posted April 05, 2003 at 10:19 a.m. MDTAs one grunt put it, because Americans are a freedom-loving people, the only foreign land they claim is enough space to bury their dead. Cruel will be the day he loses his naivete!
Companies Secretly Bid to Rebuild Iraq [abcnews.go.com] "The secret bidding is legal, but controversial.
"If you don't have an open process, the odds are you may not get the best price, you may not get the best contractor, you may not have the best quality control, which may impact your mission success," Schooner said.
British troops are serving alongside U.S. troops in Iraq. But the closed process blocked British companies, as well as any foreign firm, from bidding.
"We have a very keen diplomatic interest in ensuring that others not only are involved, not only will be involved, but feel as though they are part of this post-conflict exercise," said Eric Schwartz of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington think tank.
Also left out were international development groups, which historically have been essential to nation rebuilding because they emphasize the involvement of local people.
"They must have ownership over this full development process," said Mary McClymont, chief executive officer of InterAction, an alliance of dozens of U.S.-based nongovernmental relief organizations. "Otherwise, it's a recipe for failure."
USAID denies politics are involved in any of this."
