no War profits in this economy, no sir!

[S.R. Prozak]

[ No surprise to anyone familiar with the drive from Bush International Airport to downtown. ]

http://money.cnn.com/2003/03/25/news/companies/war_contracts/index.htm
Iraq rebuilding contracts awarded

Halliburton, Stevedoring Services of America get government contracts for early relief work.

March 25, 2003: 12:48 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The first contracts for rebuilding post-war Iraq have been awarded, and Vice President Dick Cheney's old employer, Halliburton Co., says it is one of the early winners.

The Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) unit of Halliburton (HAL: up $0.69 to $20.81, Research, Estimates), of which Cheney was CEO from 1995 to 2000, said late Monday that it was awarded a contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to put out oil fires and make emergency repairs to Iraq's oil infrastructure.

Cheney divested himself of all interest in Halliburton after the 2000 election.

Halliburton wouldn't disclose the monetary value of the contract, under which Halliburton will put into action some of the firefighting and repair plans it detailed for the Army in a study it conducted in November.

"KBR's ... contract is limited to task orders under the contract for only those services which are necessary to support the mission in the near term," Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said.

Army Corps of Engineers representatives could not be reached for comment.

The most critical part of the contract could be the "emergency repairs" portion, which could put Halliburton in prime position to handle the complete refurbishment of Iraq's long-neglected oil infrastructure.

Getting Iraq's oil fields to pre-1991 production levels will take at least 18 months and cost about $5 billion initially, with $3 billion more in annual operating expenses, according to a recent study by the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, named for the first President Bush's secretary of state during the first Gulf War.

Though none of the potential administrators of such a contract -- including the Defense Department, the State Department's U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations -- have claimed responsibility for handing out the job, Monday's award could mean the Defense Department will be in charge.

Halliburton said it has subcontracted the firefighting portion of the Army contract to Houston-based companies Boots & Coots International Well Control Inc. (WEL: up $0.10 to $1.20, Research, Estimates) and Wild Well Control Inc., a private company.

Hall of Halliburton said the fires should be put out in about 240 days. Very few oil wells have been set ablaze by Iraqis so far, in contrast to the first Gulf War in 1991, when Iraqi troops retreating from Kuwait set fire to more than 700 Kuwaiti oil wells. Halliburton's KBR unit was involved in putting out the 1991 fires.

Separately, USAID late Monday awarded a $4.8 million contract to Stevedoring Services of America (SSA), a private company based in Seattle, to manage the Umm Qasr ports in southern Iraq.

Umm Qasr's ports, where U.S. and British troops have struggled for full control, are seen as critical to efforts to bring humanitarian relief to Iraqis. SSA will handle several tasks, including assessing the need for dredging and repairs to the ports, and unloading and warehousing cargo.

USAID plans to issue seven other contracts, including one for $600 million for general construction work in post-war Iraq. Halliburton is among several companies reported to have put in bids for that contract. 



----- Original Message -----
From: pynchonoid <pynchonoid at yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 19:28:21 -0800 (PST)
To: Pynchon-L <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Subject: no War profits in this economy, no sir!

> <http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6008>
> 
> Halliburton Makes a Killing on Iraq War
> 
> Cheney's Former Company Profits from Supporting Troops
> 
> Special Series
> By Pratap Chatterjee
> Special to CorpWatch
> March 20, 2003
> 
> RELATED ARTICLES
> 
> Cheney's Ties to Brown and Root
> 
> Vinnell: 'We Train People to Pull Triggers'
> 
> VBR at Incirlik Airbase
> 
> As the first bombs rain down on Baghdad, CorpWatch has
> learned that thousands of employees of Halliburton,
> Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, are
> working alongside US troops in Kuwait and Turkey under
> a package deal worth close to a billion dollars.
> According to US Army sources, they are building tent
> cities and providing logistical support for the war in
> Iraq in addition to other hot spots in the "war on
> terrorism."
> 
> While recent news coverage has speculated on the
> post-war reconstruction gravy train that corporations
> like Halliburton stand to gain from, this latest
> information indicates that Halliburton is already
> profiting from war time contracts worth hundreds of
> millions of dollars.
> 
> Cheney served as chief executive of Halliburton until
> he stepped down to become George W. Bush's running
> mate in the 2000 presidential race. Today he still
> draws compensation of up to a million dollars a year
> from the company, although his spokesperson denies
> that the White House helped the company win the
> contract. [...]
> 
> 
> "Don't forget the real business of the War is buying
> and selling. The murdering and the violence are
> self-policing, and can be entrusted to
> non-professionals. The mass nature of wartime death is
> useful in many ways. It serves as spectacle, as
> diversion from the real movements of the War. It
> provides raw material to be recorded into History, so
> that children may be taught History as sequences of
> violence, battle after battle, and be more prepared
> for the adult world. Best of all, mass death's a
> stimulus to just ordinary folks, little fellows, to
> try 'n' grab a piece of that Pie while they're still
> here to gobble it up. The true war is a celebration of
> markets."
> Gravity's Rainbow, p. 105
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __________________________________________________
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