Corporations of the Whirlwind: The Reconstruction of New Oraq

[buzzsaw_23]

Corporations of the Whirlwind
The Reconstruction of New Oraq
By Tom Engelhardt and Nick Turse

But let's pull back for a moment and try to reconstruct, however briefly, at least a modest picture of the massively interconnected world of the reconstructors. A good place to start is with George Bush's pal Joseph Allbaugh, a member of his "so-called iron triangle of trusted Texas cohorts." Allbaugh seems to display in his recent biography just about every linkage that makes New Oraq what it is clearly becoming. He ran the Bush presidential campaign of 2000; and subsequently was installed as the director of FEMA which, in congressional testimony, he characterized as "an overstuffed entitlement program," counseling (as Harold Meyerson of the American Prospect pointed out recently) "states and cities to rely instead on ‘faith-based organizations... like the Salvation Army and the Mennonite Disaster Service."

As at the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, so at FEMA in Washington, the larder of administrators would soon be stocked with second and third-rate Bush supporters and cronies. Five of FEMA's top eight managers would, according to Spencer S. Hsu of the Washington Post, arrive with "virtually no experience in handling disasters," three of them "with ties to President Bush's 2000 campaign or to the White House advance operation." A "brain drain" of competent administrators followed as -- à la the Pentagon -- FEMA's focus turned to the war on terror, money was drained from natural-disaster work, and the agency was "privatized" with previously crucial activities outsourced to Bush-friendly corporations.

<snip>

Along with their service in Iraq, the Katrina reconstruction companies are tied together in another important way. They tend to be particularly well linked to the Bush administration and the Republican Party. As former Oklahoma Republican Governor Frank Keating said of Allbaugh, "Joe... knows how elected officials and appointed officials like me think and work, and that culture is a fraternity." Halliburton, for instance, picked off "another high-level Bush appointee, Kirk Van Tine, earlier this year to work as a lobbyist. Similarly, in 2001, Bush appointed Robert G. Card, then a senior vice president at CH2M Hill, undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Energy, a position he held until 2004. Today, Card is the president and group chief executive of the International Group at CH2M Hill.

Not surprisingly, during the 2004 election season, CH2M Hill was the top "construction services" contributor to political campaigns, sending nearly 70% of its $476,800 in contributions to Republican candidates. In fact, fourteen people on the CH2M payroll contributed to Bush's 2004 campaign, including the company's chairman and CEO, president, senior vice-president, and president of regional operations, each of whom gave between $1,000 and $2,000. Meanwhile, Bechtel's political action committee contributed 68% of its funds to Republican candidates and causes; while Halliburton, which ranks among the top twenty "Oil and Gas" contributors to political campaigns, handed out 87% of its money to Republicans.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/indexprint.mhtml?pid=21843

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. I'm still trying to get over my

Iraqnophobia... now this.... oh bother. I hope other countries don't follow our example for "democracy"... they will not like it... not at all.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. SO, just as the neocons thought they could use Iraq as a showcase

for the private sector running a country (and make a hefty buck for their buddies at the same time), did they think that they could use Katrina to show how faith-based charities could do the disaster work that the government used to do? Did they hold back the federal help (and encourage people to donate to faith-based charities) just to prove an ideological point?

[Lisa]

3. my guess is that there are faith-based organizations ...

... which don't like this trend towards throwing all the disaster (and everyday) relief tasks into their laps.

One clergyperson told me that she does not rejoice every time there's an emergency and people turn to them for help ... she doesn't see it as a chance to "look like a hero", but as a failure of responsibility. Her congregation feeds people because otherwise they would starve ... not because they want to build some kind of social-assistance empire.