AFGHANISTAN: Attack on road construction team kills six

[Whoa_Nelly]

AFGHANISTAN: Attack on road construction team kills six
KABUL, 1 Sep 2003 (IRIN) - The US based construction and engineering company Louis Berger Group (LBG) said that four people were killed and another four kidnapped when unidentified assailants attacked one of the company's guest houses on the Kabul-Kandahar road, about 100 km north of Kandahar on Monday.

"At approximately 0100 on Monday, an unknown number of invaders attacked a hilltop security position of the Ministry of Interior located on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, the attackers killed four men, wounded four and possibly kidnapped four more people," Mike Staples, a public relations and report manager for LBG told IRIN in the capital Kabul.


<snip>
At the same time, one of the vehicles from LBG's security firm was shot at with a rocket while travelling in the same area "The vehicle had a tyre shot out when the occupants left the vehicle, two were killed and one escaped when the vehicle was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) totally destroying it," the public relations manager added.

<snip>
A security official in the southern city of Kandahar who declined to be named, told IRIN that the Indian company had stopped construction on the highway following the attack. LBG is providing engineering, design, construction management and other services to implement the ambitious US funded US $250 million 482 km road
project from Kabul to Kandahar. LBG could not confirm the nationalities of those killed.

more...
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36307&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

[Kbowe]

1. No wonder Bush wants to talk about the economy now...

It (the economy) can't be worse off than the war on terror!

[NNN0LHI]

2. Little bit about the Louis Berger Group

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,912187,00.html

Louis Berger Group
The Louis Berger Group also has dealings with the US power and gas industries. It was a contractor for the giant US U-Tapo airforce base in Thailand during the Vietnam war. The company has links with the Middle East, having helped build the Ovda air base in Israel.

Apart from military bases, the company helped build the Trans-Amazon highway which opened up the rainforest to logging trucks.

The Louis Berger Group recently came to the fore after it helped the US government clear up the rubble following the American ousting of the Taliban. The company is now helping reconstruct the Kabul-Kandahar-Herat highway and will build schools, hospitals and sewage treatment plants.

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. Louis Berger Group and campaign contibutions

Here's the skinny on the 2000 year campaign contibutions:

http://www.capitaleye.org/iraqchart.3.12.03.asp


And interesting read re: post(hahahaha)-war Iraq bids:

http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=69


Other Berger involvement re: privatization:

http://www.ctj.org/itep/crp/mar03.htm


Interesting read:

Aug. 23, 2003, 8:45PM

U.S. prepares for currency swap in Iraq

By STEWART M. POWELL
Hearst News Service

WASHINGTON -- Saddam Hussein is about to lose his grip on the pockets, purses and wallets of 24 million Iraqis.

U.S. officials are making plans to eliminate Iraqi currency bearing the engraved likeness of the fugitive Iraqi dictator and replace it over a 90-day period with new bills featuring images of the natural wonders of Iraq.

<snip>
Tom Nicastro, vice president of the Louis Berger Group consulting firm that is handling logistics for the currency exchange, said security is "always an issue when you carry large amounts of cash and valuable equipment into areas that have not seen this kind of investment before."

Nicastro adds: "We think we know the strengths and weaknesses of the logistics network in Iraq."

more...
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2062334

[zekeson]

3. The wheels are coming off all four corners of the * wagon

He's mucked up the war on terror, the economy, energy policy and health care. Will Pitt said it best the other day on his post and its true - * is King Midas in Reverse - everything he touches turns to shit.

[donsu]

5. the bloody hands gang needs that road for business

the gas and oil suck up

we are training an Afgan army right this very minute, to protect this business road. of course, the bloody hands gang calls it something else.