how to find work in iraq

Since compiling our initial list of reconstruction contracts in Iraq, we have received inquiries on how to find information on job and business opportunities in Iraq. A common complaint is how difficult it is to find out where to start. Unfortunately, the US Govt has not made it as simple as they could have by posting all of the relevant information on one web site.

As a courtesy for those looking, below is a list of some of the links that might prove helpful for researching information. Visit the websites for more details before calling or sending an email. Please be sure to read all of the related restrictions and requirements posted at these sites.

Disclaimer: The information was collected from sources on the web as of June 1, 2003. We make no warranty that the information provided is correct, complete, or up to date. This does not represent an endorsement of any of the groups or individuals listed.

General Information:

Iraq Reconstruction Task Force within the International Trade Administration
http://www.export.gov/iraq/
(866) 352-IRAQ (4727)
IraqInfo@mail.doc.gov

Defense Procurement Policy and Acquisition
http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/iraqreconstruction/iraqcontractinfo.htm

Information on US Govt Iraq Reconstruction Contracts:

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) website
http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/about_reconstruction.html
For a list of prime contractors:
http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/form/company.html

Department of Defense (DOD) Army Corps of Engineers
http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/iraq/iraq.htm
Contractors interested in work related to Iraqi oil facilities should contact the DoD contractor hotline 866-461-5171

U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)
http://www.export.gov/iraq/

U.S. Department of State (DOS)
http://www.state.gov/g/inl/

All inquiries or information regarding capabilities should be sent to dpap@osd.mil.

For a list of services and supplies to be imported to Iraq by sector:
http://www.un.org/Depts/oip/dp/dp12/dp12toc.htm

Additional Agencies for information on commercial opportunities in Iraq:

U.S. Department of Commerce -- Bureau of Industry and Security
http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/

U.S. Department of Agriculture -- Foreign Agricultural Service
http://www.fas.usda.gov/excredits/iraq.htm

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/iraq/iraq.htm

U.S. Department of the Treasury -- Office of Foreign Asset Control
http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/

Information related to the repair of the Iraqi oil infrastructure:

Synopses and solicitations will be posted by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Southwestern Division (SWD), at the Federal Business Opportunities website - click Vendors
http://www.fedbizopps.gov

The Point of Contact (POC) in SWD is the Director of Contracting
214-767-2476

Information about this mission is available at the Corps of Engineers website:
http://www.usace.army.mil

Information about subcontracting opportunities with the current prime contractor (BRS) can be obtained by contacting the contractor's point of contact
dwayne.bourque@halliburton.com

Information on commercial opportunities with Halliburton/KBR:

Halliburton/KBR - general info
http://halliburton.com/news/archive/2003/kbrnws_032403.jsp

Employment Contact
jobs@halliburton.com
(p) 800.888.7668
ext. 8005

Supplier/Procurement Contact
Dave Ireland
dave.ireland@halliburton.com

Supplier Diversity Contact
Linda Holloway
linda.holloway@halliburton.com

Information on commercial opportunities with Bechtel:

Bechtel's Iraq Infrastructure Reconstruction Program
http://www.bechtel.com/iraq.html

For a list of Bechtel subcontractors:
http://www.export.gov/iraq/commercial/index.html

Interested suppliers and contractors should access Bechtel's global supplier and contractor data base
https://supplier.bechtel.com

For employment with Bechtel, as an individual, send your resume/CV and a cover letter using the following phrase: "Reference: Iraq," to the following e-mail address: staffpx@bechtel.com

For reconstruction work with Bechtel in Iraq, please forward resume/CV and a cover letter and use the following phrase: "Reference: Iraq," to the following e-mail address: staffpx@bechtel.com

Publications:

Iraq Business Reporter
weekly $50 week Free copies of the first four published issues
http://www.TradeDataSource.com/

Iraq Reconstruction Report
bi-monthly publication by World Trade Executive $1495 year
http://www.wtexec.com/irr.html

Iraq Reconstruction Reporter
http://www.topiksolutions.com/issues/gingg/

Information on humanitarian assistance in Iraq:

List of NGO's working in Iraq (you will need to research contact info)
http://www.agoodplacetostart.org/wdww.php

For humanitarian work with Bechtel in Iraq, please forward resume/CV and a cover letter and use the following phrase: "Reference: Iraq," to the following e-mail address: staffpx@bechtel.com

Additional:

Gulf Job Sites
Employment opportunities in the Gulf. Sporadically reports jobs.
http://www.gulfjobsites.com/jobsites/articles/iraqi_reconstruction.shtml

Job listings have also been posted on sites like monster.com and in the want ads of newspapers. Try "Middle East" and/or "Iraq" when searching on-line job sites.

Google of "Jobs" "Iraq" brought up quite a few listings. Also try "Employment" "Iraq"

Note:

We wish everyone success in their search for work and/or business opportunities.

tech stuff

We are experiencing a little archive technical difficulty. They come, they go, they come back again.

If you are looking for the original April 19th post on reconstruciton contracts its here You can also search us on google. Type in the search field:

blogiston "month day"

For instance, blogiston "April 19" would bring up original post.

Bpost has been posting updated information on contracts more or less on a daily basis since the April 19th. Sorry for the inconvenience. We know its a drag. Hopefully it will clear up soon. Email us if you need any assistance.

intelligence matters

In recent days, critics of intelligence gathering that lead to an invasion of Iraq increased exponentially. Whether this news will reach middle America on CNN remains to be seen.

