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Profiting From War
By Bob Herbert
New York Times
Monday 21 April 2003
Somewhere George Shultz
is smiling.
Mr. Shultz, whose photo
could appropriately appear
next to any definition
of the military-industrial
complex, was secretary
of state under Ronald
Reagan and has been a
perennial heavyweight
with the powerful Bechtel
Group of San Francisco,
where he previously reigned
as president and is now
a board member and senior
counselor.
Unlike the antiwar soul
singer Edwin Starr —
who, in an ironic bit
of timing, went to his
eternal reward early this
month just as American
ground forces were sweeping
toward Baghdad —
Mr. Shultz knows what
war is good for.
And he wanted this war
with Iraq. Oh, how he
wanted this war. Mr. Shultz
was chairman of the fiercely
prowar Committee for the
Liberation of Iraq, which
was committed to moving
beyond the mere political
liberation of the oil-rich
country to the all-important
and conveniently profitable
"reconstruction of
its economy."
Under the headline "Act
Now; The Danger Is Immediate,"
Mr. Shultz, in an op-ed
article in The Washington
Post last September, wrote:
"A strong foundation
exists for immediate military
action against Hussein
and for a multilateral
effort to rebuild Iraq
after he is gone."
Gee, I wonder which company
he thought might lead
that effort.
Last week Mr. Shultz's
Bechtel Group was able
to demonstrate exactly
what wars are good for.
The Bush administration
gave it the first big
Iraqi reconstruction contract,
a prized $680 million
deal over 18 months that
puts Bechtel in the driver's
seat for the long-term
reconstruction of the
country, which could cost
$100 billion or more.
Bechtel essentially was
given a license to make
money. And that license
was granted in a closed-door
process that was restricted
to a handful of politically
connected American companies.
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