[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [SRRTAC-L:11942] Iraq Contracts & the Iron Triangle
Alfred Kagan
akagan at uiuc.edu
Mon Nov 3 11:57:24 CST 2003
>Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 12:06:43 -0600
>From: "S.Michael Malinconico" <mmalinco at slis.ua.edu>
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>To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l at ala.org>
>Subject: [SRRTAC-L:11942] Iraq Contracts & the Iron Triangle
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>If you have not already seen this: The
>following report could have come straight from
>the pages of Dan Briody's excellent book, Iron
>triangle, New York, Wiley, 2003.
>
>I realize this sort of chicanery is "business as
>usual" now. Still it is rankling to not that
>there is so little mention of it in the
>media--at least the media to which I have
>access, which is admittedly limited; I don't
>have TV, my local newspaper only repeats AP
>stories with upbeat, pro-Administration
>headlines, and I only bother to read the on-line
>version of the NYT--and the best local radio
>station is NPR (National Pentagon Radio).
>
>At the risk of making the obvious explicit how
>can the same press that hounded Clinton for a
>petty land deal, which may or may not have been
>questionable, and for being a colossal jerk with
>an intern, be so oblivious to all of this?
>
>American soldiers are getting killed every
>day--and those are the lucky ones; the unlucky
>ones come home sans limbs or eyes or their
>humanity and have to live another 60 years with
>those afflictions. This is to say nothing of
>the horrendous toll on human lives and misery
>inflicted on the Iraqi people as a direct result
>of this current campaign of terror against them
>as well as the one carried out a decade ago as
>well as a decade of imposed privation. As a
>direct consequence of this global misery, the
>personal fortunes of investors in the Carlyle
>Group--The Bushes (père et fils), James Baker,
>Richard Darman, Frank Carlucci, John Major, Park
>Tae-joon, the former Prime Minister of South
>Korea, etc.--grow.
>
>"Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
>Bury the rag deep in your face
>For now's the time for your tears." R.Zimmerman
>
>****************************************************************************************************************
>Thursday, Oct. 30, 2003
>Report Links Iraq Deals to Bush Donations
>(http://my.netscape.com/corewidgets/news/story.psp?cat=51180&id=200310301132000188134)
>
>WASHINGTON (AP) - Companies awarded $8 billion
>in contracts to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan
>have been major campaign donors to President
>Bush, and their executives have had important
>political and military connections, according to
>a study released Thursday.
>
>The study of more than 70 U.S. companies and
>individual contractors turned up more than
>$500,000 in donations to the president's 2000
>campaign, more than they gave collectively to
>any other politician over the past dozen years.
>
>The report was released by the Center for Public
>Integrity, a Washington-based research
>organization that produces investigative
>articles on special interests and ethics in
>government. Its staff includes journalists and
>researchers.
>
>The Center concluded that most of the 10 largest
>contracts went to companies that employed former
>high-ranking government officials, or executives
>with close ties to members of Congress and even
>the agencies awarding their contracts.
>
>Major contracts for Iraq and Afghanistan were
>awarded by the Bush administration without
>competitive bids, because agencies said
>competition would have taken too much time to
>meet urgent needs in both countries.
>
>``No single agency supervised the contracting
>process for the government,'' Center executive
>director Charles Lewis said. ``This situation
>alone shows how susceptible the contracting
>system is to waste, fraud and cronyism.''
>
>J. Edward Fox, an assistant administrator at the
>U.S. Agency for International Development, took
>issue with Lewis' statement and aspects of the
>report.
>
>``It would ... be incorrect to suggest that
>there is no overall oversight of this process,''
>he wrote the Center. ``The USAID inspector
>general's review of all Iraq contracts which was
>requested by USAID Administrator Andrew S.
>Natsios on April 14th has shown that all Iraq
>contracts to date have been done in compliance''
>with federal regulations.
>
>The top contract recipient was the Halliburton
>subsidiary KBR, with more than $2.3 billion
>awarded to support the U.S. military and restore
>Iraq's oil industry.
>
>Halliburton was headed by Vice President Dick
>Cheney before he resigned to run with Bush in
>2000.
>
>Halliburton's top executive, Dave Lesar, said
>Wednesday he was offended by criticism of the
>company's Iraq work but believed it was ``less
>about Halliburton and more about external
>political issues.''
>
>``As a company uniquely qualified to take on
>this difficult assignment, we will continue to
>bring all of our global resources to bear at
>this critical time in the Middle East. We have
>served the military for over 50 years and have
>no intention of backing down at this point,'' he
>said.
>
>Bechtel was second with a $1 billion capital
>construction contract involving Iraq's
>utilities, telecommunications, railroads, ports,
>schools, health care facilities, bridges, roads
>and airports.
>
>The company's Internet site says, ``We do engage
>in the political process, as do most companies
>in the United States. We have legitimate policy
>interests and positions on matters before
>Congress, and we express them in many ways,
>including support for elected officials who
>support those positions.
>
>``We do not expect or receive political favors
>or government contracts as a result of those
>contributions.''
>
>The Center's analysis of contractor political donations showed:
>
>The top 10 contractors contributed $11 million
>to national political parties, candidates and
>political action committees since 1990.
>
>Fourteen of the companies won contracts in both
>Iraq and Afghanistan. Those companies, combined,
>have given more than $23 million in political
>contributions since 1990.
>
>Most contractors, their political action
>committees and their employees have contributed
>just under $49 million to national political
>campaigns and parties since that year.
>
>In the same time period, contractor donations to
>Republican Party committees outpaced
>contributions to the Democrats, $12.7 million to
>$7.1 million.
>
>Many of the companies with large contracts have
>important political connections.
>
>Former Secretary of State George Shultz is a
>member of Bechtel's board of directors, although
>he has no management role, according to the
>company's Web site.
>
>Riley Bechtel, the chairman and chief executive
>officer, was named early this year to the
>President's Export Council, which advises the
>president on programs to improve U.S. trade.
>
>Jack Sheehan, senior vice president in Bechtel's
>petroleum and chemicals business, served on the
>Defense Policy Board, which advises the defense
>secretary on a variety of issues.
>
>Other contractors also had connections. Among those cited by the Center:
>
>David Kay, head of the Bush administration's
>search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,
>is a former vice president of Science
>Applications International Corp. He left the
>company in October 2002.
>
>Christopher ``Ryan'' Henry left the same company
>as a vice president in February 2003 to become
>principal deputy undersecretary of defense for
>policy.
>
>Scott Spangler, principal owner of Chemonics
>International, was a senior U.S. Agency for
>International Development official during the
>first Bush administration. The company receives
>90 percent of its business from USAID.
>
>Sullivan Haave Associates Inc. was founded by
>Carol Haave, currently the deputy assistant
>secretary of defense for security and
>information operations.
>
>The Center's findings are based, in part, on 73
>Freedom of Information Act requests and an
>analysis of a federal contractor database.
>
>On the Net:
>
>Center for Public Integrity: http://www.publicintegrity.org
>
>Bechtel: http://www.bechtel.com
>
>Halliburton: http://www.halliburton.com/
>
>--
>S.Michael Malinconico
>School of Library and Information Studies
>The University of Alabama
>Box 870252
>Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0252
>
>Tel: +1(205)348-8824
>Fax: +1(205)348-3746
>
>"But to live outside the law you must be honest." R.Zimmerman
--
Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA
tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu
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