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Al Jazeera (English)
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Iraqi Civilian Deaths ... caused by Bush's unprovoked war

 

Cheney's Chums Steal Another $1.82 Billion in Iraq Work
(Quicken.com, January 6, 2004)
A unit of Bechtel Group Inc. will receive $1.82 billion in additional Iraq reconstruction work, the first in a series of new contracts meant to accelerate the U.S.-led rebuilding effort there. . . . The award to Bechtel National Inc. nearly doubles the workload the privately held, San Francisco-based construction giant is already performing in Iraq. . . . Bechtel will take the lead, in partnership with Parsons Corp. of Pasadena, Calif., in overseeing work over the next two years that will focus largely on Iraq's battered electricity, water and transportation system. Just over $1 billion of the work will go to rebuild power stations and restore the electricity grid. [COMMENT: Of course, this is the very same infrastructure that the Cheney-Bush junta destroyed with their massive bombing campaign. Nice way to steal tax dollars, huh? You destroy some nation's infrastructure and then give your friends the exclusive rights to rebuild that same infrastructure and get paid for it with tax dollars. Ayn Rand's looters were petty thieves compared to those in power today.] . . . The Bechtel announcement came as the Pentagon prepared to release 17 detailed bid documents for another $5 billion in reconstruction work. Awards for those contracts are expected by early March. All told, the administration plans to spend $12.6 billion this year on rebuilding Iraq and improving its security services, and another $5.79 billion next year, according to a voluminous report sent to Congress. . . . Bechtel was picked early last year to do an initial $680 million worth of reconstruction work in Iraq through a secretive, closed competition in which seven companies were invited to bid and four chose to do so. This competition, for nearly three times as much work, was fully open to all U.S. companies but drew fewer bidders, in part because of increased jitters over the precarious security situation in Iraq. [COMMENT: What do you want to bet that Bechtel gets priority treatment when it comes to having the US military provide security.]

posted by Lorenzo 3:24 PM