In early May, the New Yorker carried an expose Selective Intelligence by Seymour Hersh about the Office of Special Plans. OSP was created for gathering and analyzing intelligence that supported a War in Iraq. While the Hersh article went into great detail on Straussian philosophy used to assess intelligence, it is where the intelligence came from that is disturbing.

The intelligence on Iraq did not come out of the CIA or the DIA or any of the other members of the established Intelligence Community. The intelligence came out of the Policy formation branch of the Department of Defense.

The unusual ladder in descending order by which Iraq intelligence reached the President was:

President George W. Bush
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Deputy Secretary of Defense is Paul Wolfowitz
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith
Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Peter W. Rodman.
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense in charge of Special Plans and Near East and South Asia Dr. William J. Luti
Director of the Office of Special Plans Abram Shulsky and 3 assistants
Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress
Informants and varied sources

If you were looking for or expecting the CIA, you would be looking for a different ladder.

News Hour

Margaret Warner on News Hour recently held a discussion with two members of Donald Rumsfeld's Defense Policy Board.

James Schlesinger, former secretary of defense and CIA director during the Nixon and Ford administrations and Richard Perle, former assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration.

Joining Schlesinger and Perle were Judith Yaphe, a 20-year CIA analyst who specialized in the Middle East, now a senior research fellow at the National Defense University in Washington and David Albright, who worked with U.N. inspectors on Iraq in the mid '90s, now president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington.

MARGARET WARNER: But are you saying then though that you do think that perhaps the consumers of the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction misread it -- or were too quick to connect the dots in a way that they wanted to connect, whether consciously or unconsciously?

JAMES SCHLESINGER: I think that Secretary Wolfowitz had it right. There were bureaucratic reasons that they centered down on weapons of mass destruction as the only common reason for going ahead. But there were more powerful reasons to go ahead. If one thinks back to 9/11 and thinks in what shape the United States was at that time, we have repaired our relations with Russia and China, and we have scored two decisive victories in the Middle East that have made a major impression in the region. Those are powerful reasons to go ahead, and one should not focus exclusively on weapons of mass destruction.

JUDITH YAPHE: There are a couple of misconceptions here. One is that intelligence shapes policy. It doesn't. The second one is that policy uses intelligence. That doesn't happen either. So you can have the best, most accurate intelligence available, but the people who are in charge of the government, the president, the National Security Council, the advisers, they have to decide if they want to use it or not, believe it or not or discard it.

New York Times

Nicholas Kristof chimes in with Save Our Spooks in the New York Times.

On Day 71 of the Hunt for Iraqi W.M.D., yesterday, once again nothing turned up.

Maybe we'll do better on Day 72. But we might have better luck searching for something just as alarming: the growing evidence that the administration grossly manipulated intelligence about those weapons of mass destruction in the run up to the Iraq war.

All Things Considered

All Things Considered on NPR aired a very short interview with former CIA analyst, Larry Johnson. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Larry Johnson about Nicholas Kristof's New York Times article "Save Our Spooks." Kristof writes the Department of Defense deliberately skewed the facts to convince the Bush administration to go to war with Iraq. Larry Johnson says he believes the people behind this represent a "clear and present danger" to America.

NPR Click on the icon to hear the broadcast (requires RealOne Player)

Oversees

Across both ponds, things are not going so well. Tony Blair and John Howard are facing strong criticism for what their countries perceive as intelligence failures. Failure may be too kind a word as some of the press accuses their leaders of promoting outright lies.

The Independent

In the UK, Paul Waugh of The Independent weighs in:

A senior minister warned yesterday that the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq would constitute 'Britain's biggest ever intelligence failure' and would trigger an overhaul of the security services.

The minister told The Independent that the security services were responsible for Downing Street's uncompromising stance on Saddam Hussein's weapons. He spoke after a row erupted between politicians and the intelligence community over the Government's justification for going to war.

A senior intelligence official also told the BBC that Downing Street had wanted the Government dossier outlining Saddam's capability 'sexed up' and that Downing Street included information against security service advice.

Waugh's colleague at the Independent, Glen Rangwala, pens a pre-quel on early intelligence reports with The lies that led us into war ...

There is no UN report after 1994 that claims that Iraq continued to possess weapons of mass destruction. This was well known in intelligence circles. That such a claim could appear in a purported intelligence document is a clear sign that the information was "pumped up" for political purposes, to support the case for an invasion.

The Guardian

Based on reports of a classified document called the Waldorf Transcript, the Guardian writes that Powell and Straw knew all along the intelligence was shaky.

Mr Powell told the foreign secretary [Straw] he hoped the facts, when they came out, would not "explode in their faces".

What are called the "Waldorf transcripts" are being circulated in Nato diplomatic circles. It is not being revealed how the transcripts came to be made; however, they appear to have been leaked by diplomats who supported the war against Iraq even when the evidence about Saddam Hussein's programme of weapons of mass destruction was fuzzy, and who now believe they were lied to.

Sydney Morning Herald

Heading west, Australia's Sydney Morning Herald has an article by Andrew Wilkie, a former analyst at the Office of National Assessments who resigned in protest at the Federal Government's actions over the Iraq war.

Another big concern is the dumbing-down and politicisation of Australia's intelligence. Most junior analysts try to offer frank and fearless advice. But the process is flawed. It involves so many layers of politically astute managers that the final result is often a report so bland as to be virtually worthless, or skewed ever so subtly towards the Government's preferred line. Better that, management would argue, than a brave report prepared in good faith that contradicts Government thinking or is likely to prove wrong over time.

