In article <qb67kvkucm263l56bikpbn818d2fairof6@4ax.com>, Charles D. Bohne
says...
On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 15:06:34 GMT, "James Oberg"
<jamesoberg@houston.rr.com> wrote:
Find a single Japanese who claims they were about to surrender -
Listen Oberg! - there is no, absolutely no, excuse for dropping
an atomic bomb. Nowhere on any planet. And most certainly
not on populated areas. God may forgive you - we do not!
C.
The thing about being a spOOk, like O-BORG,
is that you HAVE to follow the party lie,
or party line. If you decide to go against
them, like Sagan and the others, you
WILL be taken out. Of course Oby learned
a long long time ago which side of the
bread is buttered (pun intended!)
If that means a little genocide here,
total environmental destruction there,
blasting nukes on civilian populations,
so be it. It's all for profit, ask
Northrop, Lockheed, Boeing,
Raytheon, Betchel and Halliburton
and the Carlyle Group. It doesn't take
a genius to figure out the O-BORG
probably owns stock in many of those companies.
So what if World War 3 destroys us all.
So what if the cover-op crowd flies
passenger planes in the WTC (at least an
hour before the place was loaded with workers-
to minimize damage) or in the Penagon (the
part that was under construction for 2 years-
again to minimize damage), or cause a black-out
right after the stock exchange closed; or muder
a president or two (Bush pal Hinckleys kid almost
got Reagan - although none of his bullets hit Reagan!)
That's just how the game is played and if you are
like Oby, you keep your mouth shut, say there are
NO UFO's and America has the right to do
genocide where and when it wants!! That would
be nice if a person had no soul or conscience,
like most debunkers, but it is right for the
vast majority of humans.
Halliburton unit expands war-repair role By Stephen J. Glain and Robert
Schlesinger, Globe Staff, 7/10/2003
BAGHDAD�They travel like foreign dignitaries, their SUVs escorted by two US Army
Humvees and a security detail led by a master sergeant. No Iraqi official is too
busy to meet them and when it comes to Iraq�s most precious resource, oil, they
are granted total and instant access. Officials from Kellogg, Brown & Root
Services, a subsidiary of oil-services giant Halliburton Co., are using a
broadly worded contract to evaluate and repair Iraq�s petroleum infrastructure,
"as directed" by the US government, to gain a huge head start over potential
competitors in redeveloping the country�s vast, outdated oil industry. With much
of Iraqi reconstruction bogged down by sabotage, chronic looting, and
bureaucratic mire, KBR�which also is supposed to repair war-damaged oil wells
and provide general logistical support to the US Army�has expanded its role to
include everything from gasoline imports to laundry services. Some Iraqi oil
officials say KBR is using what appears to be an open-ended mandate to
effectively corner a market coveted by its rivals and to win business Iraqis can
do themselves.
"We don�t need KBR," says Dathar Al Khashab, general manager of Baghdad�s Daura
Refinery Co., which like Iraq�s other refineries badly needs new equipment after
a generation of sanctions. "I can work with any other company to do this job."
KBR�s work in Iraq comes under two different contracts. In 2001 the company was
awarded a 10-year contract under the Army Logistics Civil Augmentation Program,
known as Logcap, that calls for the company to provide a wide range of
logistical services to the US Army. By the end of May, KBR had received $425
million under that contract, according to correspondence between Representative
Henry A. Waxman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Government
Reform Committee, and the Department of the Army. Through that contract, KBR
had prepositioned personnel and equipment in the Iraq region�deployments that in
the Army�s eyes made the company the logical choice for an oil infrastructure
contract that was awarded soon after the war in Iraq began.
That KBR contract�according to Waxman, who is investigating the deal� has "no
set time limit and no dollar limit and is apparently structured in such a way as
to encourage the contract to increase its costs and, consequently, the costs to
the taxpayer."
It took Waxman�s investigation to uncover key details of the KBR contract, which
was awarded by the Army Corps of Engineers as part of a secret process by US
government agencies charged with rebuilding postwar Iraq. Several of the
companies involved in the closed-door bidding, allowed in times of a national
crisis under federal procurement laws, have close ties to the White House or
were major contributors to the Bush presidential campaign. In addition to KBR,
the winning bidders included San Francisco-based Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff,
which was awarded a $780 million contract to supervise Iraqi reconstruction.
Bechtel, together with Halliburton, donated more than $2 million in campaign
contributions, primarily to Republican candidates, according to the Center for
Responsive Politics. From 1995 to 2000, Halliburton was headed by now-Vice
President Dick Cheney. KBR, according to an Army Corp of Engineers official
responding in early April to Waxman�s written queries, was awarded a two-year,
$7 billion contract to put out oil well fires and evaluate the state of
petroleum fields in postwar Iraq.
By early July, five "task orders" had been issued under the infrastructure
contract worth more than $282 million, according to a website set up by the Army
Corps of Engineers. The orders included training and advice for safely shutting
down equipment and assessing damage, repairing facilities, building base camp
facilities, and bringing oil into Iraq while indigenous distribution systems are
still being repaired.
The contract was designed to cover a "worst-case estimate" of possible damage,
wrote Lieutenant General Robert Flowers, and "those services necessary to
support the mission in the near term." Flowers gave Waxman his written assurance
that "no other contractor could satisfy the mission requirements."
