3 Big Firms Suspend Operations In Iraq (Siemens/GE/Bechtel)

[UpInArms]

http://www.ctnow.com/business/hc-iraqbiz0423.artapr23,1,7911584.story?coll=hc-headlines-business

(free registration or try www.bugmenot.com )

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A wave of violence has forced the suspension of some Iraqi reconstruction by the German engineering giant Siemens AG and U.S.-based firms General Electric Co. and Bechtel, officials said Thursday. Even some foreign employees of the U.S. government's aid agency have been stranded outside the country.

The suspensions are a fresh setback for the U.S.-led coalition and its campaign to rebuild Iraq.

One affected project is the repair of generators at a power plant in southern Baghdad, which is key to meeting the whopping surge in electricity demand during Iraq's scorching summer. The electricity minister said Iraqis were still working on some projects that foreign contractors have left. A coalition spokesman said the goal for electricity production will be met on time.

Foreign experts have been leaving the country and projects have slowed or stopped amid the insurgent attacks on convoys and the killings and kidnappings of foreigners.

...more...

[hedda_foil]

1. When Bechtel leaves ...

Could Haliburton be far behind?

[BlueEyedSon]

3. Bechtel out? This is big!

I heard about GE and Siemens yesterday.....

[nodictators]

15. The article says, "forced the suspension of some Iraqi reconstruction "

The key words are suspension and some.

They'll be back to feed at the trough of their cost-plus contracts.

[KoKo]

2. I hate to repeat this, but if this was "Clinton's War" this news would be

blasting all over the airwaves 24/7. It's disgusting.

[Zech Marquis]

4. IIRC

did Rummy or one fo the BFEE gang crawl out from the Bechtel snakepit? :evilgrin: if THEY are leaving, the the situation must REALLY be bad :scared:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. Bet they're still getting paid, though.

[AZCat]

7. Are they? If the contracts are cost-plus, that means they're not, right?

I don't really know, but I thought the Iraq contracts were mostly cost-plus. As I understand it, the company has to be spending money to make money (yes, it's a bit of a scam, but I didn't design the contracts). If they have to pull out, they aren't spending as much, hence they are losing profit.

There may be flaws in this logic, please point them out. But if not, then this means serious business.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

8. Change focus of spending, e.g.

Change from, say, construction to design. One requires a presence, one doesn't. My general inclination is that these companies will slow their raiding of the public trough as a last resort. Your point that their pulling back is a sign that belies the official line is not lost on me, however.

[AZCat]

9. That's a good point about switching focus

There's a good article running around on the internet somewhere. I didn't bookmark it when I read it, and I have regretted it ever since.

This journalist/writer in Moscow went to one of the post-bloc countries during the reconstruction years and worked for a company that was boosting private businesses (or something- I don't quite remember).

The company was under a cost-plus contract. This guy's account of the different things it would do to spend money was crazy- they would just buy stuff and then pack it all into closets. It didn't matter, because all the costs were borne by whatever group was subsidizing the reconstruction. And since the company made a percentage of the total money spent, it just blew it on everything.

If the big companies are pulling out, maybe it's a good time to invest in stocks of office supply companies (this was a common over-expenditure).

[tabasco]

6. Just their way to force the cabal to send more troops.

The CEOs of these companies are the guys in charge of the US right now. This is their way to force Chimpy & Gang to send more troops. Oh! - what a coincidence! We're sending more troops.

[TroglodyteScholar]

10. !!! (eom)

[spanone]

11. Yet Condi and Rumsfeld gave Congress "upbeat" Iraq news yesterday

I say send Rice and Rumsfeld over there for a year, then when they think their time is up, send them back in for another. Fuck 'em.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

12. Didn't register for the article but they should be sued for breach

of contract..especialy Bechtel given their former CEO's position on the Defense Policy Board which lobbied for this war and is directly responsible for much of the propaganda that led to it.

[KoKo]

14. If Bush's Big Business interests are getting nervous then there's some

hope for change. GE in particular, given their media interests.

Unless they have been told that we will bomb the hell out of Iraq so that the profits will be even more lucrative when it's safe to come back in.

It's disgusting how cynical one becomes after seeing all this sh*t from these people.

[TrogL]

13. What about Halliburton?

Wouldn't that be the ultimate irony?

[joanski01]

16. I was watching the replay of

the testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee early this morning (testimony from yesterday). The Defense Department witness said that while Siemens and GE left, their contractor Betchtel was still there. So who is wrong???