Cronyism Alleged in Rebuilding of Iraq (Chalabi)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-contracts7nov07,1,2261943.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Businessmen with close ties to a leading — and controversial — member of Iraq's Governing Council have won large contracts for the country's reconstruction, leading to charges by some council members and other Iraqis that the actions are fueling a cronyism that threatens to sabotage the nation-building effort.

The men are associates of Ahmad Chalabi, an American-trained financier who has close ties to senior Pentagon officials and is a prominent member of the council, the U.S.-appointed interim government in Iraq.

Although it is perfectly legal for entrepreneurs with ties to top government officials to land reconstruction contracts, the perception of favoritism is setting back the rebuilding effort in Iraq by discouraging some foreign companies from seeking contracts, Iraqi and U.S. businessmen and officials said in interviews in Washington and Iraq.

It is further damaging the image of a reconstruction effort already hurt by the granting of huge no-bid awards to the politically connected U.S. firms Halliburton Co. and the Bechtel Group, Iraqis said.

[PartyPooper]

1. Chalabi + Cheney + Halliburton = Cronyism?

Nah!

You musta' been listening to those libruls over at DU.

:eyes:

[Maple]

2. Gosh!

Now THAT'S a surprise!

[Hieronymus]

3. Chalabi

was a crony of the administration, and a convicted criminal.

[Julien Sorel]

4. It's a sign that a healthy democracy is beginning to take hold.

Mission accomplished!

[bpilgrim]

5. 'entrepreneurs' - lol - n/t

nothing to see here, move along...

peace

[baby_bear]

6. What's with this statement in that article?

<snip>
Although it is perfectly legal for entrepreneurs with ties to top government officials to land reconstruction contracts, the perception of favoritism is setting back the rebuilding effort in Iraq by discouraging some foreign companies from seeking contracts, Iraqi and U.S. businessmen and officials said in interviews in Washington and Iraq.
</snip>

From my understanding, it is certainly not necessarily "perfectly legal" for these guys to pick up cushy contracts....am I missing something? I mean, if they bid fair and square, fine, but that ain't what we're talking about here, is it?

Am I in the dark, or what? "Perfectly legal"? With no constraints attached?

yikes

s_m

[Djinn]

7. Not cronyism

They just figured that if a repeatedly failed businessman with dubious "business practices" in his past can run the US then Chalabi is surely qualified to run a few contracts

[baby_bear]

8. Oh, yeah, I should have figured that one out...

Thanks, Djinn.

I shouldn't try to make these things so complicated (might confuse Bush).

s_m

[theHandpuppet]

9. A friendly kick...

... to leapfrog the troll and return this thread to the front page.