The Iraqi Gold Rush

KBR and Halliburton

Published on May 13, 2004 By mikimouse In Politics

I've been avoiding posting controversial political links since I offended Kharma the other day, but this link I post here made a real interesting point. What would the occupation look like today if KBR, instead of hiring American cooks, drivers, etc....what if they were hiring local Iraqis to do it? They have high unemployment and this would definitely help. What's keeping them from hiring honest Iraqis?

Comments

Don Bemont

on May 13, 2004

Interesting article.

I have been wondering about this. Most who complain about the situation have done so from the angle of a lucrative contract going to a company with links to the vice president. (The bitter comment I hear is that, if Clinton had pulled a financial deal like this, you never would have heard the end of it.) That and the likely ratcheting up of costs to taxpayers.

However, I am more interested in the other angle. One assumes that, just like here in America, a lot of hearts are won with the availability of good jobs. If our goal is to win over the Iraqui public and, by extension, the moderate Muslim world, one would think we would be doing everything in our power to get as many Iraqis employed as possible. I don't pretend to know much about the specifics -- who knows, there could be something I just haven't considered -- but taken at face value, our decisions in this area seem unwise.

mikimouse

on May 14, 2004

true. I don't pretend to know about this either, but I AM an expert in many other dimensions of this war on terror.

WiseFawn

on May 16, 2004

I wrote about the fact that Indians were brought in and abused. I'm so glad to see others are interested in this story!!

mikimouse

on May 17, 2004

I would have commented on it but I always get the feeling people here don't give a shit about other people's miseries. In fact, I get labelled a 'troll' for doing so. But you're right.

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