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UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - In a move to win allies, the United States is considering honoring contracts made by Saddam Hussein's government under the U.N. oil-for-food program if the Security Council lifts sanctions against Iraq, diplomats said on Friday. The proposal was made by U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte during a meeting of council members and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday and reported by several participants in the session. It would reimburse firms whose contracts had been approved and funded under the multibillion dollar program. Negroponte said a final decision had not been made. However, his comments indicated serious consideration...

America takes on the reconstruction of Iraq and the challenges of a postwar world at a happy time, for it is flooded with advice, all of it good. Unfortunately, all of it is also contradictory. We must have an agenda for Iraq's political future, but we must not behave like occupiers. We should not formally end the regime of sanctions until we have scoured the country for weapons of mass destruction, yet we should restore Iraqi prosperity forthwith. We should be wary of a fundamentalist uprising, without imposing our values. Got that?American efforts in Iraq are proceeding along two...

  Daily Briefing   April 30, 2003Contract to run Los Alamos lab to go up for bids<! *** ADDRESS ***>By Amelia Gruberagruber@govexec.com <! *** /ADDRESS ***> <! *** STORY ***> For the first time, the University of California will face competition for the contract to manage Los Alamos National Laboratories, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced Wednesday. The university has operated Los Alamos for the Energy Department since the lab was opened 60 years ago. Its current contract ends in 2005. But recent allegations of mismanagement have led lawmakers and administration officials to rethink the university’s role. Last year, two...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.The war in Iraq could not have taken place without a network of for-profit contractors upon which the U.S. military has come to depend. Some 20,000 employees of private military companies (PMCs) and of more traditional military contractors accompanied the U.S. forces in the buildup to war in the Middle East. They maintained computers and communications systems in Kuwait, Qatar and other locations, handled many aspects of logistics as the military's supply lines moved through Iraq and helped the Pentagon identify key targets in Iraq. As hostilities began, many of these PMC...

But funding may suffer as Americans focus on Hizbullah, Iraq The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has no plans to reduce aid to Lebanon, but funding levels may be impacted by the political considerations of a US administration increasingly critical of Hizbullah, keen to move ahead with the peace process and focused on Iraq. USAID mission director Raouf Yussef told reporters during a briefing at the US Embassy in Awkar on Tuesday that Washington would not be using aid as a tool to pressure Lebanon and Syria to comply with its demands regarding Hizbullah and other regional issues. The...

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) -- Eastern European nations that supported the U.S.-led war on Iraq are poised to reap the benefits of their stance -- which may include getting some contracts to rebuild Iraq and a speedier confirmation of NATO status. "A lot of people here are looking for ways to help those countries that came along with us," said John Hulsman, a European policy analyst at the Heritage Society, a Washington-based think tank. "There's brainstorming about how to help them -- diplomatically and economically." Among the options being discussed by the White House and Congress is shifting some U.S. military...

US begins payback drive So far the payback campaign is symbolic, but observers worry the tone could worsen in the looming UN debate over the shape of post-war Iraq, and could trigger a trade war. “It's posturing mainly,” said Phyllis Bennis, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Policy Studies. “But the extraordinary thing is, there hasn't been any let-up.” Among members of the UN Security Council, the principle victim of Washington's displeasure has been Chile, which had been about to sign a free trade agreement with the US. The deal had been bundled with a similar pact for Singapore,...

When U.S. government agencies awarded Halliburton (HAL) and Bechtel Group contracts to help rebuild Iraq, observers cried foul. Lawmakers, media commentators, and even British companies complained that politics was involved: Vice-President Dick Cheney, it was noted, ran Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, and Bechtel's Republican ties reach back generations. Moreover, the critics said, deals worth billions of dollars were being handed out in a secretive process that unfairly excluded foreign competitors. Not so, say government officials who oversaw the process. The contracts were awarded by career civil servants, not political appointees, on the basis of technical merit, following strict government...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government ignored its own rule requiring security clearances for companies seeking Iraq rebuilding contracts, an internal investigation found Monday, awarding a seaport project to a firm without such a clearance. The US Agency for International Development deleted the requirement from the contract of Seattle-based Stevedoring Services of America, after learning the firm lacked the clearance. USAID justified the change by declaring the clearance no longer was needed once the war started. Some members of Congress sharply criticized the agency for awarding contracts under a limited, invitation bidding process. USAID justified the procedure by saying it needed...

U.S. eyes big role for Poland in Iraq - report WARSAW, April 28 (Reuters) - The United Stateswould like Poland to contribute up to 4,000 troops to a peacekeeping force overseeing the instalment of a democratic government in Iraq, the top-selling Polish daily reported on Monday. The Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper quoted a senior Pentagon official as saying that the Polish brigade was part of one of two international divisions that Washington is considering for the peacekeeping force. "We would be happy if Warsaw agreed to send up to 4,000 troops," the official, who asked not to be named, was quoted...

