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ARTICLES Army contract for Feinstein husband Bush Comes Clean: It Was About the Oil shell faces international protest at AGM
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For those who wondered why Senator Feinstein voted for war despite the tens of thousands of messages from her constituents not to:
Army contract for Feinstein husband URS Corp., a San Francisco planning and engineering firm partially owned by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband, landed an Army contract Monday worth up to $600 million.
Government contracting has come under increasing scrutiny by Congress and citizen groups, with critics decrying the political connections of firms winning lucrative jobs. Richard Blum, Feinstein's husband, serves on the company's board of directors and controls about 24 percent of the firm's stock, according to Hoover's Inc. research firm. A Feinstein spokesman Monday declined to comment on the contract. Blum and several URS representatives could not be reached for comment. A Pentagon spokesman said he was unfamiliar with the contract. Announced in a company press release Monday, the contract calls for URS Corp.'s EG&G division and partner International Consultants Inc. to help with operations planning, troop mobilization, weapons system training and anti-terrorism assessment. The contract runs for five years. "We are very pleased with this important win, which further expands our strong relationship with the Army and demonstrates our ability to provide a full spectrum of support services to ensure that our troops remain combat ready and capable of quickly mobilizing to address threats around the world," said George R. Melton, president of the EG&G division, in a press release. URS boasts some 25,000 employees working in more than 20 countries. Although the firm has a long history of government work, it has focused more on those activities since acquiring EG&G from the Carlyle Group investment firm last year for about $500 million. EG&G works with the military, NASA, and several federal departments, according to Hoover's. The company's areas of expertise range from designing transportation infrastructure to training people to dismantle weapons of mass destruction.
URS brought in more than $2.4 billion in revenue during 2002.
Bush Comes Clean: It Was About the Oil Corporate Vultures Swoop Into the Killing Fields Ted Rall April 23, 2003 U Express Iraq is going to hell. Shiites are killing Sunnis, Kurds are killing Arabs and Islamists are killing secular Baathists. Baghdad, the cradle of human civilization, has been left to looters and rapists. As in Beirut during the '70s, neighborhood zones are separated by checkpoints manned by armed tribesmen. The war has, however, managed to unite Iraqis in one respect: everyone loathes the United States. Some Iraqis hate us for deposing Saddam Hussein. No dictator remains in power without the tacit support of at some of his subjects. Now that we've committed the cardinal sin of conquest--getting rid of the old system without thinking up a new one--even those who chafed under Saddam blame us for their present misery. Others resent our Pentagon-appointed pretender, 58-year-old banker/embezzler Ahmed Chalabi. The State Department points out that Iraq's new puppet autocrat has zero support among Iraqis, having lived abroad since 1958. But who knows? Maybe he was a really popular kid.
That was us in Iraq. But let's forget this penny ante stuff. Let the real looting begin! George W. Bush's bestest buddies, corporate executives at companies which donate money in exchange for a few rounds of golf and a few million-dollar favors, are being handed the keys to Iraq's oil fields. Bush's brazen Genghis Khan act seems carefully calculated to confirm our worst suspicions. First he appoints retired general Jay Garner, president of a GOP-connected defense contractor, SYColeman Corp., as viceroy of occupied Iraq. "The idea is we are in Iraq not as occupiers but as liberators, and here comes a guy who has attachments to companies that provided the wherewithal for the military assault on that country," marvels David Armstrong, a defense analyst at the National Security News Service. A smart and/or decent president would have picked a civilian for a civil administration post. Then Bush slips a $680 million contract to the Bechtel Group, whose Republican-oriented board includes such Reagan-era GOP luminaries as CIA director William Casey, secretary of state George Schulz and defense secretary Caspar Weinberger. The deal puts the company in position to receive a big part of the $100 billion estimated total cost of Iraqi reconstruction. