Driving home from work yesterday, NPR trumpeted a headline — “Multimillion dollar contract in Iraq awarded to an engineering firm with ties to the Bush administration!” What vile, new perfidy could this be.
The story went on to describe how a major infrastructure contract had been awarded — via so-called “bid” among a pitifully small (only six!) firms — to some never-heard-of-before doubtless-a-corrupt-shell firm called … um, let’s see, Bechtel. What the hell makes anyone think that a podunk company like that can do engineering and construction? What makes anyone believe some fly-by-night operation like them might have Middle East experience? Sheesh!
The other phony firms up for the bid — Fluor, Parsons, Louis Berger Group, Halliburton and Washington Group International — are all, of course, a bunch of phony-baloney shell corporations, too.
And, of course, it’s all a big profit-making sceme by the Bush Administration. After all, the company is clearly in bed with all the Bushies. Why … um, why, ah, well … Bechtel has (oooooooh!) “close ties” to the Republicans!
George Shultz, a crook if ever one was born, and who worked for Dubya — er, um, for the previous two Republican Administrations (but you know they’re all crooks in on it together) is on Bechtel’s board of directors! Gads! Of course, he’s also on the boards of Fremont Group, Gilead Sciences, Unext.com, and Charles Schwab & Co. — I guess it was too implausible to give Charles Schwab the reconstruction “bid.”
Riley Bechtel, CEO of Bechtel, is a member of the president’s Export Council, a White House trade advisory group — expect future hotel construction bids to be “won” by Marriott, all computers bought by the Iraqi puppet government to be Dells, and all future shipping to Iraq to be by UPS, too.
Jack Sheehan, a Bechtel senior vice president, has sat on the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board. And, of course, he served 35 years in the Marines, as well as serving as NATO Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic and Commander in Chief U.S. Atlantic Command. See? Even the Marines were bought off through this contract! Besides, we all know those Silver Star and Purple Heart winners can’t be trusted to do what’s right and honorable, even if he did get medals from Portugal, Norway, the Nethlands and (diabolically clever!) France.
And Bechtel contributed $1.3 million to political campaigns from 1999 through 2002, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Never mind that it was contributed to both Republicans and Democrats — it’s all clearly a Bush conspiracy!
And, of course, this contract is just an easy way by Bushy fat cats to gorge at the public trough, unwatched — it’s not like they’re going to subcontract out any of the work, or pay any salaries, or, heck, even do anything. And it’s not like Congress will be able to oversee … um, well, yeah, Congress has to approve monies after the initial $34.6MM, but … uh … well, that’s still a lot of money!
The shame! The shame!
Yeah, I know that name from somewhere…
They’ve had a few scandels, but they get the job done.
(I think they were on the Detroit Metro Airport job…)
As an employee of a competing E&C firm, I have a great deal of respect for Bechtel. A company that does that much business, with that many employees, is going to have a few blotches on their record, but if I had to think of a company to do the sort of work being described, Bechtel’s the first one I’d come up with.