Mel Brennan
01 Apr 2003, 04:07 PM
From the Boulder Daily Camera: (http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0329-01.htm)
One of the things we don't want to do is destroy the infrastructure in Iraq because in a few days we're going to own that country.
Tom Brokaw, NBC News March 19, 2003
Although we have not yet completely prepared the site for reconstruction, we are nonetheless preparing for that event. Reconstruction was not, of course, the main purpose of the war. The buildings were perfectly OK before they were blown up. So were the victims of the bombing. They were both blown up to effect regime change. The people can't be reconstructed but the buildings can. We should, therefore, focus not on the misery that is being inflicted but upon the bright side of the war. And that is its aftermath and the opportunities for American companies that the aftermath presents.
Because of the bombing there is going to be the need for a massive amount of rebuilding, an undertaking that will very likely be considerably more than the $100 billion that has been estimated as the cost of the war. An article in The Wall Street Journal, published before the bombs started falling, disclosed that the United States had already begun putting work out for bids to help with the rebuilding. That is what is known as foresight and it is the kind of thinking you would expect from corporate moguls such as Dick Cheney. By letting contracts before there's anything for the companies to work on, those companies can be ready to begin rebuilding as soon as we finish destroying...
...Francis Cook, former American ambassador to Oman and a consultant to several Middle Eastern companies says: "They are already screaming in the Middle East — you call us corrupt, look at you giving contracts to American companies and no one else." What they don't appreciate is the debt of gratitude Mr. Bush owes the companies that are being permitted to bid.
The U.S. is not discriminating only against countries that opposed the war. Britain is also being excluded. British companies met with government officials in London on March 16 but were told by a spokesman for the Department of Trade and Industry that they could be promised nothing. Derek Simpson, a British labor union leaders said British companies would readily compete for reconstructions contracts if given the chance. They will not be given the chance for the foreseeable future.
The work being given U.S. companies will be paid for largely by Iraq. Contrasting the needs in Iraq with those in Afghanistan, at the State Department Daily Briefing conducted on March 21, 2003, Richard Boucher said: "There's oil revenue the Iraqis themselves have that they can spend on their own needs in rebuilding." That is a real boon to the United States. Mr. Bush lets contracts to rebuild the things he has destroyed or damaged to companies that supported him and the companies are paid with oil revenues derived from Iraq, the country whose buildings and infrastructure have been destroyed or damaged. It is a win-win situation for everyone except the Iraqis and the rest of the world.
Christopher Brauchli is a Boulder lawyer and and writes a weekly column for the Knight Ridder news service.
One of the things we don't want to do is destroy the infrastructure in Iraq because in a few days we're going to own that country.
Tom Brokaw, NBC News March 19, 2003
Although we have not yet completely prepared the site for reconstruction, we are nonetheless preparing for that event. Reconstruction was not, of course, the main purpose of the war. The buildings were perfectly OK before they were blown up. So were the victims of the bombing. They were both blown up to effect regime change. The people can't be reconstructed but the buildings can. We should, therefore, focus not on the misery that is being inflicted but upon the bright side of the war. And that is its aftermath and the opportunities for American companies that the aftermath presents.
Because of the bombing there is going to be the need for a massive amount of rebuilding, an undertaking that will very likely be considerably more than the $100 billion that has been estimated as the cost of the war. An article in The Wall Street Journal, published before the bombs started falling, disclosed that the United States had already begun putting work out for bids to help with the rebuilding. That is what is known as foresight and it is the kind of thinking you would expect from corporate moguls such as Dick Cheney. By letting contracts before there's anything for the companies to work on, those companies can be ready to begin rebuilding as soon as we finish destroying...
...Francis Cook, former American ambassador to Oman and a consultant to several Middle Eastern companies says: "They are already screaming in the Middle East — you call us corrupt, look at you giving contracts to American companies and no one else." What they don't appreciate is the debt of gratitude Mr. Bush owes the companies that are being permitted to bid.
The U.S. is not discriminating only against countries that opposed the war. Britain is also being excluded. British companies met with government officials in London on March 16 but were told by a spokesman for the Department of Trade and Industry that they could be promised nothing. Derek Simpson, a British labor union leaders said British companies would readily compete for reconstructions contracts if given the chance. They will not be given the chance for the foreseeable future.
The work being given U.S. companies will be paid for largely by Iraq. Contrasting the needs in Iraq with those in Afghanistan, at the State Department Daily Briefing conducted on March 21, 2003, Richard Boucher said: "There's oil revenue the Iraqis themselves have that they can spend on their own needs in rebuilding." That is a real boon to the United States. Mr. Bush lets contracts to rebuild the things he has destroyed or damaged to companies that supported him and the companies are paid with oil revenues derived from Iraq, the country whose buildings and infrastructure have been destroyed or damaged. It is a win-win situation for everyone except the Iraqis and the rest of the world.
Christopher Brauchli is a Boulder lawyer and and writes a weekly column for the Knight Ridder news service.