who knew?

Apparently, Bechtel just got the go ahead on its subcontracts. Surprised us.

Federal officials have approved Bechtel Group's blueprint for Iraq reconstruction, making restoration of electric power the top priority in a $680 million budget that authorities concede will just scratch the surface of what needs to be done.

For some unknown reason, the previous 12 years of sanctions seems to have gone unnoticed by the author when describing the current state of Iraq's infrastructure. The article does go into a few details on the plan including the following:

About one-third of the money, $230 million, is devoted to restoring electrical power. The spending plan also earmarks $53 million to repair 1,300 schools and health clinics, and sets aside $45 million for water purification and sanitation.

An op-ed, A long day's journey from the republic of fear to a new Iraq, by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz appeared in the Washington Post and is reprinted on the Sydney Morning Herald website. Very much an "us vs. them" type of op-ed.

...it is the coalition's intensified focus on mid-level Baathists that will yield even greater results in apprehending the contract killers and dead-enders who now target our soldiers and our success.

By now you've probably heard that all bets are off at the new Off Track Betting parlor Mr. Poindexter had hoped to be running for the Department of Defense:

The Pentagon on Tuesday abandoned a plan to establish a futures market that would have allowed traders to profit by correctly predicting assassinations and terrorist strikes in the Middle East.

Tacky. The Guardian article provides links to the websites of the Policy Analysis Market and one of their partner groups, DARPA:

Policy Analysis Market:
http://www.policyanalysismarket.org (already scrubbed, even the Google cache is gone)

DARPA's FutureMap Web site:
http://www.darpa.mil/iao/FutureMap.htm

We thought it was a hoax when we first got the email two days ago alerting us to the Pentagon's new betting parlor. Who knew it was for real?