The reconstruction of New Oraq- All that's missing is the insurgency

[donsu]

http://www.atimes.com/



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In recent weeks, news has been seeping out of Iraq that the "reconstruction" of that country is petering out, because the money is largely gone. According to American officials, reported T Christian Miller of the Los Angeles Times last week, "The US will halt construction work on some water and power plants in Iraq because it is running out of money for projects." A variety of such reconstruction projects crucial to the everyday lives of Iraqis, the British Guardian informs us, are now "grinding to a halt" as "plans to overhaul the country's infrastructure have been downsized, postponed or abandoned because the $24 billion budget approved by Congress has been dwarfed by the scale of the task."

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As Reuters reported recently: "A slowing of reconstruction work in Iraq has freed up people for Fluor Corp to begin rebuilding in the US Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina, the big engineering and construction company's chairman and chief executive said on Friday. 'Our rebuilding work in Iraq is slowing down and this has made some people available to respond to our work in Louisiana,' Fluor chief Alan Boeckmann said in a telephone interview." And Fluor responded in a thoroughly reasonable way - they put an experienced man on the job, sending their "senior project manager" in Iraq to Louisiana

In fact, with Congress already making a $62 billion initial down payment on post-Katrina reconstruction work, the Bush administration has just given out its first six reconstruction contracts, five of them - could anyone be surprised - to Iraqi reconstructors, including Fluor. Small world indeed. The Bush version of crony capitalism should perhaps be termed predatory capitalism, following as it does so closely in the wake of war and natural disaster, much as camp followers used to trail armies, ready, in case of victory, to loot the baggage train of the enemy.

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On September 12, the Wall Street Journal reported, "FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers have awarded six contracts, most for as much as $100 million, for recovery and rebuilding work." It should be of little surprise that the Shaw Group landed two of these $100 million deals (a FEMA contract to refurbish existing buildings and for other emergency housing tasks as well as an Army Corps of Engineers contract to aid recovery efforts, including pumping water from New Orleans).

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Today, New Orleans' streets are under military occupation; its property is guarded by hired guns; and the corporations of the whirlwind are pouring into town. All that's missing is the insurgency.
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as snake Cheney would say, a business exercise

[Bob3]

1. give it time - it took a while for the Iraq Insurgency to start

N/T