Gee Al, there seems to be another theory....
Tuesday March 11, 2003 11:45 a.m. EST
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 we are serious about helping.
The U.S. Agency for International Development is also seeking bids to repair other things that might be damaged in war, or that may simply be dilapidated or out-dated, such as airports, the electrical grid, printing operations and the like.
Some of the large companies that will be bidding are Louis Berger Group, Bechtel Group, the Fluor Corporation, and yes, for all you conspiracy theorists out there, a subsidiary of Halliburton - Kellogg, Brown & Root - is developing plans to fight oil well fires in case Saddam lights up the Middle East by blowing up his wells.
Incidentally, the plans are being developed under an existing contract with the government because that is what KB&R does, not because Dick Cheney was the CEO, so let's calm down out there.
So, it seems that, contrary to the main argument of appeasement activists, the only thing Iraqi oil will be used for is to build Iraq itself. |
