Get your own
 diary at DiaryLand.com! contact me older entries newest entry

2003-05-31 - 5:48 p.m.

What I'm reading: Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America

What I'm listening to: Al Green

Quote O' The Day: Richard Brautigan: "I remember mistaking an old woman for a trout stream in Vermont, and I had to beg her pardon. 'Excuse me, I thought you were a trout stream.' 'I'm not,' she said."

First: Halliburton, the U.S. construction and energy services company, has reaped nearly $500 million from Iraq-related projects in the past two years, well in excess of the amounts previously disclosed. Vice President Dick Cheney was Halliburton's CEO from 1995-2000 and still pays him a million annually in deferred compensation.

Second: Last week, the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) awarded a contract worth $680 billion for the reconstruction of roads, bridges and other facilities to Bechtel. Andrew Natsios, the administrator for AID, the agency responsible for giving the Iraqi rebuilding contract to Bechtel, used to be in charge of overseeing Boston's "Big Dig," a massive highway project managed by Bechtel that went from a projected cost of $4.5 billion to an actual cost of $14 billion. Bechtel's former president is George Shultz, who served as Secretary of State during the Reagan administration, tutored George W. Bush in foreign policy during the 2000 campaign and fervently advocated invading Iraq. The company's current C.E.O., Riley Bechtel, was recently appointed to serve on the President's Export Council. There is Jack Sheean, Seinor Vice President at Bechtel and a member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board. Previous employees of Bechtel include: former Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger, former Secretary of Defense and CIA chief James Schlesinger, former National Security Advisor William Clark, former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, and former Attorney General Edwin Meese.

Sources: Wired.com; Joe Conason for The New York Observer; Arianna Huffington (ariannaonline.com from a column 23 April 2003)

previous - next

about me - read my profile! read other Diar
yLand diaries! recommend my diary to a friend! Get
 your own fun + free diary at DiaryLand.com!