Not that leaving the sharp edges on the intelligence reports would make much difference if a government chooses to believe only what it wants to believe and selects from the intelligence only what best suits its political purposes. The Federal Government pays much more attention to the mush of politicians' and advisers' views, public opinion and media commentary. And it applies a good dose of pro-US sycophancy. The result can be a fine compost indeed, as this whole Iraq business has proven.

The Australian

The Australian reports that everyone wants the intelligence investigated and published.

Pressure is mounting on British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush to publish the evidence on weapons of mass destruction they used to justify the war on Iraq.

The US Congress will investigate the Bush administration's claims that Saddam Hussein held massive stockpiles of illegal weapons, while scores of British MPs have backed a motion demanding their government justify its case.

[...]

A former director of Middle East analysis at the Defence Intelligence Agency, Patrick Lang, said this month that the Office of Special Plans "started picking out things that supported their thesis and stringing them into arguments that they could use with the President".

"It's not intelligence. It's political propaganda," he said.

Policy to Blame

When a CIA spokesman was contacted by the AFP in April to comment on criticism that had begun to surface, Tim Crispell replied:

"They're criticizing policy, not intelligence."

What the AFP did not realize in transcribing the statement is it should have read: "They're criticizing Policy, not Intelligence."

veteran intelligence professionals for sanity

The Birmingham News ran an opinion by Ray McGovern of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity(VIPS) Its a follow up to a memorandum Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times quotes from in his recent article Save Our Spooks

VIPS was formed in January 2003 by former veteran intelligence officials from the FBI and CIA, mostly comprised of analysts. VIPS has been writing opinion pieces, memos to President Bush, and conducting interviews for several months voicing their unease with the handling of intelligence on Iraq. Comprised of 25 former members of the Intelligence Community, their commentary can sometimes be stinging. In one memorandum, they politely order the President to re-read a CIA report.

We recommend you re-read the CIA assessment of last fall that pointed out that "the forces fueling hatred of the US and fueling al Qaeda recruiting are not being addressed," and that "the underlying causes that drive terrorists will persist." That CIA report cited a Gallup poll last year of almost 10,000 Muslims in nine countries in which respondents described the United States as 'ruthless, aggressive, conceited, arrogant, easily provoked and biased.'

The most recent memorandum and follow up Opinion addresses inspectors returning to Iraq.

Washington's decision to bar the very people with the international mandate, the unique experience and the credibility to undertake a serious search for weapons of mass destruction defies logic. U.N. inspectors know Iraq, know the weaponry in question, know the Iraqi scientists/engineers who have been involved, know how the necessary materials are procured and processed.

Unquestionably, their familiarity with the nuclear facilities would go a long way toward ending the looting and thefts there. Yet repeated U.N. offers to make inspectors available have been rebuffed.

This only compounds Washington's credibility problem. Many are already unwilling to take at face value the intelligence reporting offered by the United States on Iraq, particularly since several of the detailed assertions by Powell at the United Nations on Feb. 5 did not bear close scrutiny.

Particularly distressing to us as intelligence professionals has been the revelation that some of the most important evidence used to rally congressional support for the war resolution of Oct. 11 was known to be based on forged documents.

Members of VIPS have published six memorandums to date. The memos are long, detailed and at times, highly entertaining with their no holds barred attitude. Not many are feeling bold enough to criticize this particular administration for fear of being Dixie Chicked. But if you are ex-CIA, you've probably seen worse albeit in other countries.

February 8, 2003 Re: War on Iraq

March 15, 2003 Re: Cooking Intelligence for War

March 18, 2003 Re: Forgery, Hyperbole, Half-Truth: A Problem

April 26, 2003 Re: The Stakes in the Search for Weapons of Mass Destruction

May 1, 2003 Re: Intelligence Fiasco

May 19, 2003 Re: We are Perplexed at the US Refusal to Permit the Return of UN Inspectors to Iraq

May 25, 2003 Re: We need Inspectors to Return to Iraq

Members of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity include:

Richard Beske
Eugene Betit
Ray Close
Kathleen McGrath Christison
William Christison
Patrick Eddington
David MacMichael (added July 15)
Raymond McGovern

Take the time to read VIPS memos. It is well worth the effort.

dan quayle

News of former Vice President Dan Quayle is just too too rare. He'll be playing in the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe, Nevada in mid-July.

halliburton: the saga continues

Everyone (most especially Representative Henry Waxman) is still very annoyed over the Halliburton contracts. And now it turns out Halliburton has been collecting for their work in Iraq since March--of 2002.

Halliburton quickly fired back, saying, "To suggest that either Halliburton or any of the firms that support the Department of Defense advocate war in order to make money is an affront to all hard-working, honorable Halliburton employees, who are dedicated to serving our customers and doing what is right."

What does Halliburton expect people to say when all of the biggest contracts go to companies with direct ties to the White House? "Money had nothing to do with it."

Everyone is just calling it like they see it.

more contracts awarded

If you've got an extra $50 a week, you can sign up for the new Iraq Business Reporter. Free copies of the first four published issues are available at TradeDataSource.com

'Iraq Business Reporter is a weekly electronic newsletter providing current business news, leads and other information on rapidly evolving business and commercial activity in Iraq,' publisher Christopher Beard explains. 'It is an essential resource for persons identifying and tracking new opportunities and developments in that fluid environment.'

We love Business Wire. We missed reading their reports during our break. Meanwhile, Washington File has a new announcement from the USAID.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded five contracts to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to promote citizen involvement in community development in Iraq.