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Bechtel gave Republican candidates, including Bush, about $765,000 in PAC, soft money and individual campaign contributions between 1999 and 2002. Finally, refusing to accept bids from potential competitors, Bush grants a two-year, $490 million contract for Iraqi oil field repairs to Halliburton Co., the Houston-based company where Dick Cheney worked as CEO from 1995 to 2000. "It will look a lot worse if Halliburton gets the USAID [Agency for International Development] contract, too," Bathsheba Crocker, an Iraq specialist for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, warned in March. "Then it really starts looking bad." Guess what! Halliburton has since scored a piece of that $600 million USAID contract. Are we looking bad yet? Only Bush's most intimate friends were invited to bid for these contracts. Even businesses based in Great Britain, where Tony Blair risked his political career to support Bush, have been excluded from a rigged process where only U.S.-based, Republican-led, Bush-connected companies need apply. Two senior Democratic Congressmen, Henry Waxman and John Dingell, are asking the General Accounting Office to look into these sleazy kickback deals. "These ties between the vice president and Halliburton have raised concerns about whether the company has received favorable treatment from the administration," their letter reads. Well, duh. But don't count on appropriate action--like impeachment proceedings--from the do-nothing Dems. Bush's right-wing Gang of Four--Cheney, Rummy, Condi and Wolfy--saw Operation Iraqi Freedom as a chance to line their buddies' pockets, emasculate the Muslim world, place U.S. military bases in Russia's former sphere of influence and, according to the experts, lower the price of oil by busting OPEC. "There will be a substantial increase in Iraqi oil production [under U.S. occupation], and I wouldn't be surprised if schemes emerged to weaken, if not destroy, OPEC," says Jumberto Calder—n, former energy minister of Venezuela. Former OPEC secretary general Fadhil Chalabi (no relation to Ahmed) estimates that increased exploration could potentially double Iraq's proven reserves, which would raise production from 2.4 to 10 million barrels a day. Such Saudi-scale production would "bring OPEC to its knees," says Chalabi. The cartel's member nations, ten of 11 of them predominantly Muslim, would suffer staggering increases in poverty as a result of falling oil revenues, plunging some into the political chaos that breeds Islamist fundamentalism. Meanwhile, the people of Iraq, whose self-flagellating Shias already make the evening news look like a rerun of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, would starve as foreign infidels raked in billions thanks to the oil beneath their land. Time to dust off the duct tape. Ted Rall is the author of "Gas War: The Truth Behind the American Occupation of Afghanistan," an analysis of the underreported Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline project and the real motivations behind the war on terrorism. Ordering information is available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. Copyright 2003 Ted Rall
SHELL FACES INTERNATIONAL PROTEST AT AGM Friends of the Earth Apr 23, 2003 Oil giant Shell is still putting short-term profit before people and the environment, despite its public commitment to a "green" future [2], according to a shocking new report launched today to coincide with the company's London AGM [3]. Failing the challenge: The Other Shell Report (PDF - 300K) mimics Shell's own social and environmental reports but has been jointly published by Friends of the Earth and a coalition of community groups [4]. It contains first hand testimonies from communities living next door to Shell in the US, the Philippines, South Africa, Nigeria, Argentina and China and catalogues the environmental damage, the health problems and the impacts of accident these communities face. But the report also shows how inadequate current UK company law is in protecting local people and the environment from UK companies who profit at the expense of people's health and the natural world. Eight years ago, Shell committed itself to sustainable development and the company promoted its green image to the world. But as people living next door to Shell will tell directors at the company's AGM, the reality is a far cry from the green promises in glossy brochures and advertising campaigns - Shell is failing the sustainability challenge. Friends of the Earth has enabled Hope Esquillo Tura to travel to Shell's AGM to represent the United Front to Oust Oil Depots in the Philippines. She is campaigning for the closure of Shell's oil and gas depots in the Manilan suburb of Pandacan, where 330 million litres of crude oil, diesel and aviation fuel are stored opposite a high school in the heart of the community. Leaks and fires at the depots have resulted in hundreds of residents being hospitalised over the years, and two years ago, Manila City Council ordered the depots to close. But following negotiations with the council, the depots are still open, leaving the community at risk. Ms. Esquillo Tura said: Shell officials claim to be law-abiding, yet they continue to operate in complete defiance of a law which states that they cease and desist their operations. We cannot compromise the rights of the majority of the people of Manila to live peacefully and secured just because of socio-civic projects given to the communities by Shell. No amount of money can compensate for the lives that will be lost and the irreparable damage to succeeding generations