The U.S. and its allies who fought in and supported the war against Iraq will get priority over countries such as Canada who opposed the war when it comes to getting contracts to rebuild Iraq, Colin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State, said yesterday. Mr. Powell has previously expressed disappointment in Ottawa's decision not to join the U.S.-led coalition, but this is the first time he has said Canada will pay a price for its decision. "Let's be candid," said Mr. Powell. "It was a coalition of the willing, with the United States and the United Kingdom in the lead...

Wanted: a Native owned company Lack of Indian subcontractors forces Creek Nation to go looking SAM LEWIN - 04/25/2003 The Creek Nation will do $15 million worth of construction this year, but hardly any of that work is subcontracted out to Native owned firms. The Nation’s bylaws encourage a Native American hiring preference. The dilemma is that it’s hard to keep track of which companies are Native owned, so when it comes time to dole out contracts, many non-Native businesses end up with the work. “It’s tough to get Indian subcontractors”, said Pat Freeman, Construction Manager for the Creek...

<p>Carolyn McIntyre can hardly wait to go back to Iraq.</p> <p>The Middle East director for San Francisco adventure travel company Geographic Expeditions last saw Baghdad in the late 1970s, just as Saddam Hussein was taking over and long before the first Gulf War and trade sanctions put Iraq off-limits for U.S. companies.</p>

USAID expects to award many subcontracts to regional firms The United States so far has spent nearly $600 million on humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts for Iraq, says US Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Andrew Natsios. More than $500 million of that amount has gone to United Nations agencies—such as the World Food Program (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)—for emergency relief, he added. Speaking to reporters April 21 at the State Department's Foreign Press Center, Natsios said internationally recognized nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) so far have received approximately $25 million in USAID funding for...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.BERLIN (Reuters) - A German company supplying paint for the White House said on Wednesday it was confident a deal to paint the Pentagon would survive a patriotic ambush from a U.S. congressman angry over German opposition to the Iraq war. Peter Neri, director of Keimfarben GmbH, told Reuters he was dismayed an Ohio congressman wanted to sabotage a verbal deal worth $150,000 he had won to paint the world's largest low-rise office building. "I'm confident we'll seal the deal," said Neri, whose paint firm in Augsburg, southern Germany, is 125 years...

Don't Honor Saddam's BribesBy Dick MorrisFrontPageMagazine.com | April 23, 2003 Why do you think France, Russia and China sided with Saddam Hussein in the United Nations Security Council against the invasion of Iraq? It was because their support was bought and paid for by the Iraqi dictator. Now, in the ruins of his empire, the question is whether the world will honor his bribes. In 1997, Saddam Hussein hit on a bright idea for obstructing American efforts to interrupt his grand design for regional domination. Needing United Nations approval to lift sanctions and allow unrestricted oil sales, he passed out...

U.S. weighs German sealant for Pentagon walls By Jim Wolf WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - The Defense Department, prodded by a lawmaker angry at German opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, said on Tuesday it was weighing whether to stick with its chosen German-based product for a potential $4.3 million contract to seal the Pentagon's exterior concrete walls. The chief engineer of the building's 20-year, $3-billion renovation project, Georgine Glatz, has been comparing the sealant with a rival made in the complainant lawmaker's hometown in Ohio, said a department spokesman, Brett Eaton. An outside engineering firm, Northbrook, Illinois-based Wiss,...

<p>URS Corp., a San Francisco planning and engineering firm partially owned by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband, landed an Army contract Monday worth up to $600 million.</p> <p>The award to help with troop mobilization, weapons systems training and anti-terrorism efforts is the latest in a string of plum defense jobs snared by URS. In February, the firm won an army engineering and logistics contract that could bring in $3.1 billion during the next eight years.</p>

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. A programmer of a secure, free operating system claims the U.S. research agency cut off grant money after he made an anti-war statement to a major newspaper, but officials denied the grant had been cancelled. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency halted the contract less than two weeks after The Globe and Mail of Toronto published a story in which programmer Theo de Raadt was quoted as saying he was “uncomfortable” about the funding source, Mr. de Raadt said. “I try to convince myself that our grant means a half...

Brussels (dpa) - The European Commission on Tuesday said it was keeping a close watch on they way American officials were awarding lucrative contracts to rebuild Iraq.    ''We are looking at each contract, case by case,'' European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy told reporters.    Each contract would be judged on its compatibility with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules on public procurement, Lamy said.    The E.U. trade chief was responding to a query on statements by senior U.S. officials that reconstruction contracts for post-war Iraq could be limited to American firms and companies from coalition partners.    But Lamy said it was...