Company Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance
Award $7 million
Agency USAID Iraq Community Action Program
Pre-planning
Date of RFP
Date of Award May 27, 2003
Nature of work To promote citizen involvement in community development efforts
Reference

Company Cooperative Housing Foundation International
Award $7 million
Agency USAID Iraq Community Action Program
Pre-planning
Date of RFP
Date of Award May 27, 2003
Nature of work To promote citizen involvement in community development efforts
Reference

Company International Relief and Development, Inc.
Award $7 million
Agency USAID Iraq Community Action Program
Pre-planning
Date of RFP
Date of Award May 27, 2003
Nature of work To promote citizen involvement in community development efforts
Reference

Company Mercy Corps
Award $7 million
Agency USAID Iraq Community Action Program
Pre-planning
Date of RFP
Date of Award May 27, 2003
Nature of work To promote citizen involvement in community development efforts
Reference

Company Save the Children Federation, Inc.
Award $7 million
Agency USAID Iraq Community Action Program
Pre-planning
Date of RFP
Date of Award May 27, 2003
Nature of work To promote citizen involvement in community development efforts
Reference

BearingPoint is still rumored to be in the running for a USAID contract to improve Iraq's financial sector. (BearingPoint recently won a three-year, $40 million contract to rebuild the financial system in Afghanistan.)

How do you feel about off-shore corporations?

Bearing Point moves around depending on economic climate.

Though India has long been considered the global hot spot for U.S. offshore application development -- due to low-cost labor, friendly laws and a high degree of English proficiency -- Bearing Point, formerly KPMG Consulting, has selected China as the location for its new offshore application-development facility.

The decision was made because China offers the promise of even lower real estate and labor costs than India.

"The biggest driver is the cost advantage we can deliver to firms from being in China," says Judy List, senior vice president of Bearing Point's Services Solutions Group. "Some rode the India wave but now we see China as the next wave and want to get on the bandwagon early."

media power

Some feel the media isn't all that powerful but a close examination of their choice of words and how they use them can be quite telling.

Reuters edited two paragraphs (after on-line publication) in a recent article that ran in the NYTimes: Bush Signs Tax Cut Bill; Republicans Promise More While the changes in words are minor, the difference in meaning is immense.

original 12:27 pm:

Eventually, Bush could create a flat-tax system, under which savings and investment would be tax-free, said Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, a political action committee.

"Everything that Bush has done on tax policy since 2001 (has had) one common theme -- that is, to lead us to the promised land of a flat tax," Moore said. "We're crossing this river in five or six jumps rather than one huge leap."

revised 8:16 pm:

Conservatives said many of the tax law changes have brought them closer to their goal of transforming the existing income-tax code into a flat tax or consumption-based system, under which savings and investment would be tax-free.

``We're crossing this river in five or six jumps rather than one huge leap,'' said Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, which backed the tax cuts.

Is Reuters now under the Rove thumb?

war games

You too can play war profiteer with your own special deck of cards. While bpost would have included some different faces in the group, all in all, its a great way to learn who the players are.

back to work

After the USAID awarded controversial contracts to Bechtel and Halliburton for work in Iraq, should it come as any surprise that WorldCom can be added to the list?

One day after agreeing to pay a $500 million dollar fine with the SEC for an $11 billion dollar accounting fraud, it was announced that WorldCom had snagged a $45 million dollar contract for work in Iraq. According to an AP news report, the company is "to build a small wireless network with 19 cell towers that can serve 5,000 to 10,000 mobile phones used by reconstruction officials and aid workers in the Baghdad area." There is no evidence the contract was competitively bid.

Motorola Corporation has been awarded a contract for up to $25 million to set up a radio communications network for Iraqi security and coalition forces in Baghdad. Motorola also manages contracts for similar services in nearby Oman.

Company WorldCom (also known as MCI)
Award $45 million
Agency Department of Defense
Pre-planning
Date of RFP
Date of Award early May 2003
Nature of work To build a small wireless network for use by reconstruction officials and aid workers in the Baghdad area.
Reference

Company Motorola Corp
Award $25 million
Agency Department of Defense
Pre-planning
Date of RFP
Date of Award May 2003
Nature of work To set up a radio communications network for Iraqi security and coalition forces in Baghdad.
Reference

meanwhile, back in Texas

The law firm of Haynes & Boone has announced a new specialty division:

Haynes and Boone, LLP, an international corporate law firm, recently announced the formation of its Iraq Transactions and Claims Practice Group, built to assist clients in securing business opportunities in the risky and uncertain markets emerging in Iraq. The firm will leverage its attorneys' expertise in working with countries in transition, its excellent governmental contacts, and the firm's extensive knowledge and experience of establishing a viable business presence in the international arena.

Now just who would those excellent governmental contacts be? Well, President George W. Bush would be one. Haynes & Boone contributed $52,600 to Bush's 2000 presidential campaign by 'bundling' contributions supposedly from employees. Co-founder Michael M. Boone has been a long time Bush supporter having also personally contributed to Bush's earlier Texas Gubernatorial campaigns. Boone is also one of the 'Pioneers' each of who raised at least $100,000 for Bush's Presidential Campaign.

Boone and Bush go back a bit. In 1990, Haynes & Boone advised Harken Energy on Bush's pending stock sale and whether it would represent a conflict of interest.

On June 22 1990, George W. Bush sold 212,140 of his 317,152 shares in Harken Energy in an allegedly prearranged stock trade for a total of $848,560; 41 days before Iraq invaded Kuwait and 8 days prior to the end of the second quarter during which it had become apparent that Harken would have to restate its 1989 earnings (major loss) in addition to other operating losses it had incurred that quarter. He managed to sell his stock near its high at $4/share. He made a 200% profit on the trade. This insider trade was not disclosed to the SEC until some 8 months later.

