Bremer to Inouye: Contractors are selected on an open and fair bidding...

[Fridays Child]

...bidding process, consistent with US law.

These were Bremer's exact words, when asked by Sen. Daniel Inouye how the contractors working in Iraq are selected. Inouye did not challenge Bremer's response but calmly went on to pursue an unrelated line of questionong.

From the video at C-SPAN titled "Paul Bremer on Supplemental Budget Request Before Senate Approps. Cmte.," here is a transcript of the relevant segment (beginning at approximately 1:02:49):

Inouye: Do we have--this is a question that is asked of me quite often--do we have major American corporations involved in the reconstruction?

Bremer: Yes, we've had, uh uh, a number of contracts--I think the total is now 92 contracts have been let and, under US law, the contract, the prime contractor in those cases, must be an American corporation.

Inouye: How much are the contracts worth?

Bremer: I would have to, uh, I would have to get back to you but they're certainly worth 2.4 billion because that's the amount that was appropriated, and then there will be other contracts that we have let using Iraqi funds that will have gone to American companies, also, but I would have to get back with you with a precise number, Senator. Certainly, at least 2, uh, 2.4 billion.

Inouye: How are the contractors selected?

Bremer: Contractors are selected on an open and fair bidding process, consistent with US law.

[CO Liberal]

1. Bwa-Ha-Ha-Ha!!!!!!

Then why are all the contracts going to Pretzelboy's friends???

[Padraig18]

2. Yeah, right!

And when I wear a diamond tiara, I'm Queen Liz! :puke: :grr: :nuke:

[fertilizeonarbusto]

3. shameless

I hope Inouye just up and calls him a LIAR

[leftchick]

4. Isn't it amazing?

How they all lie, cheat, lie, steal, lie, kill, lie, destroy, lie, etc. etc. and the "media" never calls them on any of the shit they spew!

[arcane1]

5. "using Iraqi funds that will have gone to American companies"

THIS is why our mission will NEVER succeed!

will the Iraqi people EVER get to decide where their money goes? If a Demoratically-elected Iraqi government decides they don't want ONE PENNY going to a US corporation, will our gov't just shrug it off?

F*ck no they won't. They'll accuse the new gov't of 'supporting terra' and invade all over again


this is not only the biggest entrepreneurial undertaking in human history, it is the biggest SCAM as well!

:grr::mad::grr:

[GainesT1958]

6. Of course...

BREMER: "We interpret that law, Sen. Inouye, in such a way as to allow the most expeditious, closed bidding possible by only 'qualified' firms."

INOUYE: "Do you mean to say, 'no-bid contracts', Mr. Bremer?"

BREMER: "Uh, some have interpreted it that way, Senator. But we prefer to interpret the process as assuring the most qualified, experienced firms fit the jobs being bid."

INOUYE: "As in, say, Halliburton and Bechtel, Mr. Bremer?"

BREMER: "Those just happen to be consistently the best-qualified firms, Senator."

INOUYE: "Thank you Mr. Bremer. You've made things much clearer now!"

Doesn't Viceroy Bremer know that Dan Inouye has seen "stonewalling" SOMEWHERE before? :eyes:

B-)

[Fridays Child]

13. Was this exchange in the same video?

I didn't see this part. Do you know when it occurred during the session with Bremer?

[uptohere]

7. you guys may want to look a little deeper than this

its actually true, sort of.

Many years ago a standard bidding went out to supply on demand rapid response to needs such as this.

An excerpt from
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/richlowry/rl20030918.shtml
its easy enough to check up on if you're leary of Townhall.


"In the 1990s, the military looked for ways to get outside help handling the logistics associated with foreign interventions. It came up with the U.S. Army Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, or LOGCAP. The program is a multiyear contract for a corporation to be on call to provide whatever services might be needed quickly.

Halliburton won a competitive bidding process for LOGCAP in 2001. So it was natural to turn to it (actually, to its wholly owned subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root) for prewar planning about handling oil fires in Iraq. "To invite other contractors to compete to perform a highly classified requirement that Kellogg Brown & Root was already under a competitively awarded contract to perform would have been a wasteful duplication of effort," the Army Corps of Engineers commander has written.

Then, in February 2003, the Corps of Engineers gave Halliburton a temporary no-bid contract to implement its classified oil-fire plan. The thinking was it would be absurd to undertake the drawn-out contracting process on the verge of war. If the administration had done that and there had been catastrophic fires, it would now be considered evidence of insufficient postwar planning. And Halliburton was an obvious choice, since it put out 350 oil-well fires in Kuwait after the first Gulf War.

The Clinton administration made the same calculation in its own dealings with Halliburton. The company had won the LOGCAP in 1992, then lost it in 1997. The Clinton administration nonetheless awarded a no-bid contract to Halliburton to continue its work in the Balkans supporting the U.S. peacekeeping mission there because it made little sense to change midstream. According to Byron York, Al Gore's reinventing-government panel even singled out Halliburton for praise for its military logistics work."

[sandnsea]

9. Program based on Cheney study

I'm not sure if it's LOGCAP, but the DoD privatization program was based on a study when Dick Cheney was DoD Secretary and guess who did the study? Halliburton. And whatever went on with the Clinton Administration and Halliburton, it's also important to remember Clinton did have an Executive Order where contractors with labor, safety, environmental or other similar violations would not be given federal contracts. Bush rescinded that. Alot of those companies are now getting Iraqi contracts. Possibly Bechtel and Fluor, I don't exactly remember which ones. So I suspect there's more to the situation than what this article is stating.

[uptohere]

10. no doubt about the ins and outs

however the notion that Haliburton got the nod just because of Cheney just isn't so.

[glarius]

8. I saw where Iraqi companies bidding much lower were shut out also

A couple of weeks ago I read on one of the Canadian networks sites where Iraqi companies had offered to do work a fraction of what USA companies are asking, but they have been shut out of the picture! This is THEIR country and they are not being allowed to profit from the contracts....I wish I had a link...but this was a couple of weeks ago....

[uptohere]

11. I waited to see if this got any serious airing, it didn't

I think we can mark that up to internet creativity until proven otherwise.

[glarius]

12. I didn't just read it on the internet...It was either the CBC or CTV and

both are very credible...It isn't the only time these Canadian networks have reported stuff like this that the USA networks ignored...I'm in Canada and I've seen the reports live from Iraq with our journalists that are telling a much different story than what the USA networks are, in some instances.

[uptohere]

14. I hear you but I don't count on ABC/NBC/CBS/CNN either

still not rippling out to where I do look and this would be significnt enough to do so were it true.