Extreme Makeover, War Profiteering Edition
By Jim Dallas
I am not in current possession of a television (really), so I don't watch many TV ads. But at the HCYD happy hour last night, a fellow student expressed frustration with Halliburton's campaign to rehabilitate its image.
I'm sure this will help a whole bunch (from the L.A. Times):
The State Department has ordered a major reevaluation of the troubled $18.4-billion Iraq reconstruction effort, blaming problems on early decisions to hire U.S. firms for major infrastructure projects.
In a report to Congress this week, the department says rebuilding officials will cancel several planned water and electricity plants and shift $832 million to focus on immediate job creation and training for Iraqis.
...
The report, along with an earlier draft obtained by the Los Angeles Times, offers the most sweeping analysis to date of the failures in the reconstruction process and presents the most detailed road map yet for the future of the program.
The adjustment, the third such funding change in nine months, is the latest sign of disarray in the effort to help quell the insurgency by improving living standards and providing jobs for Iraqis.
The report lists problems with the performance of some firms, including Houston-based Halliburton Co. The report reveals that the U.S. issued a warning to KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, in January, threatening possible termination on its $1.2-billion oil industry reconstruction contract.
Again, as Kuff once asked, who'da thunk?
Posted by Jim Dallas at April 9, 2005 08:02 PM
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