[fightinJAG]

Newt was Greta's guest last night. He had no problem with the Haliburton contract or the fact that it was sole-sourced. He said Afghanistan reconstruction is still mired in bureaucracy, that not one road had been repaved in a year because we were still messing around with letting contracts.

He said it was better to use the short process, get going on the reconstruction and make some progress quickly. As time went on, things could be reassessed.

[harpseal]

The oil for food program seems to be a big slush fund to benefit the French and UN politiucians at the expense of the Iraqi people. Since the Baa'thist regime is no more I question how contracts entered into by it are binding upon the new government of Iraq.

[dighton]

......

[rhombus]

Hitchens really is a liberal who has been mugged. Welcome.

[buffyt]

They just hate Bush more than they care about anything else on earth. Sure, I hated Clinton and Carter, still do, but it doesn't obsess me. I am obsessed with my hubby, kids, cats, and FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Servant of the Nine]

It is not just in Oil Well Fire Fighting that options are limited.

How many Engineering companies in the world are large enough to handle construction/reconstruction on the scale being contemplated?

In the US, Halliburton and Fluor are about it.
There is Asea Brown Boveri Ltd which is Swiss/Norwegian.
There are a couple of Japanese and a couple of South Korean companies big enough.
I am not considering any company based in the Axis of Weasel.

That means there are less than 10 possible contractors worldwide.
There will be all the subcontracts that all of them are capable of handling before this is over.

There has to be one prime contractor coordinating everything.
It should damned sure be American, So it has to be Halliburton or Fluor.

If Fluor is in a better position to do the job I guarantee we will be hearing about it. They own congresscritters too.

SO9

[Gritty]

...there is a gigantic amount of money involved in the U.N.-administered oil-for-food program. Vast quantities of this surplus are still unspent,... U.N. officials are sitting contentedly on the transfers and that the great undisclosed balance is held in a French bank.

Gosh. Whooda thunk it?

It's a good thing the French and UN are in this just for altruism. Imagine where this program would be if they were in this for other reasons!

[MoralSense]

bump

[RippleFire]

bump

[remitrom]

Were Hithens ever to give up his Marxism, his analysis would loose its coating of cynicism and he might become one of the greatest neo-con commentators. Alas, his hatred of David Horowitz is so deep, he will probably die of binge-drinking before he ever joins the ranks of ex-commies. Sad because Hitchens life is another example of how socialism is bankrupt and the conservatives were right about every major issue since 1945.

[ellery]

bttt

[hotpotato]

oleaginous

What a great word for the application. I've got to remember this.