That�s not how many Iraqis see it. They say KBR�s preponderant role in postwar
reconstruction reinforces local suspicion that the invasion of Iraq was more
about promoting American corporate interests than removing Saddam Hussein. At a
time when US officials in Iraq have been criticized for employing American
companies to do what Iraqis are capable of doing on their own, KBR manages
laundry services and a hair salon at US occupation headquarters.
"KBR is performing tasks as directed by our clients to provide for the
continuity of operations of the Iraqi oil infrastructure, as well as the
logistical support services required as part of the Logcap contract," Cathy
Gist, a KBR manager of public and community relations, wrote in response to
e-mailed queries.
Iraqi and US officials offer different interpretations of KBR�s core business in
Iraq. Philip Carroll, US adviser to the Iraqi oil ministry, says the terms of
KBR�s contract limits the company to a survey of war-related damage and
recommendations on how to fix it. The survey should not cover equipment damaged
or worn out during the 13-year-old UN embargo imposed on Iraq after Baghdad�s
1990 invasion of Kuwait, he said. By year�s end, according to Carroll, KBR will
submit its report for evaluation by the oil ministry, which will use it as a
blueprint for the repair of Iraq�s oil infrastructure. "When they come up with a
plan they will submit it to the ministry, and we will review it and compare it
with the terms of their contract," he said.
To hear Iraqi oil officials tell it, the rebuilding process has already begun,
with KBR as both consultant and supplier. Khashab of the Daura refinery said
there is little war damage to evaluate, because the facility survived the war
unscathed. "We can go straight" into rebuilding, he said. "The refinery is very
old, and KBR is happy to help us. We�re sitting down with them, and they�re
working to get what we need." Khashab says he and KBR are discussing ways to
upgrade Daura�s capacity to develop light-oil products, such as lubricating oil.
It is a procurement job Khashab says he is perfectly capable of doing without
KBR�s help. "But since KBR is here," he said, "why not work with them?" KBR�s
Gist said that the company is conducting "emergency repairs" of the
infrastructure.
"KBR personnel continue to assess the situations and inspect the oil
infrastructure, performing repairs as directed by the Corps of Engineers," she
wrote. "However these assessments and reviews are not complete, and it is too
early to speculate on an overall condition or course of action." Waxman, when
informed of the scope of the company�s activities in Iraq, expressed
reservations about KBR�s expanding role. "It�s important that we provide
essential services to our servicemen and women, but some of the services
Halliburton is providing go beyond that and certainly give the appearance of a
�Full Halliburton Employment Act,� " Waxman said. "There may be good reasons why
taxpayers are paying a multinational corporation like Halliburton to cut hair
and wash shirts, but it would be helpful to know why."
KBR has also been tasked to arrange overland shipments of gasoline to ease fuel
shortages following waves of postwar looting that crippled Iraqi oil production.
Thousands of tanker trucks are entering Iraq each week from Syria, Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, and Jordan, nearly all of which are fixed by KBR agents. It is a
business with which the Iraqis have years of experience; since the 1991 Gulf
War, Iraq provided Jordan with discounted oil in return for Amman�s support of
Baghdad�s invasion of Kuwait. Those shipments ended with the coalition assault
in March, and Iraqi truckers have been out of work since then. KBR agents have
hired foreign truckers, not Iraqi ones, say Iraqi transport companies.
"We have enough trucks to do this ourselves," says Shahab Ahmed Hamid, a member
of a local truckers� union. "We were promised subcontracts from the Americans,
but no Iraqi trucks have been employed."
This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 7/10/2003.
) Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
Boston Globe Online: Print it!
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/191/nation/Halliburton_unit_expands_war_re
pair_role+.shtml
- - - - -
THE IRON TRIANGLE: INSIDE THE SECRET WORLD OF THE CARLYLE GROUP By Dan Briody
ECONOMIST - On the day Osama bin Laden's men attacked America, Shafiq
bin Laden, described as an estranged brother of the terrorist, was at an
investment conference in Washington, DC, along with two people who are
close to President George Bush: his father, the first President Bush,
and James Baker, the former secretary of state who masterminded the
legal campaign that secured Dubya's move to the White House. The
conference was hosted by the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm that
manages billions of dollars, including, at the time, some bin Laden
family wealth. It also employs Messrs Bush and Baker. In the immediate
aftermath of the attacks, when no one was being allowed in or out of the
United States, many members of the bin Laden family in America were
spirited home to Saudi Arabia. The revival of defense spending that
followed greatly increased the value of the Carlyle Group's investments
in defense companies. . .
Carlyle arguably takes to a new level the military-industrial complex
that President Eisenhower feared might "endanger our liberties or
democratic process." What red-blooded capitalist can truly admire a firm
built, to a significant degree, on cronyism; surely, this sort of access
capitalism is for ghastly places like Russia, China or Africa, not the
land of the free market?. . .
Perhaps there would be less reason to worry about Carlyle if there were
rival clubs of ex-political heavyweights competing within the iron
triangle. Alas, this firm seems to be an aspiring monopolist, hoovering
up former public officials from across the political divide and,
increasingly, from across the world. It is becoming more ambitious in
Europe, and keenly eyeing China. Perhaps there would be less reason to
worry if Carlyle's activities were more open-but as a private equity
firm, it has largely escaped America's recent efforts to improve the
governance and transparency of companies, which is unfortunate. At a
time when America is aggressively promoting democracy and capitalism
abroad, including by military means, it would be helpful if its
politicians and businesses were regarded as cleaner than clean. Shrouded
in secrecy, Carlyle calls capitalism into question.