Bechtel is pulling out of Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.caltradereport.com/eWebPages/page-two-1166449649.html

BECHTEL ENDS IRAQ REBUILDING MISSION

SAN FRANCISCO - 12/18/06 - Bay Area-headquartered Bechtel, the largest engineering company in the US, said it has left Iraq after more than three years of work there rebuilding the country's infrastructure under contract to USAID.

The engineering firm - one of the leading US-based firms involved in reconstruction projects in Iraq - said it completed all but two of the 99 projects it had been working on there.

The company’s contracts in Iraq were valued at more than $2.3 billion.

In a statement by its former Iraq project manager, Bechtel said it would not seek any more work in Iraq after company's last contract expired at the end of October, due to the extremely difficult security situation.

Cliff Mumm, Bechtel's president for infrastructure work, told the San Francisco Chronicle recently that the firm "had not expected to be operating in a conflict situation" when it began working in Iraq.

A total of 52 people working on Bechtel's projects in Iraq have been killed and 49 injured since it started working in the country in 2003.

[Greeby]

1. Guess their greed finally reached a limit nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. I guess they milked us for all they could get.

Time to move on to richer fields of exploitation.

[LeftHander]

3. Electricity and water were left....

But they have the employee compound, swimming pools, mini-mall, nite-club...

[Norquist Nemesis]

4. That makes it official then! No more $$$ to be made, Bush will

announce victory and success and bring the troops home by Spring.

[irislake]

16. No they still need to privatize the oil

and give control to Big Oil.

[Norquist Nemesis]

17. ummm....Wasn't there already something about that?

Ahhh, they're working on it!

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&q=Iraq%20oil%20contracts&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn

[annabanana]

5. Get while the gettin's good. .

after they've gotten everything they could..

or

"Cheese it! The Cops!"

[Target_For_Exterm]

6. Isn't Bechtel tied to the CIA?

[walldude]

7. So can anyone say exactly what they did with their 2.3 billion?

Or is this just another take it in the ass situtation?

[acmavm]

9. Yeah, I'd like to see a list of their accomplishments myself.

[Virginia Dare]

12. Mansions in Aspen and the coast of Florida...

a beautiful Manhattan apartment overlooking Central Park, complete with expensive artwork, European vacations, and drawers full of jewelry, designer wardrobes and full body makeovers for the wives. The best education money can buy and snazzy new sports cars for the kids.

[ellenfl]

18. didn't you know? they rebuilt all of the schools and

hospitals! unfortunately, these buildings were all subsequently blown up by al qa'ida so they can't really show us. :sarcasm:

ellen fl

[Virginia Dare]

8. Go on, take the money and run....

What a fucked up mess. Once again the U.S. military and taxpayers left holding the bag.

[NNN0LHI]

10. I wonder if this has anything to do with the coming Congressional investigations? n/t

[patrice]

11. So one of the reasons "we" Invaded Iraq in the first place, one of

the real benefactors of this policy, is going home while the Troops stay and kill and get killed.

How do we know whether permanent bases (completed or not) were or were not part of that list 99 projects? I hear some people say the bases have not been built and others say they have and that is where all of the missing money has gone.

[lebkuchen]

13. pulling out with our money

But hey, if the soldiers can't get around the country w/o being blown up, that puts the contractors in a pinch, no matter how greedy they are.

[Mist]

14. "Rebuilding the country's infrastructure" yeah, pull the other leg. I think they've

been building bases. The silver lining: if the contractors are leaving, is the mission finally "accomplished"?

[Jack Rabbit]

15. Smart move. Will Bush follow?