Haynes & Boone issued a 9 page memo outlining their point of view. The memo was withheld from the SEC until one day after their inquiry into the sale had ended.

Harken Energy executive's claimed client-attorney privilege for withholding the Haynes and Boone memo from the SEC. It should come as no surprise that Vice President Dick Cheney is claiming executive priviledge for why he will not release his notes on energy meetings to the GAO.

oo la la

We need a little break to catch up on some reading as well as some surf and sun. We'll be back on May 26. In the meantime, some guests may drop in with their own insights to share with you.

If you are visiting us for information on reconstruction and humanitarian aid contracts to Iraq, the posts start on April 19th to the present. Click on the weekly archives to the left and start to work your way forward to this week.

wanna job in iraq?

Monster.com and Monster.com.uk are posting listings of jobs in Iraq. Just think, you can work as a communications technician, system administrator, network engineer, satellite communications, data help desk or law enforcement.

BE PART OF THE PRIDE In anticipation of a new contract award, Wackenhut Services, Inc., a recognized leader in providing superior personnel, is seeking dedicated individuals to join our paramilitary security force to protect WMD disposition teams in Iraq.

The jobs come with hazard pay. Must be 21 years or older to apply.

washington anyone?

We wish we could attend.

Bechtel National, Inc. is hosting contractor-supplier conferences this month to inform the worldwide contracting community of its role in USAID's Iraq Infrastructure Reconstruction Program. There is no fee charged for attendance.

If you are in the Washington DC area on May 21, you might want to check it out--and let us know what you find.

the many contracts of halliburton

If you have been confused by the constant flow of news stories on the Halliburton contracts for post-war Iraq, you have good reason to be.

Halliburton is a large company with numerous divisions and subsidiaries divided primarily in to two groups:

Energy Services
KBR (Kellogg, Brown & Root) Engineering and Construction

On December 14, 2001, the Army Material Command awarded Halliburton KBR Government Operations an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity 10 year contract known as the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program III (LOGCAPIII)

[Halliburton KBR Government Operations] will provide for the construction of facilities and infrastructure of base camps including billeting, mess hall, food preparation, potable water, sanitation, showers, laundry, transportation, utilities, warehousing and other logistical support. Also included is support of the Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, Integration (RSOI) process of U.S. Forces as they enter or depart their theater of operation by sea, air or rail.

In November 2002, under LOGCAPIII, the Department of Defense requested KBR develop a contingency plan "for assessing and extinguishing oil well fires in Iraq and evaluating and repairing, as directed by the US government, the country's petroleum infrastructure."

On March 8, 2003, KBR was awarded a cost plus 7% contract thru the Army Core of Engineers to implement the contingency plan KBR had developed for the DoD. This contract was valued at a cap of $7 billion dollars. However, the awarding of the contract was not announced until 5 days after the invasion had begun, on March 24.

KBR has subcontracted the firefighting portion of the work to Houston-based companies Boots & Coots International Well Control, Inc. and Wild Well Control, Inc as well as services from International Response Corporation (IRC) "to assist with the assessment and cleanup of oil spills." IRC is the international service affiliate of National Response Corporation (NRC).

The implementation contract is executed thru task orders. As the work is required, a task order is issued. To date approximately $74.3 million to $89.5 million dollars in task orders related to Iraq's petroleum infrastructure have been issued. The LATimes reports in its May 9 article an additional task order is pending. (bpost has to date seen references to 2 sets of figures for the actual cost: a) $50.3 + $24 million b) $69.5 + $20 million. Both figures are provided as we do not know which is the most accurate.)

In addition to the LOGCAPIII and implementation contracts, on April 10, the New York Times reported KBR was awarded a $30 million dollar contract thru the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to dismantle and neutralize any chemical or nuclear weapons found in the region.

Under the terms of the 10 year LOGCAPIII contract, Halliburton KBR Government Operations also provides direct support to the military in the region. As a result of this Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract, approximately $90 million dollars has been spent. It is estimated this portion of Halliburton's work in Iraq will reach $200 million when completed.

Until August of 2000, Vice President Dick Cheney was employed by Halliburton. Having also served as Halliburton's chief executive officer, he continues to receive an annual pension from the company. Senators are questioning the propriety of the contracts.

tv aid

The Los Angeles Times has an article today on US efforts to distribute news and entertainment inside of Iraq. There is no way to tell if this is the same effort being managed by SAIC. There is a little information on the funding though.

Only days before Saddam Hussein's regime fell April 9, the White House called the broadcasting board to ask how quickly a short-term American TV presence in Iraq could be launched. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget scrambled to find the funds -- about $165,000 a week -- and board member Norm Pattiz, creator of the Los Angeles-based Westwood One radio network, asked the heads of U.S. network news divisions to provide free programming.

Bpost thinks this topic is worth following and keeping an eye on. Alot of money and control appears to be going into radio and television outlets in Iraq and through out the Middle East with no clear signs of costs to US taxpayers being revealed. For instance: $5 million has been allocated to the INC's Radio Sawa, USAID funding summaries list Internews at $160,000, SAIC is reported to be administering broadcast transmissions. What else?

A new venture, METN, wants congress to fund a $30 million dollar appropriation to develop and expand regional coverage.

