US 'Corporate Invasion' Brings No Respite from War

[G_j]

US 'Corporate Invasion' Brings No Respite from War

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0905-05.htm

by Justin Huggler and Seb Walker in Baghdad

 Donald Rumsfeld flew to Baghdad yesterday. Not to a skyline bristling with cranes but to a city where there is still no electricity for much of the day because less power is being generated than under Saddam Hussein.

Almost five months after the overthrow of Saddam, entire neighborhoods are still without phone lines. The government offices bombed in the war are still blackened shells. Next to them stand the burnt-out ruins of ministries and shopping centers set on fire in the looting that followed.

But the US Defense Secretary was unlikely to see those, cocooned in security to keep him from the seething anger against the American occupation. Much of Baghdad is still an armed American camp. The country's infrastructure is in a worse state than it was under Saddam.

One of the accusations leveled at the US invasion was that it was simply paving the way for a subsequent American corporate invasion. But despite billions of dollars of contracts won by American companies, there are no visible signs of reconstruction at all.
...more..

[NJCher]

1. the biggest scam ever

This was never anything but a plan to reward defense constractors for reorders by using up tons of bombs and other weapons. Next, reward campaign contributors like Bechtel and Halliburton to put it all back together. Billions and billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars, all funneled to corporate interests under the guise of "liberation." Even last night on CBS Darth Rumsfeld was yapping away about 23 million Iraqis "liberated." Liberated for what--reedom to live in chaos, on a survival scale?

Now, as this article illustrates, we see buscho has found ways to thwart system and funnel even more into companies like Bechtel.

One small problem! It's so dangerous the companies can't do their work.

But you can be sure that won't stop them from collecting our tax dollars.


Cher

[Plaid Adder]

2. Interesting angle on this from a neighbor

My across-the-street neighbor is a self-employed "oils and greases broker." I do not totally understand what this means but apparently if someone gets stuck with a load of lubricant they don't need he finds a place to sell it. He seems to do pretty well for himself, although I'm sure he operates on a comparatively modest scale.

He told me a while back that he had been down to a trade expo organized by some federal agency for American contractors who wanted to get in on the rebuilding effort in Afghanistan. This was an event that was supposed to be specifically tailored for small businesses. He went down there, and found that it was totally overrun by subsidiaries of the big guys--Bechtel, Halliburton, etc. And naturally complained about it, and is still waiting on results.

He also said, and I thought this was very interesting, that for all the crap about these multibillion dollar contracts, most of the actual reconstruction work--highways, infrastructure, anything not involving oil--in Afghanistan is not being done by American companies. According to him, most big American companies consider the job of rebuilding Afghanistan too *small* to be worth the money and effort it would be to get everything over there. So the roads are being rebuilt by companies based in the region--Pakistan, India, etc. The oil, of course, is a different story.

So that was interesting. I imagine it is the same with Iraq: pumping oil is profitable enough to interest these vultures, but pouring concrete is not. Unless, you know, you can inflate the cost of building a bridge from $300,000 to $50,000,000.

:puke:

The Plaid Adder

[Ilsa]

4. A very experienced,

and medium sized oil field services contractor tried to bid on work in Iraq. He sid the process was ridiculous, it was so heavily weighted towards Halliburton. Even Bechtel complained aobut Halliburton's Cheney connection on the last bid. Bechtel walked out disgusted, according to the newspapers.

No bid contracts. Cheaper? Yeah right. I bet Halliburton doesn't have many friends left in the industry after this. Not that they'll need them, they are so stinking rich.

[G_j]

3. "Bomb Before You Buy"

this brought to mind this compelling pre-war article by Naomi Klein.

What is being planned in Iraq is not reconstruction but robbery

Naomi Klein Monday April 14, 2003 The Guardian On April 6, deputy defence ...
www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,936203,00.html