should an accident or attack happen here. Hilton Kelly, a community leader from Port Arthur, Texas, will also be at the AGM, facilitated by the Refinery Reform Campaign. He lives near Shell's Port Arthur Refinery, which is surrounded by homes, schools and churches in an area known as "gasoline alley" to locals. Shell reported 56 major accidents, process upsets and fires or explosions at the refinery in 2002 and just last week, an incident resulted in five tons of sulphur dioxide being released with gas flaring and black smoke covering the town for eight hours. Local people suffer exceptionally high rates of heart disease and respiratory problems. Mr Kelly said: Shell's top management from London needs to come to Port Arthur and help correct the problems that create a health burden on their neighbours. Because of the pervasive pattern of racism here in the South, we cannot get the local managers of Shell to take the action needed. Durban, South Africa, is home to South Africa's largest refinery, the South African Petroleum Refinery, jointly owned by Shell and BP. The complex is in south Durban, in an area that is home to low income black, Indian and mixed-race communities, and where health problems including cancer and respiratory diseases are common. Much of the complex is old, and leaks and spills frequently occur. Desmond D'Sa, Chairperson of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, said: In South Durban multi-nationals like Shell are above the law. Only citizens who break the speed limits are prosecuted. Multi-Nationals like Shell who pollute and violate citizens constitutional right to a healthy environment have never been prosecuted. We in South Durban call on Shell management not to abuse their power to subvert the law above the ordinary citizens equal rights that are enshrined in the South African Constitution. Friends of the Earth Director Tony Juniper said: Eight years ago we congratulated Shell on its commitment towards sustainable development. Despite the fine words in mountains of glossy brochures, however, it is clear that the company continues to profit at the expense of people and the environment. Shell must start putting substance before message and spin, and address the concerns of local people in all of the countries where it works, not just here today in the glare of publicity, but everyday, everywhere. "Shell is just one example of how UK plc operates around the world, putting profit before principle with devastating effects for local people and the environment. Patricia Hewitt must change UK company law and make British companies fully accountable for the damage they cause. NOTES: [1] Community representatives attending the Shell AGM and press conference include Hope Esquillo-Tura, United Front to Oust Oil Depots, from the Philippines; Oronto Douglas, Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Desmond D'Sa, chair person of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, Durban, South Africa; Hilton Kelley, Director of the Community In-power and Development Association, Port Arthur, Texas; Margie Richard, Concerned Citizens of Norco, Louisiana, USA; Judith Robinson, Environmental Health Fund, USA; Denny Larson, Refinery Reform Campaign, USA. Contact details are available from Friends of the Earth. [2] The company committed itself to "sustainable development" in 1995. [3] Shell's AGM in London will take place at the QE2 Centre, Westminster at 11am,Wednesday 23rd April and also in The Hague, Netherlands where Friends of the Earth Netherlands will be holding a simultaneous protest. [4] Failing the challenge: The Other Shell Report 2002 was written and researched by Lisa Rimmer for Friends of the Earth with the help of the Refinery Reform Campaign (USA), groundWork South Africa, South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, South African Exchange Program on Environmental Justice, Fundacion Ala Plastica (Argentina), Global Community Monitor (USA) and FreeTibet Campaign.
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Up-to-the-Minute Emergency Responses to War With Iraq throughout the Bay Area: NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
NO DEATHS OVER OIL!
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The award to help with troop mobilization, weapons systems training and anti-terrorism efforts is the latest in a string of plum defense jobs snared by URS. In February, the firm won an army engineering and logistics contract that could bring in $3.1 billion during the next eight years.
Thousands of Iraqis have been reduced to poverty, raped and murdered by rampaging goons as U.S. Marines stood around and watched. Wanna guess how long it will take them to "get over it"? We watched the plunder of museums in Mosul and Baghdad safe at home with our tisk-tisk dismay, but Iraqis will remain outraged by the wanton devastation we wrought through war, permitted through negligence and shrugged off through arrogance. ("We didn't allow it," Rumsfeld shrugged. "It happened.") Imagine foreign troops sitting idly, laughing as hooligans trashed the Smithsonian, stole the gold from Fort Knox and burned down the Department of the Interior.
