Who's gonna help rebuild Iraq? Why, New Bridge Strategies, of course. Who might they be, you ask? Well-connected folks like Joe Allbaugh (FEMA, Bush 2), Ed Rogers (Dep. Ass't. to Bush 1), Richard Burt (Amb. to Germany, Reagan), and Lanny Griffith (Ass't. Sec'y Education, Bush 1). What's the goal?
New Bridge Strategies, LLC is a unique company that was created specifically with the aim of assisting clients to evaluate and take advantage of business opportunities in the Middle East following the conclusion of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Its activities will seek to expedite the creation of free and fair markets and new economic growth in Iraq, consistent with the policies of the Bush Administration. The opportunities evolving in Iraq today are of such an unprecedented nature and scope that no other existing firm has the necessary skills and experience to be effective both in Washington, D.C. and on the ground in Iraq. (My emphasis)
Gosh, you don't think they'll be able to get some business based on who they know, do you? After all, there are procurement policies in place to keep the contracting process honest, right? Right?
And what sort of work will get done in Iraq? I'm glad you asked.
A new curriculum for training an Iraqi army for $164 million. Five hundred experts, at $200,000 each, to investigate crimes against humanity. A witness protection program for $200,000 per Iraqi participant. A computer study for the Iraqi postal service: $54 million.[snip]
Those details include $100 million to build seven planned communities with a total of 3,258 houses, plus roads, an elementary school, two high schools, a clinic, a place of worship and a market for each; $10 million to finance 100 prison-building experts for six months, at $100,000 an expert; 40 garbage trucks at $50,000 each; $900 million to import petroleum products such as kerosene and diesel to a country with the world's second-largest oil reserves; and $20 million for a four-week business course, at $10,000 per pupil.
[snip]
Some Republican aides say the numbers may be more defensible than they sound because the budget is not quite real. They suggest the administration has inflated costs, in part to avoid having to come back next year for a new emergency spending bill, and in part so they can skim some of the money for classified military efforts.
The mind boggles. Those planned communities sound to me like American compounds for all the experts, their families, and their kids. You suppose those experts come from New Bridge Strategies and its subcontractors?
Thanks to Josh Marshall and Billmon for the pointers to the article and site.
Posted by Linkmeister at September 26, 2003 12:01 AM