http://www.atimes.com/In those heady early days after the invasion of Iraq, Washington handed Bechtel a contract to help reconstruct the country. At the same time it created a security force, the Facilities Protection Service, to guard the projects as well as existing ministries. Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily describe how Bechtel is slinking away after having accomplished nothing, while the security guards have morphed into cold-blooded killers. (Nov 9, '06)
Bechtel's billions down the drain
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK10Ak02.htmlThe decision of the giant engineering company Bechtel to withdraw from Iraq has left many Iraqis feeling betrayed. In the company's departure, they see the end of remaining hopes for the reconstruction of Iraq.
"It is much worse than in the time of Saddam Hussein," Communist Party member Nayif Jassim said. "Most Iraqis wish Saddam would be back in power now that they lived out the hardships of the occupation. The Americans did nothing but loot our oil and kill our people."
Bechtel, whose board members have close ties to the administration of US President George W Bush, announced last week that it was done with trying to operate in the war-torn country. The company has received US$2.3 billion of Iraqi reconstruction funds and US taxpayer money, but is leaving without completing most of the tasks it set out to do.
On every level of infrastructure measurable, the situation in Iraq is worse now than under the rule of Saddam. That includes the 12 years of economic sanctions since the first Gulf War in 1991, a period that Dennis Halliday, former United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, described as "genocidal" for Iraqis.
The average household in Iraq now gets two hours of electricity a day. There is 70% unemployment, 68% of Iraqis have no access to safe drinking water, and only 19% have sewage access. Not even oil production has matched pre-invasion levels.
The security situation is hellish, with a recent study published in the prestigious British medical journal Lancet estimating 655,000 excess deaths in Iraq as a result of the invasion and occupation
-snip-
---------------------------------
How security guards became killers
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK10Ak01.htmlThe Facilities Protection Service (FPS) created after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 has become the principal incubator of death squads in Iraq, senior leaders say.
One of the first decisions that the US occupation authorities and the Iraqi leaders working with them made was that each ministry could establish its own protection force independent of the control of the ministries of Interior and Defense.
Under Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 27, the FPS was established on April 10, 2003, the day after the fall of Baghdad. This document states: "The FPS may also consist of employees of private security firms who are engaged to perform services for the ministries or governorates through contracts, provided such private security firms and employees are licensed and authorized by the Ministry of Interior."
-snip-
General Harith al-Fahad of the former Iraqi army says the FPS turned out to be no such thing. "All the forces formed were actually militias, not organized forces, because they were formed according to rations given to each party in power," he said at a cafe in Baghdad, with explosions echoing in the background.
"Those politicians brought their followers into the so-called security forces. Others took bribes of US$500-$700 from each applicant to be accepted regardless of standard regulations."
When sectarian violence spread across Iraq after the Shi'ite shrine in Samarra was destroyed last February, "The FPS appeared to be the main force that conducted assassinations in Baghdad, and there is evidence that they did it for money."
-snip-
---------------------------------------
re: both articles:
money money money money money
get america completely out of Iraq NOW
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
