How to make money in Iraq

Well we know that the $87 billion more for Iraq is under debate at this point and a decision will be made soon so it might be a good idea to know how the money already expended is being used and how it is helping Iraq get back on its feet.

As you know there has been global outrage about the no-competition awarding of contracts to "US" corporations for operations in Iraq. One of the most contentious is the contract to Halliburton (the company that Cheny was CEO of before taking his current post as the VP of Corporate US). It seems that Halliburton has the contract to supply fuel to the military in Iraq and they are charging the Pentagon a premium price - $1.62 - $1.70 a gallon (Halliburton Allegedly Overcharges in Iraq, Margasak, Newsday, 10/16/03). Of course, the price of gas in the region is .71 a gallon and in Iraq maxes out at about .14 a gallon. A tidy profit of about $1.00 a gallon.

But there is more, Halliburton (and other US contractors) are importing South Asian workers to Iraq. Yes, even though the unemplyment rate in Iraq is running around 60%. I guess that the imported labor is still cheaper (Six in Ten Iraqis Unemployed, but U. S. Subcontractors Hire Cheap Migrant Laborers, The Daily Mislead, 10/16/03).

Just in case you wondered, Veep Cheney has no interests in these profits even though he is still receiving deferred payment from Halliburton. He claims that if he gets any profit from exercising his stock options he'll give the proceeds to charity (Maragasak, 10/16/03). Is that only while he is Vice President? One would think that he may be out of office long before Halliburton has finished raking in the bucks in Iraq.

But fear not, because in this war "god is on our side." So claims Lt. Gen. William Boykin, a new deputy of defense whose job it is to track down terrorists (Top terrorist hunter’s divisive views, Myers, NBC, 10/15/03). Here's some choice quotes from our lead terrorist hunter:

“Well, is he [bin Laden] the enemy? Next slide. Or is this man [Saddam] the enemy? The enemy is none of these people I have showed you here. The enemy is a spiritual enemy. He’s called the principality of darkness. The enemy is a guy called Satan.”
Why are terrorists out to destroy the United States? Boykin said: “They’re after us because we’re a Christian nation.”

.....

During a January church speech in Daytona, Fla., Boykin recalled a Muslim fighter in Somalia who bragged on television the Americans would never get him because his God, Allah, would protect him: “Well, you know what I knew, that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol.”
The Somali was captured, and Boykin said he told the man: “Mr. Atto, you underestimated our God.”

And what about "our man in the White House?"

Boykin also routinely tells audiences that God, not the voters, chose President Bush: “Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he’s in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this.”

So by extension I guess that US contractors are also "God's soldiers", and certainly "God" wants to see "his" chosen children prosper.

p.s. Boykin is going to refrain from his church and prayer group presentations for a while as he doesn't “want … to be misconstrued. I don’t want to come across as a right-wing radical.”

To coin a phrase, "God forbid!"

Posted by rowan at October 16, 2003 11:51 AM | TrackBack | [eMail this article!] |