The article is downloading slowly.

Caroma, it doesn't look bad, it is bad.

The fact that they got caught and are pulling back doesn't negate that they tried to do it in the first place.

Finally read the article.

So, Halliburton won't have the monopoly on the re-build. They'll still make a fortune.

Nope, even they realized how awful it looked.

Snort. Even you can't think this makes them look good. Besides, it's not like they aren't gonna give a nice deal to Halliburton (see below):

Halliburton, which declined to comment, could still be awarded a sub-contractor role.

Ayup, just as I figured. Still think they are being entirely selfless?

Whoa, remember I was the one who blew the whistle on them over in Natter to begin with. Of course they're being "selfish"--it's called trying to make money for their workers and shareholders.

No, it doesn't make them look good. But it's still true that a) not many companies can do what they do and b) Cheney has been totally out of the company since 2001. He still knows people there, sure, but what can be done about that? Should the whole upper echelon resign because one of their own became VP?

Not many... how many? what precluded them? why is halliburton the best choice? That's only 2 years. The connections are still there. Why is it okay to be included with connections, but not okay to exclude because of same connections?

And now I'm feeling like I've just colonized the Unamerican thread for my own purposes.

sorry.

Caroma, the assertion is that Cheny's setting up his friends to make a bundle by dragging us into an ill-advised war. Then he himself will make a bundle down the line in return.

It's not a matter of how things "look". It's a matter of engineering politics for massive financial gain.

A good friend is an International Economist (Rhodes scholar and smartest person I know) and he's concerned (along with his friends in that community) because U.S. business concerns have an abysmal track record in nation-building, and yet those with real experience, such as NGOs, are not part of the Bush Administration's planning for post-war Iraq.

Well, exactly. Most of our Congress came from the private sector, and that's what we want, instead of the professional polticians. And as more and more rich guys like Bloomberg get into politics, it's going to get stickier and stickier. The ties will just multiply. And what if you're part of the company and you resign to take public office, and then your old company takes over a bunch of others. Do you recuse yourself from legislation affecting all of them?

The NGO's will come in later, I thought.

Caroma, the assertion is that he gained power and dragged us into war in order to make a fortune.