Gitmo contract story - was prison planned already in 2000? (skeptical)

[JackRiddler]

Go to the Pentagon contract awards page of Feb. 26, 2002, and you will find the following item (under "NAVY," scroll down almost to the end of the page).

QUOTE

Brown & Root Services, a division of Kellogg Brown & Root, Arlington, Va., was awarded today a $16,000,000 task order under a previously awarded cost reimbursement, indefinite-delivery and indefinite-quantity construction contract for construction of a 408-unit detention camp at the Radio Range area of U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Units will be of modular steel construction. Each unit measures 6 feet 8 inches by 8 feet and includes a bed, a toilet, and a hand basin with running water. Work will be performed in Guantanamo Bay and is to be completed by April 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The basic contract was competitively procured with 44 proposals solicited, three offers were received, and award was made on June 29, 2000. The total contract amount is not to exceed $300,000,000, which includes the base period and four option years. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic Division, Norfolk, Va., is the contracting activity (N62470-00-D-0005).

END QUOTE

Now people are saying this shows that the Guantanomo Bay prison was planned and contracted already in 2000, long in advance of the Dec. 2000 coup and 9/11.

However, I don't think so: it depends on the meaning of "a previously awarded cost reimbursement, indefinite-delivery and indefinite-quantity construction contract..."

I suspect that if you translate from Pentagonese into English, this means that Halliburton (the parent of Kellog Brown and Root) received a general contract (on a competitive basis) to build something at a later date, and the actual item to build was only specified in Feb. 2002. Awarding a contract in advance for "something" seems like a rather dubious practice - just the kind of thing that might help in making 2.3 trillion dollars in Pentagon assets go poof - but we'll leave that for a different chapter.

The immediate question is whether Gitmo prison camp was planned a year in advance of 9/11. I don't think the wording of the contract award suggests it was, but I could be wrong. ANYONE HERE SPEAK PENTAGONESE?

Of course, it may have been. The military has been building empty prison camps for possible future use for many years (see FEMA).

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

1. Randi Rhodes talked about this yesterday. She said that it was

being planned to handle refuges from Kosovo. My problem is that these sound too much like prison cells for my liking. My problem also is that this was planned under Clinton, and according to Randi, he knew about it.

[Amy6627]

2. Do you know where Randi got her info? I was listening to

the very end of her show, so I didn't hear the whole story. I have a problem with it being planned under Clinton too. I tried to google it, but didn't come up with anything. I would love to read any info on this.

Thanks!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. She remembered when it was being discussed, way back then.

She recalled Clinton's press secretary fielding questions about it.