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<p>PARIS (Reuters) - French oil company TotalFinaElf does not expect to be frozen out of oil contracts in Iraq despite France's tough opposition to the U.S.-led war, the firm's chief of exploration and production said Tuesday.</p> <p>In an interview with the newspaper Le Figaro, Christophe de Margerie dismissed rumors Total was on a "black list" of firms that will be denied lucrative contracts in post-war Iraq, although he stressed the firm remains vigilant.</p>

PARIS, April 22 (Reuters) - French oil giant TotalFinaElf does not expect to be frozen out of oil contracts in Iraq despite France's tough opposition to the U.S.-led war, the firm's chief of exploration and production said on Tuesday. In an interview with Le Figaro newspaper, Christophe de Margerie dismissed rumours Total was on a "black list" of firms that would be denied lucrative contracts in post-war Iraq, although stressed the firm remained vigilant. "Of course, we remain extremely vigilant over the evolution of the situation, but our recent meetings, and there has been many of them, with our...

Saddam Over Haliburton? By Christopher Hitchens MSNBC.com | April 21, 2003 In the waning days of the argument over whether to intervene in Iraq, I came to think that I could, with a 99 percent chance of being bang on target and inflicting no collateral damage, spot an obvious phony. At the meeting or the debate, someone would get up and announce that of course we’d all be better off without the “bad guy” Saddam Hussein. Having cleared his or her throat in this manner, the phony would go on to say what the real problem was (East Timor sometimes,...

US firm is hired to purge schools of Saddam's doctrine By David Usborne in New York 22 April 2003 The United States is taking the first steps towards rebuilding Iraq's creaking and highly politicised school system with a view to excising the image and doctrines of Saddam Hussein from classrooms. A private company based in Washington DC, Creative Associates International, is preparing to deploy teams of education experts throughout the country after winning an initial contract from the US government. Its task is to prepare Iraqi primary and secondary schools for the new year starting in October. The contract, which...

Looks like the Cold War ended too soon :P Apparently the Russians spied on Bush and Blair and relayed their plans for with the inspection teams to Iraq. Russia briefed Iraq on US tactics to justify invasion By David Harrison in Baghdad April 21 2003 Russian agents reported to Iraq that the US President, George Bush, hoped to justify war by provoking a conflict with United Nations weapons inspectors, according to Iraqi intelligence documents. The documents were found in the smoking ruins of the headquarters of the Iraqi Intelligence Service in Baghdad and showed that only months before war began, the...

Australia prepares for trade battle with US over Iraq reconstruction SYDNEY (AFP) © 2003 AFP Iraq received wheat through the oil-for-food programme before the Unitred States launched an invasion to topple leader Saddam Hussein Australia and the United States -- the staunchest of allies during the war in Iraq -- are shaping up for a hotly-contested trade battle over rebuilding the war-ravaged nation.Trade issues are expected to be high on the agenda when Prime Minister John Howard visits Bush's Texas ranch early next month to discuss the post-war Iraq.Howard has been urged by Australian businesses to seek assurances US...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Friday awarded a 50-million-dollar contract to a private, Virginia-based firm to recruit advisors to train police in post-war Iraq, the State Department and the company said. "We have awarded a contract to DynCorp International to identify, deploy and support up to 1,000 police, justice and prison advisors to Iraq," said Brenda Greenberg, a department spokeswoman. The value of the contract could be as high as 50 million dollars in the first year, she said, confirming a statement from DynCorp's parent company Computer Sciences Corporation. The final amount of the contract will depend...

ROME, Apr 18, 2003 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov insisted Friday that contracts signed with Iraq before the war be honored, and that debts owed by Baghdad should be paid. The comments were made after talks in Rome with Italy's Premier Silvio Berlusconi that included the issue of Iraq's reconstruction after the end of the war. Russia has been eager to protect lucrative contracts held by Russian oil companies to develop Iraq's oil industry. "We believe that the contracts in force must be respected," Kasyanov said. "Debts must be paid and respected." Russia is owed...

DEBLIN, Poland, Apr 18, 2003 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Poland on Friday signed a deal to buy 48 U.S.-made F-16 jet fighters for US$3.5 billion, the biggest defense contract by a former Soviet bloc country since the end of the Cold War. Along with the purchase of planes from Lockheed Martin Corp., Polish and U.S. officials concluded an agreement for U.S. investment in Poland, business deals with Polish manufacturers and transfer of technology that the government valued at a minimum of US$7.5 billion. With its complexity, scope and promise of economic benefits for the former communist nation, the package...

