Bush by numbers
Comments: 3
In the style of the Harper’s indices, The Independent gives us Bush by numbers: Four years of double standards by Graydon Carter.
0 Number of times Bush mentioned Saudi Arabia in his three State of the Union addresses.
1,700 Percentage increase between 2001 and 2002 of Saudi Arabian spending on public relations in the United States.
And, just so as we remember the business of government is business, these tidbits:
$15m Amount of a contract awarded to an American firm to build a cement factory in Iraq.
$80,000 Amount an Iraqi firm spent (using Saddam’s confiscated funds) to build the same factory, after delays prevented the American firm from starting it.
2000 Year that Cheney said his policy as CEO of Halliburton oil services company was “we wouldn’t do anything in Iraq”.
$4.7bn Total value of contracts awarded to Halliburton in Iraq and Afghanistan.
$680m Estimated value of Iraq reconstruction contracts awarded to Bechtel.
$2.8bn Value of Bechtel Corp contracts in Iraq.
•••
Posted to General Rants • 2004.09.04 (Sat) • 09:56
Comments
Posted by elliot 2004.09.09, 15:56
There are only so many companies capable of managing huge construction projects. Complaining about Halliburton and Bechtel is like complaining that Boeing gets a lot of defense or NASA contracts. Or Microsoft gets a lot of office productivity software orders. It’s one thing to keep your eye on waste (which happens in companies large and small), but raising it to the level of a Trilateral Commission or Protocols of the Elders of Zion type conspiracy is going too far.
Posted by Amy 2004.10.02, 07:30
While it may be true that “there are only so many companies capable of managing huge construction projects,” the fact is that no other companies were given a chance to bid on the project. Halliburton and Bechtel were given the project without even having to bid. With Dick Cheney being the former Halliburton CEO with stock options, it smacks of war profiteering to me. Plus, if Cheney said in 2000 that Halliburton wouldn’t do anything in Iraq, does that mean he and Bush were planning the Iraq war all along, well before September 11, 2001 (with which Iraq and Saddam Hussein were not even involved)?
Posted by Marcus 2005.01.22, 04:34
Amy,
Obviously you have no idea how defense contracting works. Haliburton was a know entity, used before by earlier presidents, and for a number of security reasons a no bid contract was awarded. Should they have put a compete contract out there and just not done any work in supplying troops with food and supplies until it was awarded? Of course not
You also, obviously, don’t know that Cheney’s stock options are in a trust fund that is set up to be donated to charity. He is not getting a dime of it. Sorry
Plus why would a statement in 2000 have any relevance considering it was prior to the war and 9/11? He probably made the statement in response to a question about the US policy of not doing business with Iraq. Not relevent at all
Post a comment:
Send This Story to an Enemy
• • •
