Bu**sh**/Cheney: Asian dictator or African dictator?

[eppur_se_muova]

I don't mean literally. But the way Halliburton, Bechtel, etc. keep getting these no-bid contracts for big projects and producing practically nothing in the way of results reminds me of a morbid joke from Aidan Hartley's excellent book "The Zanzibar Chest". Hartley was a reporter for Reuters who worked in Africa during the time of some of the bloodiest ethnic wars of the 20th Century. As you might imagine, he and his fellow journos saw enough death and cruelty to leave them jaded and cynical. He gives this joke as an example of how they came to regard the leaders of the unstable, crooked regimes which ruled so much of Asia and Africa. Supposedly, this joke was the outcome of comparing notes among journos with various backgrounds in Asia and Africa, and trying to answer the question: what's the difference between an Asian dictator and an African dictator? (FWIW, I'm paraphrasing from memory):

An African dictator paid a visit to an Asian dictator in his home country. He noted the lavish private airport, the richly planted gardens surrounding the official palace, and the fabulously expensive furnishings of the official residence. Knowing that this country was as poor as his own, he asked the Asian dictator "However could you afford such things"? The Asian dictator smiled, and pointed out the window to the new bridge being built with funds from international aid agencies. "You see that bridge?" he asked. He then smiled, tapped his finger on his chest, and said "Ten percent. Did you see that new dam being built on the river?" Again, he smiled, tapped himself on the chest, and said "Ten percent. You see, that is how I can afford such things". Now the African dictator was smiling too, and thanked the Asian dictator for the valuable lesson.

A couple of years later, the Asian dictator visited the African dictator in his country. He noted the airport was even more lavish than his own, the gardens even more lush, and the official palace even more palatial. Astounded at the African dictator's sudden wealth, he asked "However could you afford all this?". The African dictator pointed out the window. "You see that new bridge being built?". The Asian dictator scanned from horizon to horizon, and said "But I don't see any bridge!". The African dictator smiled, thumped himself on the chest, and said "One HUNDRED per cent!".

PS: When UN (really US) forces attacked a clan stronghold in Mogadishu, two of Hartley's colleagues died in the riot which followed. He gives a very different interpretation of the attack on the clan compound from what was presented in the US media -- it is worth reading the book for that alone.