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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dayuhan who wrote (9103)	9/24/2003 4:46:30 AM
From: unclewest	Respond to of 793688

giving no-bid contracts to the company the Vice-President used to run would, in a 3rd world country, be instantly classified as overt corruption Giving no-bid contracts in emergencies is routine. The congressional rules governing such contracts are quite extensive. Capability is often the key issue. Who else had the assets to move "quickly" to put out the oil fires and bring the gushing wells under control? It is important to note that the complaints are coming from demo politicians...not other corporations. These contracts are not carte blanche. Both Halliburton and the US Govt have enormous experience working together. The contract is full of limits and auditing requirements...and only a small fraction of the reported "potential amount" has been paid because the work has been done for far less than the demos were predicting. It is pure political smoke to cite a Cheney connection. You see none of that concerning the $670 million Bechtel contract...nor about the Vinnel contracts. A large communications infrastructure package may be next. These are providing lots of jobs for Americans. Retired SFers have been getting at least one job offer a week. If the French wanted to keep the contracts, their logical move would have been to jump into the American camp, send troops, and demand a cut of the action as a payoff The French thought they could kill the whole deal at the UN and keep their very lucrative (and surreptitious) support of Saddam going. For a brief period when the Germans and Russians supported their position, the French thought they were running the entire world. The French strategy failed and their support is crumbling. The Russians have announced a new willingness to support the US. The Germans just sent more troops to Afghanistan. The French/Iraq financial connection has been severed. Their political positions have cost them dearly in exports to Iraq and the US. The old French/Iraq oil contracts are dead. Their tourist business has taken a big hit. France is close to becoming irrelevant. Watch for them to begin groveling soon. uw