Free Republic

So You Say It's About Oil? The Bush administration, in preparation for the possible ouster of Saddam Hussein and any aftereffects that may entail, is soliciting bids for reconstruction and improvement projects in Iraq. "Sure," you say, "they're looking for companies to rebuild the oil production capacity after the war." Wrong. The huge contracts, worth almost a billion dollars initially, are for roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and even mosques that might be damaged. The U.S. is also soliciting emergency bids from some of the nation's biggest construction giants so that we can move fast and show the Iraqi people that...

The American government is on the verge of awarding construction contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild Iraq once Saddam Hussein is deposed. Halliburton, one of the companies in the running for the highly profitable deals, was formerly headed by the US vice-president, Dick Cheney. Halliburton has already been awarded a lucrative contract to resurrect the Iraqi oilfields if there is a war. Other companies have strong ties to the US administration, including the construction giant Bechtel, the Fluor Corporation, and the Louis Berger Group, which is involved in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Only US companies are on...