[Reader-list] Welcome aboard the Iraqi gravy train

[Harsh Kapoor]

http://www.observer.co.uk/worldview/story/0,11581,935649,00.html

Welcome aboard the Iraqi gravy train

Congratulations to all the winners of tickets to take part in the 
greatest rebuilding show on earth

Terry Jones
Sunday April 13, 2003
The Observer

Well the war has been a huge success, and I guess it's time for 
congratulations all round. And wow! It's hard to know where to begin.
First, I'd like to congratulate Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) and the 
Bechtel Corporation, which are the construction companies most likely 
to benefit from the reconstruction of Iraq. Contracts in the region 
of $1 billion should soon coming your way, chaps. Well done! And what 
with the US dropping 15,000 precision-guided munitions, 7,500 
unguided bombs and 750 cruise missiles on Iraq so far and with more 
to come, there's going to be a lot of reconstruction. It looks like 
it could be a bonanza year.

Of course, we all know that KBR is the construction side of 
Halliburton, and it has been doing big business with the military 
ever since the Second World War. Most recently, it got the plum job 
of constructing the prison compound for terrorists suspects at 
Guantanamo Bay. Could be a whole lot more deluxe chicken coops coming 
your way in the next few months, guys. Stick it to 'em.

I'd also like to add congratulations to Dick Cheney, who was chief 
executive of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, and who currently 
receives a cheque for $1 million a year from his old company. I guess 
he may find there's a little surprise bonus in there this year. Well 
done, Dick.

Congratulations, too, to former Secretary of State, George Schultz. 
He's not only on the board of Bechtel, he's also chairman of the 
advisory board of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, a group 
with close ties to the White House committed to reconstructing the 
Iraqi economy through war. You're doing a grand job, George, and I'm 
sure material benefits will be coming your way, as sure as the Devil 
lives in Texas.

Oh, before I forget, a big round of appreciation for Jack Sheehan, a 
retired general who sits on the Defence Policy Board which advises 
the Pentagon. He's a senior vice president at Bechtel and one of the 
many members of the Defence Policy Board with links to companies that 
make money out of defence contracts. When I say 'make money' I'm not 
joking. Their companies have benefited to the tune of $76bn just in 
the last year. Talk about a gravy train. Well, Jack, you and your 
colleagues can certainly look forward to a warm and joyous Christmas 
this year.

It;s been estimated that rebuilding Iraq could cost anything from 
$25bn to $100bn and the great thing is that the Iraqis will be paying 
for it themselves out of their future oil revenues. What's more, 
President Bush will be able to say, with a straight face, that 
they're using the money from Iraqi oil to benefit the Iraqi people. 
'We're going to use the assets of the people of Iraq, especially 
their oil assets, to benefit their people,' said Secretary of State 
Colin Powell, and he looked really sincere. Yessir.

It's so neat it makes you want to run out and buy shares in Fluor. As 
one of the world's biggest procurement and construction companies, it 
recently hired Kenneth J. Oscar, who, as acting assistant secretary 
of the army, took care of the Pentagon's $35bn-a-year procurement 
budget. So there could also be some nice extra business coming its 
way soon. Bully for them.

But every celebration has its serious side, and I should like to 
convey my condolences to all those who have suffered so grievously in 
this war. Particularly American Airlines, Qantas and Air Canada, and 
all other travel companies which have seen their customers dwindle, 
as fear of terrorist reprisals for what the US and Britain have done 
in Iraq begins to bite.

My condolences also to all those British companies which have been 
disappointed in their bid to share in the bonanza that all this 
wonderful high-tech military firepower has created. I know it must be 
frustrating and disheartening for many of you, especially in the 
medical field, knowing there are all those severed limbs, all that 
burnt flesh, all those smashed skulls, broken bones, punctured 
spleens, ripped faces and mangled children just crying out for your 
products.

You could be making a fortune out of the drugs, serums and surgical 
hardware, and yet you have to stand on the sidelines and watch as US 
drug companies make a killing.

Well, Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian President, has some words of 
comfort for us all. As he recently pointed out, this adventure by 
Bush and Blair will have created such hatred throughout the Arab 
world, that 100 new bin Ladens will have been created.

So all of us here in Britain, as well as in America, shouldn't lose 
heart. Once the Arab world starts to take its revenge, there should 
be enough reconstruction to do at home to keep business thriving for 
some years to come.