The Bush War Profiteers... HALLIBURTON, BECHTEL ET. AL. TO PROFIT IN POST WAR IRAQ Rush Limbaugh bills himself as a "truth detector" and voice of the people. Rush rails against "big government" and "nation building" (at least where Bill Clinton is concerned). Now our country finds itself in a situation where the biggest nation building effort since Marshall Plan looms and the administration is fast tracking huge contracts to cronies who paid millions in policital donations. Where is Rush Limbaugh the great "truth detector" on this? Rush is busy puffing about other things. And where is the alleged "liberal media"? ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN didn't bother to air much of anything regarding this galactic breach of the public trust. How about FOX? Like Rush Limbaugh, they bill themselves as crusaders against big government, cronism and the true blue dedicated eyes of the people. Barely a peep on their broadcast. At stake is billions in contracts for the reconsruction of Iraq (aka nation building). This first round of contracts amounts to almost 1 billion dollars. The complete total is expected to approach 25 billion. And this is not monopoly money. It is tax dollars that won't go towards education, defense, domestic infrastructer, etc. It is money that we will pay. The typical process for the awarding of government contracts in an open bidding process where bids are received and the winning bid is the one based on competetive price, and the quality and reliability of the company. One of the lead agencies in the Iraq nation building effort is the United States Agency for Internationl Development (USAID). USAID typically follows the standard open bidding process, describe a project and anyone can bid. Bids are even accepted via their web site. This time, and in the biggest nation building effort since the Marshall Plan, USAID is operating much differently. USAID has confined the bidders to just a handul of firms whom they solicited. The specifics of the contracts are being held confidential. This amounts to a dark room give away of public funds that bypasses congress and keeps the people out of the loop, an obvious breech of the public trust. And who are these handful of companies? They are Halliburton, Bechtel, Fluor, Parsons and the Washington Group. What they have in common is being politically well connected and having given huge sums to the republican party. HALLIBURTON : (Kellog, Brown and Root subsidiary) Halliburton is the company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney. As Secretary of Defense, Cheney was in charge as Halliburton was selected for the award of millions in government contracts. When George H. Bush left office, so did Cheney. He went to Halliburton and made millions from the very contracts awarded during his tenure. Now as Vice President, Cheney continues to profit. And under the feedback mechanism occuring through USAID, Halliburton will again realize a windfall. The awarding of contracts is intended to involve scrutiny. Is Halliburton a deserving recipient of millions of tax dollars? Halliburton is still under investigation by the SEC for accounting irregularities that caused harm to its shareholders. Halliburton did however give $709,000 to the republican party in the form of PAC and soft money. BECHTEL The board of Bechtel includes former secretary of state George Schulz and Caspar Weinberger. Is Bechtel a good choice to be the recipient of a huge contract to be paid with "the people's money"? Bechtel is currently being reviewed by the Massachusettes state inspector general for a 1 bilion dollar cost overrun on a highway/tunnel project. It did however tip 1.3 million dollars in PAC and soft money to republicans. FLUOR CORPORATION According to Fluor spokesman Jerry Holloway, Fluor was invited to bid on the projects but he wouldn't comment on the scale or scope of the projects. Last April, Fluor hired Kenneth Oscar. As assistant secretary of the army, he oversaw the Pentagon's $35 billion annual procurement budget. Fluor has since realized some very substantial contracts. Fluor has also given $483,000 in individual, PAC and soft money to republicans during the last two election cycles. The other two of the "short listed" corporations are Parsons and the Washington Group International. Neither have star power former GOP politicians as corporate officers but both have given handsomely to the republicans. So here we have the situation where the administration is using the opportunity of a war to funnel tax money to cronies who funded their ascendency to power. They are bypassing congress through employing a secret closed door process. This comprises a Kilamanjaro sized breech of the public trust. Where are ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN and FOX? All passed by this huge story. And where is the great "truth detector"? One would think a crusader for the idea of honesty and fairness in government would be all over this on behalf of "his ideals" and at least on behalf of his devoted listeners. Instead, Rush Limbaugh keeps himself busy demagoguing those who question the wisdom of this invasion. The next time Rush Limbaugh starts babbling about him being a check on government and someone who stands up for the people, don't believe him. Rush is an opportusic hypocrite who should sit down. To learn about the corporate entity that owns Rush Limbaugh's show, visit Premiere Radio Networks Online. Premiere Radio Networks and its parent profit mightily from selling GOP dogma.