Washington is exploring even more ambitious ways to crack the vast regional market. Tomlinson's agency, for example, is planning to start the Middle Eastern Television Network, a U.S. government-funded venture that would compete directly with Al Jazeera, which has an estimated 35 million adult viewers in the region. Backers expect METN to be on the air by fall if Congress approves a $30-million appropriation. Plans call for the network to eventually broadcast live from studios in Washington and the Middle East.

Company Television program: Iraq and the World
Subcontractors
Award $165,000 per week
Agency U.S. Office of Management and Budget & Broadcasting Board of Governors
Pre-planning
Date of RFP
Date of Award prior to April 9, 2003
Nature of work To provide a short-term American TV presence in Iraq

Stay tuned.

Addendum: According to an article in the Washington Post, Iraq and the World ceased production on May 8.

the office of special plans

Seymour Hersh has written several articles in The New Yorker on the dynamics operating within the Department of Defense. His most recent, Selective Intelligence in the May 12 issue is a must read.

They call themselves, self-mockingly, the Cabal - a small cluster of policy advisers and analysts now based in the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans. In the past year, according to former and present Bush Administration officials, their operation, which was conceived by Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, has brought about a crucial change of direction in the American intelligence community. These advisers and analysts, who began their work in the days after September 11, 2001, have produced a skein of intelligence reviews that have helped to shape public opinion and American policy toward Iraq. They relied on data gathered by other intelligence agencies and also on information provided by the Iraqi National Congress, or I.N.C., the exile group headed by Ahmad Chalabi. By last fall, the operation rivaled both the CIA and the Pentagon’s own Defense Intelligence Agency, the DIA, as President Bush’s main source of intelligence regarding Iraq’s possible possession of weapons of mass destruction and connection with Al Qaeda. As of last week, no such weapons had been found. And although many people, within the Administration and outside it, profess confidence that something will turn up, the integrity of much of that intelligence is now in question.

Little is known about the Office of Special Plans (OSP), but their positioning within the Department of Defense (DoD) says quite a bit. To understand where exactly in the DoD the OSP is located a basic overview is needed.

International Security Affairs

The Secretary of Defense is Donald Rumsfeld. The Deputy Secretary of Defense is Paul Wolfowitz. Beneath the Secretary of Defense are a number of Secretary and Under Secretary positions heading various departments and agencies.

The newly created Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence of Stephen Cambone is one. The Under Secretary of Defense for Policy of Douglas Feith is a second.

Douglas Feith as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy oversees the following personnel:

Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Requirements
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict
Defense Advisor for U. S. Mission NATO
Director of Net Assessment
Defense Security Assistance Agency - through the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
Defense Technology Security Administration - through the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy
Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Office - through the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs

The Office of Special Plans is located within International Security Affairs.The Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs is Peter W. Rodman.

The Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs is the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and the Secretary of Defense for formulating international security and political-military policy for Africa, Asia-Pacific, Near-East and South Asia, and the Western Hemisphere. He also provides policy oversight for security assistance and prisoner of war (POW)/missing in action (MIA) issues.

International Security Affairs is broken down into 4 regional offices:

Africa
Asia-Pacific
Near East and South Asia
Western Hemisphere

And 3 other offices:

Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office
Defense Security Cooperation Agency
International Negotiations and Regional Affairs

Dr. William J. Luti is the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense in charge of Special Plans and Near East and South Asia. The Office of Special Plans is within the Near East and South Asia regional office. The Director of the Office of Special Plans is Abram Shulsky.

Defense Intelligence Community

Progressing down the chain of command from Secretary of Defense thru the Policy branch of the DoD to the Director of the Office of Special Plans, something is missing: The Intelligence Community. While intelligence is an integral part of all departments within the DoD, key intelligence such as that used by the President to declare war, seems wildly out of place in the Policy branch.

Responsibility for intelligence gathering of the significance indicated in Hersh's article is mentioned nowhere in the full directive of Responsibilities and Functions of International Security Affairs. Nor is the Policy branch included in the Department of Defense Intelligence Community comprised of the following DoD members:

Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) - provides timely and objective military intelligence to warfighters, policymakers, and force planners.

National Security Agency (NSA) - collects and processes foreign signals intelligence information for our Nation's leaders and warfighters, and protects critical US information security systems from compromise.

National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) - coordinates collection and analysis of information from airplane and satellite reconnaissance by the military services and the CIA.

National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) – provides timely, relevant, and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security.

Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps Intelligence Agencies –each collects and processes intelligence relevant to their particular Service needs.

The CIA, while funded under the DoD, is considered a non-DoD intelligence branch. Policy is not a member of the DoD Intelligence Community nor the non-DoD Intelligence Community.

Intelligence Activities

United States intelligence activities are clearly defined in the provisions of Executive Order 12333 of Dec. 4, 1981.

1.11 The Department of Defense. The Secretary of Defense shall:

(a) Collect national foreign intelligence and be responsive to collection tasking by the Director of Central Intelligence;

(b) Collect, produce and disseminate military and military-related foreign intelligence and counterintelligence as required for execution of the Secretary's responsibilities;

(c) Conduct programs and missions necessary to fulfill national, departmental and tactical foreign intelligence requirements;

(d) Conduct counterintelligence activities in support of Department of Defense components outside the United States in coordination with the CIA, and within the United States in coordination with the FBI pursuant to procedures agreed upon by the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General;

(e) Conduct, as the executive agent of the United States Government, signals intelligence and communications security activities, except as otherwise directed by the National Security Council;

(f) Provide for the timely transmission of critical intelligence, as defined by the Director of Central Intelligence, within the United States Government;

(g) Carry out or contract for research, development and procurement of technical systems and devices relating to authorized intelligence functions;

(h) Protect the security of Department of Defense installations, activities, property, information, and employees by appropriate means, including such investigations of applicants, employees, contractors, and other persons with similar associations with the Department of Defense as are necessary;

(i) Establish and maintain military intelligence relationships and military intelligence exchange programs with selected cooperative foreign defense establishments and international organizations, and ensure that such relationships and programs are in accordance with policies formulated by the Director of Central Intelligence;

(j) Direct, operate, control and provide fiscal management for the National Security Agency and for defense and military intelligence and national reconnaissance entities; and

(k) Conduct such administrative and technical support activities within and outside the United States as are necessary to perform the functions described in sections (a) through (j) above.

