Free Republic

US privatises its military aid to Georgia Nick Paton Walsh in Tbilisi Tuesday January 6, 2004 The Guardian The Pentagon is to privatise its military presence in Georgia by contracting a team of retired US military officers to equip and advise the former Soviet republic's crumbling military, embellishing an eastward expansion that has enraged Moscow. After a Georgian appeal for support to the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, during a visit last month, a team of 20-30 private defence consultants are already in Tbilisi. Their employer, a Washington security firm, Cubic, has a three-year $15m contract with the Pentagon to...

<p>There was a media firestorm when it was "discovered" that the United States was only going to allow American and allied companies to bid on $18.6 billion of Iraq reconstruction projects. Yet, this was old news. When the Pentagon set up its Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, its mandate was to make contracts only with American firms. The U.S. Agency for International Development had similar rules. As USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios said in April, "Some countries have complained that they were not invited to bid for these projects, which are funded by U.S. taxpayers." He then noted that "foreign aid agencies in most countries try to award contracts to their own companies, supporting business at home while delivering assistance abroad -- just as Americans want to see their tax dollars support jobs at home."</p>

Companies eager for a stake in the $18.6 billion in fresh postwar funds that Congress approved in November have been told not to expect requests for proposals from the Defense Department, the first step in the kind of ambitious redevelopment slated for the war-torn country. The freeze will almost certainly mean the United States will not issue new contracts until well after the initial Feb. 1 target date.

Iraq's interim trade ministry is investigating alleged corruption of up to $US40 million involving senior ministry officials, but has backed off initial claims that members of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) authority were implicated. Trade minister Ali Allawi said that he discovered a month ago that a contract for wooden doors worth about $80 million had been manipulated. Mr Allawi had said in an interview that members of the CPA were implicated but on Sunday night, following vehement CPA denials of involvement, said he was mistaken. He said a UN agency, not the CPA, continued to run a program...

  BAGHDAD - While France and Germany have decried a U.S. imposed ban bids on lucrative Iraqi rebuilding contracts except to coalition counties and those supporting the war in Iraq, Church & Dwight, Inc. the makers of the Nair line of hair removal products saw their stock triple just hours after they were awarded the exclusive contract.Competition was tense among Israeli-owned Mepro, the makers of the "Epilady" and the popular Australian product Nad's, an all natural waxing product featured on late night infommercials."We are just so excited about what this means to not just Iraqi women, but also their...

Kingdom Will Not Discuss Iraqi Debt Write-Off With Governing Council: Saud P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News Staff JEDDAH, 24 December 2003 — Saudi Arabia will not discuss any loan write-offs with Iraq’s interim US-appointed government, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said yesterday. He said the Kingdom would wait until Iraq had an independent government before looking into the possibility of reducing the debt. “This (debt) has to be discussed with a government with total sovereignty, so... this issue is now premature,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted him as saying. “There is an international dialogue and we are willing to take...

MOSCOW (AFP) - The head of the Iraqi Governing Council said after talks with President Vladimir Putin that Moscow was ready to forgive a large portion of Iraqi debts in return for favorable treatment for Russian oil and other companies. The two sides "discussed the question of writing off Iraq's debt and we received a generous promise to write off the debt, or at least a part of it," Abdul Aziz al-Hakim told reporters after meeting Putin for the first time in the Kremlin. In return "we will be open to all Russian companies," he added. Officials in the Iraqi...

General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp. (GD/EB) is being awarded a cost plus incentive fee contract worth $222 million for the conversion of the first Ohio Class Guided Missile Submarine (SSGN), USS Ohio (SSGN 726), and for Long Lead Time Material (LLTM) and Conversion Installation Planning for the Conversion of Ohio Class Ballistic Missile Submarines (SSBNs), the USS Michigan (SSBN 727) and the USS Georgia (SSBN 729), to SSGN 727 and SSGN 729. Emphasizing the importance of SSGNs, Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England, said, “The SSGN is an example of the Navy's innovative transformation that supports our joint warfighters....

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. There was a media firestorm last week when it was “discovered” that the United States was only going to allow American firms and those from allied countries to bid on $18.6 billion of Iraq reconstruction projects.  Yet, this was old news. When the Pentagon set up its Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, its mandate was to make contracts only with American firms.  The U.S.  Agency for International Development had similar rules.  As USAID administrator Andrew Natsios said last April,.  “Some countries have complained that they were not invited to bid...

