Under The Same Sun: The Biggest Killer

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July 27, 2004

The Biggest Killer

My guess would be that the biggest killer in Iraq today is water-borne diseases, as it was during the decade-long sanctions administered by the United States and the United Kingdom in the deadliest of fashions.

The badly needed contracts for rebuilding the water and public works were given to large American companies, such as Bechtel, notorious for its pernicious role in water privatization in Bolivia. Now the New York Times is reporting that about a quarter of that money that was supposed to be spent on clean water is being spent on administrative and security costs, effectively reducing ultimate capacity by half:

An official in the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works who is intimately familiar with the numbers confirmed that most of the extra costs come about because the prime contractors are Western. Western companies typically hire large numbers of private security guards, set up elaborate base camps and travel only in heavily guarded convoys, offer much higher salaries than Iraqi companies, pay skyrocketing insurance premiums and require much more administrative support in order to comply with stringent American regulations.

Of course, much less would be necessary if the contracts were directly awarded to Iraqi companies who will end up doing the work anyway when it finally gets subcontracted to them for pittance.

Still, Iraqis would be grateful for any level of service, even if American cronies made out like bandits. Even that's not happening. Half the projects aren't even beyond the planning stage.

One excuse is that "Iraqi companies did not generally have the ability to comply with American rules on accountability and transparency in the use of public funds," and that "the time was required to go through the normal process of assuring that American taxpayer money is being spent responsibly."

I must say, it brings tears to my eyes to see this concern over how public funds are spent. I just wish it had been there while spending almost $20 billion of Iraqi money in a mad dash. All the while, of course, refusing to comply with the U.N. mandated audits, refusing to explain where the money went, or how Halliburton ended up with non-competitive contracts paid for with Iraqi money.

Posted by zeynep at July 27, 2004 03:15 AM

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Tracked on July 13, 2005 03:46 AM

Comments

It is nothing but armed robbery and murder. It's that plain and simple. How have we gotten to such a place in history?

Posted by: Terrible at July 27, 2004 10:39 AM

Posted by: bontril at January 24, 2005 01:39 AM

Posted by: texas holdem at March 13, 2005 10:08 AM

Under The Same Sun

reflections on a world where the sun never sets

July 27, 2004

The Biggest Killer

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