1.12 Intelligence Components Utilized by the Secretary of Defense. In carrying out the responsibilities assigned in section 1.11, the Secretary of Defense is authorized to utilize the following:

(a) Defense Intelligence Agency, whose responsibilities shall include;

(1) Collection, production, or, through tasking and coordination, provision of military and military-related intelligence for the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, other Defense components, and, as appropriate, non-Defense agencies;

(2) Collection and provision of military intelligence for national foreign intelligence and counterintelligence products;

(3) Coordination of all Department of Defense intelligence collection requirements;

(4) Management of the Defense Attache system; and

(5) Provision of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence staff support as directed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Policy Dictates Intelligence

Clearly the DoD has a well established intelligence structure with clearly defined responsibilities . So just what is the Office of Special Plans doing operating inside of Policy if the Defense Department already has a dedicated intelligence community as well as an Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence?

Read Hersh's article. It should now be clear just how far outside of the intelligence community the Office of Special Plans is operating. For more insight from Hersh, read the accompanying online interview.

AMY TÜBKE-DAVIDSON: This week in the magazine, you look at how the case for going to war with Iraq was made. What did you find out?

SEYMOUR M. HERSH: Well, the biggest thing I found out is that what we think of as the intelligence community may not be a community at all. For example, I was just listening to Secretary of State Colin Powell describe how he had briefings from the intelligence community on weapons of mass destruction. It turns out that the intelligence community is really very much dominated by a small group of people in the Pentagon. Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, has more or less muscled his way into day-to-day intelligence operations. I wrote about an ad-hoc analytical group that began working in the Pentagon in the aftermath of September 11th, and which became formally known as the Office of Special Plans last August. The office is the responsibility of William Luti, the Under-Secretary of Defense, and its director is Abram Shulsky. They argued that the C.I.A. and other agencies, including the Defense Intelligence Agency and the State Department, weren't able to understand the connections between Iraq and Al Qaeda, and the extent to which Iraq was involved in the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. They felt that these agencies didn't get it right because they didn't have the right point of view. The Pentagon group's idea was, essentially: Let's just assume that there is a connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, and let's assume that they have made weapons of mass destruction, and that they're still actively pursuing nuclear weapons and have generated thousands of tons of chemical and biological weapons and not destroyed them. Having made that leap of faith, let's then look at the intelligence the C.I.A. has assembled with fresh eyes and see what we can see. As one person I spoke to told me, they wanted to believe it was there and, by God, they found it.

The cart has been placed in front of the horse. Policy is now dictating the interpretation of intelligence. One can only hope that intelligence is not fabricated to satisfy policy in return.

a little bit more

Halliburton has been awarded an additional $24 million dollars to distribute propane fuel inside of Iraq. Bpost will have more to say on this but for now, here's the update:

Company Kellogg, Brown & Root (subsidiary of Halliburton)
Subcontractors
Award $24 million
Agency USACOE
Pre-planning November 2002
Date of RFP
Date of Award March 8, 2003
Date of additional work order May 4, 2003
Nature of work To distribute fuel within Iraq
Reference
Reference

poking around

Bpost has been poking around into some of the recent groups to hit the news. Two have caught our eye. The first is the Office of Special Plans of which we know next to nothing. The second is defense contractor Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).

According to online information, the SAIC is funding the Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council (IRDC). Established by the Pentagon in late February, the council is made up of Iraqis who would participate in an interim administration in Iraq. The team is apparently headed by Imad Dhia and was temporarily stationed in Virgina.

Our interest, of course, is how much is being paid and under which contract to SAIC. After some looking around, bpost discovered a revised contract to SAIC dated February 13.

Science Applications International Corp., San Diego is being awarded a $7,715,691 to exercise an option under previously awarded indefinite-delivery and indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00140-01-D-H029) for providing services in support of the U.S. Joint Forces Command's Joint Experimentation Directorate in support of the formulation and analysis of joint operational concepts. Work will be performed at Suffolk, Va., and is to be completed by October 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Fleet Industrial Supply Center, Norfolk Detachment, Philadelphia is the contracting activity.

Our guess work is based on a) the Pentagon would not want to send the contract out for bid b) the contract had to be for services not goods c) the location specified needed to be in Virginia and d) the contract would commence after January 31 on or near the end of February. The contract is also for significantly less than most of the additional awards to SAIC that we saw online at Defense Link.

The U.S. Joint Forces Command's Joint Experimentation Directorate is a Pentagon program that is part of transforming military response. Here's how Navy Capt. Justin Sherin, chief of the directorate's information superiority working group initially described it:

a pro football team that has the best capabilities, but no game schedule

Bpost thinks the IRDC is now part of this new football team. And we think they just got flown to Baghdad for their first game.

SAIC is also handling the technical operations of the new radio station Voice of the New Iraq launched on April 15 in Umm Qasr. It's a bummer they wouldn't reveal how much the contract is worth or when they got it. If anyone stumbles on anything please let us know. We prefer solid facts to guesswork.