<p>President Bush delivered a message to France and Germany yesterday as his personal envoy arrived in Europe to negotiate forgiveness of at least some of Iraq's debt: Prime reconstruction contracts in that war-torn country are not a topic of negotiation.</p>

(note: the author of the piece was a fellow at the institute that sponsored Coward Dean's hate-America fest yesterday in Century City) Incensed that foreign countries were playing favorites in doling out billions of dollars to build airports, roads and dams, the U.S. became a prime cheerleader for a global agreement on government procurement. Now, the U.S. stands accused of violating the very pact it worked so hard to create. The Pentagon said last week that companies from France, Canada and other countries that didn't contribute militarily to the Iraq war would be barred from bidding on $18.6 billion in...

OTTAWA, Dec 15 (Reuters) - New Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said on Monday he had tried to persuade U.S. President George W. Bush to let Canadian firms bid for lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts but had not managed to get a firm commitment. Martin, who took over last week from Jean Chretien, said he would raise the question again with Bush when they hold a bilateral meeting next month on the sidelines of a summit in Monterrey, Mexico. Canada is unhappy the White House has limited bidding on the contracts to companies from nations that contributed troops to the war...

Iraqi oil minister: Baghdad to favor war allies for oilfield investment (Reuters)

Old Europe’s head has exploded with rage, and I say good! Old Europe is mad and in the midst of throwing a temper tantrum, its arms flailing and feet dragging the floor. France, Germany and other countries too self-absorbed, politically inept and globally backward to help support the War on Terror in Iraq, are just shocked that the Pentagon has barred countries who opposed the war from bidding for some of that $18.6 billion in reconstruction contracts. Money, money, money. That’s what it’s all been about for them. They supported Iraq because there was money . Saddam owes Old Europe...

PARIS (AP)--U.S. President George W. Bush was "foolish" for shutting France out of lucrative contracts to rebuild Iraq, a French newspaper quoted presidential candidate Howard Dean as saying. Dean, one of a handful of Democratic hopefuls for the 2004 election, told Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche, "We need French help in Iraq." "It's natural that there's going to be a cooperation between the French and the Americans in Iraq, that the French business community would be able to compete just like everybody else," Dean said in the interview. "The president is very foolish to take retaliatory trade actions against...

Blair sides with Bush in Iraqi contracts row BRUSSELS (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair sided with the Bush administration in the row over Iraqi reconstruction contracts, saying the United States gets the last word on how it spends its own billions. Speaking at the EU summit in Brussels, Blair said a stable, prosperous Iraq was in Europe's own interests -- but that didn't automatically mean that European nations which opposed to the US-led war should share in the spoils. "It's very important to emphasise that this is American money (being spent on Iraqi reconstruction)," he told reporters. "It's...

The soundbite of the week was George W Bush's response to Gerhard Schröder. The German Chancellor suggested that the Pentagon's decision to make the axis of weasels ineligible for Iraqi reconstruction contracts might be illegal under international law. "International law?" said the President. "I'd better call my lawyer. He didn't bring that up to me." We're not talking about frosting the French, Germans, Russians and Canadians out of Iraq entirely. If you're a Paris printing company and you wish to open a new plant in Tikrit to pump out paperbacks of the latest French bestseller claiming that Dick Cheney and...

With the news that Vice President Dick Cheney's old firm Halliburton may have overcharged for gasoline it sold in Iraq, the field of Democratic presidential hopefuls are having a field day charging that President Bush allowed the company to engage in so-called "war profiteering" in return for its campaign contributions. White House wannabe Wesley Clark's comments were typical, with the retired general telling reporters that Bush is "more concerned about the success of Halliburton than having a success strategy in Iraq." But what about Gen. Clark's political sponsors, Bill and Hillary Clinton, whose administration, it turns out, funneled tens of...

Can you believe the bellyaching by France, Russia, Germany, and Canada because the U.S. has shut them out of any bidding for $18.6 billion in Iraq reconstruction contracts? You’d think they were all our best buddies and we’ve suddenly given them the cold shoulder. What a pack of fools they look like. They delayed the war in Iraq, exposing our soldiers to more peril, then they denounced America and our President every step of the way, further strengthening the resolve of the enemy and exposing our troops to even more danger. Even now there is little cooperation from them. To...

HOUSTON (AP) -- Countries that opposed the U.S. decision to invade Iraq have no right to protest U.S. initiatives restricting reconstruction contracts to allies, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United States, said Friday. Bandar said he thought it was "amazing" that war opponents now "feel they have a right to share in the pie" of reconstruction contracts. He said even more dangerous than terrorists themselves are those who say they condemn terrorism but don't actively fight it. Bandar repeatedly praised Bush's decisions to fight terrorism, invade Iraq and send troops to Afghanistan to oust...