<p>By William Neikirk Tribune senior correspondent Published April 13, 2003 WASHINGTON -- The United States' plan to rebuild Iraq, which will cost billions of dollars, already is facing criticism for being a closed process vulnerable to cronyism. Several members of Congress have denounced the administration's method of handpicking the contractors--many with strong Republican ties--who will be responsible for major reconstruction projects involving roads, oil wells and other infrastructure.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON - The government on Thursday awarded a big contract to evaluate and repair Iraq's power, water and sewage systems to Bechtel Corp. of San Francisco.</p> <p>The initial award by the U.S. Agency for International Development was for $34.6 million, although the contract could be worth up to $680 million over 18 months.</p>

<p>In the next month — and maybe as soon as within the next week — the Bush administration plans to submit to Congress its proposed reauthorization of the federal highway program, called TEA-21. The administration is now trying to decide whether the bill should include a requirement that the government's contractors and subcontractors be chosen not just on the basis of whether they are the low bidders, but also on the basis of race, ethnicity and sex. Yesterday, a number of leaders — including Linda Chavez, Clint Bolick, Ward Connerly and all four Republican appointees to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights — sent a letter to President Bush urging him not to include any such discrimination in his bill.</p>

Independents' day What record industry slump? Independent labels say business has never been better. By Lynne Margolis Eight years ago, Nan Warshaw, Rob Miller, and their Chicago friends were lamenting the dearth of "new and exciting music - music that ignited their passion the way punk and alternative rock had before big record labels and Gap commercials co-opted their sounds. Then they began noticing that several area bands were putting Hank Williams twists on their Nirvana and Elvis Costello influences. So they decided, for kicks, to put out a compilation album of "insurgent country." Warshaw and Miller anted up a...

<p>Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson pulled the plug Friday on contracts with friends, associates and former colleagues who were receiving up to $8,470 per month to provide consulting services to his office.</p> <p>Wesson's decision ended weeks of simmering controversy, inside and outside the Legislature, over open-ended contracts that did not stipulate what work must be done or set deadlines.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) --  A government contract awarded without competition to a Halliburton Co. subsidiary to fight oil well fires in Iraq is worth at least $7 billion over two years, the Army Corps of Engineers has disclosed to Congress.</p> <p>The contract also allows Halliburton subsidiary KBR, an engineering and construction company, to earn another 7 percent in profit, valued at $490 million.</p>

<p>After extending nearly $350,000 in consultant contracts to longtime friends and associates, Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson has decided not to publicly release any reports or documents that could show how hard they worked or what they accomplished.</p> <p>Wesson's decision leaves Californians with no effective way to measure the value or cost effectiveness of about a half-dozen contracts -- ranging from $5,000 to $8,470 per month -- that Wesson awarded to legislative colleagues or allies.</p>

The polemic against France does not decrease by intensity in the media.The Los Angeles Times re affirmed Sunday that 'the key to the French and Russian position about Iraq is money.'According to the California national daily, the governments of these two countries seek to protect the interests of their companies, which have positions in Iraq, and want to enter the markets of the future rebuilding of the country.In the March 7 Washington Times, reporter Bill Gertz wrote that an unidentified French company sold spare parts of Mirage planes and Gazelle helicopters in Iraq in January, while passing by an intermediary...

00:44 2003-03-07 Iraq: The Truth, The Whole Truth Dominican Sister Sharine, Iraqi, lives in Baghad. She went to the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, where she was heard by Pravda.Ru contacts, among them Joao Pedro Stedille, who sent us this report. We thank Senhor Stedille most sincerely for this chilling report. Viruses and mice dropped by parachute against Iraqi agriculture “One of the main causes of the hunger which afflicts the Iraqi people is the policy adopted by the USA, for more than eight years now, of sending viruses against Iraqi crops and the policy of dropping thousands...

<p>SACRAMENTO - Top state officials Friday urged the creation of a board to oversee information-technology purchases, while also making a rare public admission that many of those who negotiate state contracts are unprepared for the job.</p> <p>At a news conference, the governor's top technology adviser proposed a new technology oversight panel as a way to protect taxpayers from a repeat of the Oracle software contract debacle.</p>

<p>The state will make no decision on whether to extend a contract to a Chattanooga company under investigation by the FBI until a review of the contract is completed, officials said yesterday.</p> <p>Workforce Strategists, owned by a friend of Gov. Don Sundquist, closed its doors and laid off its staff of seven Monday when its three-year, $1.9 million contract expired because it was unsure that a one-year, $744,000 extension would be granted.</p>