) to rebuild them.
I'm also interested in hearing what the other "hippies" on here have to say.
