Re: "smoked salmon socialists"

<snip>

>
> U.S. companies helped illegally suppy Iraq's weapons to begin with . . .
>
> "A German newspaper has obtained portions of Iraq's top secret weapons
> report that reveals at least 24 U.S. corporations as well as four agencies
> of the U.S. government illegally helped Iraq build its biological,
chemical
> and nuclear weapons programs.
> Some of the corporations include Hewlett Packard, DuPont, Honeywell,
> Rockwell, Tectronics, Bechtel, International Computer Systems, Unisys,
> Sperry and TI Coating.

And interestingly, Bechtel gets the first big contract to rebuild Iraq. So I
guess they are both in the destruction *and* construction businesses. Nice
racket. I wonder which is more lucrative.

"The Bush administration has awarded the Bechtel Group the first major
contract for Iraq's reconstruction.
The contract could be worth up to $680 million dollars over the next year
and a half for the rebuilding of Iraq's electrical, water and sewage
systems.

Bechtel has a long history of doing business in Iraq. In the early 80s,
Bechtel negotiated to build an oil pipeline from Iraq to Jordan. Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld traveled to Baghdad 1983 for a private meeting
with Saddam Hussein. Officially, Rusmfeld was acting as then-President
Reagan's "peace envoy" and was supposed to discus the Iran-Iraq war. But a
secret State Department cable obtained by the National Security Archives,
reveals Rusmfeld appears to have made little or no mention of the war, and
instead discussed the pipeline proposal.

The 20-year-old memo was from Rumsfeld to George Schultz who was Secretary
of State. Currently, Schultz is on Bechtel's board of directors and chairs
the advisory board of the pro-war Committee for the Liberation of Iraq.

Bechtel's senior vice-president is Jack Sheehan, who is also a member of the
Defense Policy Board.

US taxpayers will foot the initial costs of the contract. Iraqi oil is then
supposed to pay for much of the reconstruction."

http://tinyurl.com/xjuw

> http://tinyurl.com/xju1
>
> Part II: http://tinyurl.com/xju3
>
>