There are now a number of radio stations operating in Iraq. Clandestine radio is monitoring transmissions and reports on the bands so you can tune in if you've got a shortwave radio. It'll probably help if you speak a little Arabic but you can always just enjoy the music.

Note Try this link to Clandestine Radio.

Special thanks to P Glass for contributing to this report

up, up, and away

Announcement today from the USAID that SkyLink Air & Logistics has been awarded the contract for administering three airports in Iraq. The airports are Baghdad, Basra and Mosul. SkyLink's Canadian subsidiary handled humanitarian air drops for the International Rescue Committee in Kosovo. They have a lot of experience moving stuff around.

Essentially, SkyLink is in the business of getting people and cargo where they need to go on time, on budget and safely. Whether SkyLink is leasing a helicopter in Africa for food distribution and relief programs, or chartering the world's largest aircraft (AN124) to move oil rigs to remote sites around the world, SkyLink has always excelled

Oil rigs? Now why would there possibly be a need for that kind of humanitarian assistance in Iraq?

Company SkyLink Air & Logistic Support, Incorporated (USA)
Subcontractor Patrick Corporation (Australia)
Award $2.5 million
Agency USAID
Date of RFP February 19, 2003
Pre-planning
Date of Award May 5, 2003
Nature of work Airport Administration. Management of humanitarian and trans-shipment operations by air. Airport Director for each airport (minimum of 5 airports) is required to be American citizen.
Reference

The contract is expected to reach upwards of $10.2 million. Subcontractor Patrick Corporation will be doing the initial assessment. Bet the recent timely meeting between President Bush and Australian Prime Minister Howard didn't hurt. Howard even got invited to the Crawford Ranch, which is apparently an honor, though the press seem to feel otherwise. During the Kosovo relief effort, the cost of the operation was estimated at $1 million a month. Expect the contract to total at a fairly high number when all is said and done.

op ed

8.8 million jobs have been lost in the last two years in the United States. National unemployment figures rose this past week to 6%.

Hello? Is anybody in Washington paying attention?

I'm not the president or a presidential candidate (and I don't play one on television) but it seems to me to create new jobs, this country needs to create new industries. A tax cut to maintain the current status quo is just not going to change anything. If the demand for existing products isn't there now, why should the demand increase with a tax cut? How many new cars and television sets can any one person buy? Americans just can't keep buying more of what we already have. We've got to get a move on.

How do we get moving?

There is an entirely new industry this country could develop and export world wide. It's one that's been sitting under our noses since the 1970's. Just about every dis-incentive imaginable has been put in the way to prevent it from emerging, growing, and creating new jobs. It's a no-brainer friends. It's the alternative energy industry.

Take just one form: solar energy. To get solar energy into mainstream use it needs research and development: jobs for designers and engineers. New ideas need the manufacturing sector to see those designs become reality: jobs in assembly and production. Products need to reach wholesale and retail outlets: jobs in the transportation sector for shipping and delivery. Units need to be installed: projects for contractors who in turn give jobs to electrical and construction workers. New products need to be marketed: jobs in advertising and more jobs for the outlets that carry those ads.

Small businesses will need to develop to handle maintenance contracts. New architecture and design standards will need to be invented to incorporate the new technology. Colleges, schools and universities will need classes and teachers to educate how the technology can be utilized. Banks will need to provide loans to help businesses and homeowners to stretch out the costs of purchase and installation. Entire new businesses will be needed just to deal with retrofitting existing buildings and homes.

When new industries emerge, inventors and entrepreneurs find new ways to exploit the new technology. It's American capitalism at its finest. Commonly used products evolve, reinvented as new and improved. Ingenuity imagines new demand for solar cell phone chargers, portable solar radios and televisions, solar powered picnic coolers that stay cool, travel mugs that stay warm. Go wild, and why not - a mailbox in winter could have a solar de-icer, a chilly morning car could have a solar seat warmer. The possibilities are endless because so little has yet to be imagined, invented, and created.

We need jobs. We need new jobs. And a tax cut to hang on to old jobs that no longer exist just isn't going to cut it. We need to move forward and quit standing still.

In the 1700's, we had wood to heat our homes. The 1800's gave us coal as the fuel of choice. The 1900's were the boom of the oil industry. It's the 2000's now and it's time we had new energy that matched our new century.

So let's skip the tax cut and put that money into creating a new industry. Let's invest in our future and let's do it today. Oil is so yesterday.

Besides, we need the jobs.

something

Company Iraqi Antiquities
Award $2 million
Agency US Department of State
Date of RFP
Pre-planning bpost shall refrain from snide remark
Date of Award April 29, 2003
Nature of work To help protect and restore key museums and archeological sites in Iraq
Reference

Something is always better than nothing. But alas, it is too little, too late.

The United States is pleased to announce a contribution of $2 million to help protect and restore key museums and archeological sites in Iraq. The American people value and respect Iraq’s cultural heritage. The funds will support specific cultural preservation needs to be identified in consultation with Iraqi cultural officials. The archeological and cultural heritage of Iraq documents over 10,000 years of the development of civilization.

Not much left in the key museums to protect but the funds will probably help with the clean up.

Wanna see the budget breakdown for all of the aid and reconstruction costs? It's in the Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2003 Public Law 108-11 signed by President Bush on April 16, 2003. You can read the on-line version of HR1559 here. If you'd like to see the full language of the appropriations bill, you can order it from the Government Printing Office - although, it won't be ready for another couple of weeks.