F*** 'em

[oykib]

Here's my little rant.

This is from a guy who opposed the war. But I have to agree with Colin Powell's statements from the other day.

The coalition ( i.e. the U.S. and Brits ) spent all the blood and treasure winning the war in Iraq. Now, you've got these Johnny-come-latelys who want to share in the spoils.

I also realize that very little if any of the spoils are going to trickle down to any of us normal people.

But you know what I have to say about the French, German, and Russian Robber Barons:

Fuck 'em. You guys can have the scraps.

[CAsterling]

Nice to know that diplomatic solutions are upper most in the minds of the members of this forum

[JPhillips]

How about we at least put the contracts on bid instead of awarding them secretly to companies that have heavily donated to the Republican party?

[oykib]

Originally posted by JPhillips
How about we at least put the contracts on bid instead of awarding them secretly to companies that have heavily donated to the Republican party?

I would agree with you on that point. I also think that the Brits have a right to be angry in that some of the contracts were outright awarded to American companies without giving companies from the U.K. any consideration.

My point is that these guys coming in trying to make money after yammering at us from the sidelines while our guys were getting killed disgusts me.

We all know that when these guys say "U.N." that what they really mean is, "Now that you've bought the pie, we want to cut it."

[andy m]

iraqi citizens should have been employed to do these jobs.

this kind of stuff really makes my stomach churn.

[JPhillips]

While I agree that we don't need to give the contracts to anyone outside of our coalition, it would be an easy way to foster some goodwill and show the world that we are willing to share even with those that go against us. It shows us as a good winner. If I were making the decisions I would give some of the smaller contracts to those that opposed us. Of course if it were me, I'd really rather the Iraqi interim government take care of who gets what contracts.

[Bee]

Originally posted by JPhillips
How about we at least put the contracts on bid instead of awarding them secretly to companies that have heavily donated to the Republican party?

These type of contracts are almost never put up for bid, they are almost always RFPs.

[JPhillips]

Maybe the Halliburton contract is a typical no bid contract, although I don't buy the argument that they couldn't put it up for bid because of national security, but the contracts for roads and bridges and things that are now also no bid certainly isn't typical. We're talking about contracts that will last for years. This also fits perfectly with the new draft legislation being passed around the House that would allow the Pentagon to raise the no bid limit on all contracts from seven million to two hundred million.

[oykib]

Originally posted by andy m
iraqi citizens should have been employed to do these jobs.

this kind of stuff really makes my stomach churn.

Oh, I think that Iraqis will be employed. I just don't think that they will share in the real profits. Well... except for the puppet ex-pat Iraqis that we trot out to give the fake gov't a veneer of legitimacy.

Actually, it turns my stomach, too. But watching the news in Japan, where they give equal time to anti-US views, yesterday made me even more sick.

If we are going to accept the premise that the war was fought for the spoils, then the idea that these carpet-baggers believe that they should be able to come in now and reap the benefits sickens me even more.

[Bee]

Originally posted by JPhillips
Maybe the Halliburton contract is a typical no bid contract, although I don't buy the argument that they couldn't put it up for bid because of national security, but the contracts for roads and bridges and things that are now also no bid certainly isn't typical. We're talking about contracts that will last for years. This also fits perfectly with the new draft legislation being passed around the House that would allow the Pentagon to raise the no bid limit on all contracts from seven million to two hundred million.

Road and bridge design/build contracts are almost always RFPs. Small construction contracts are let to bid, but anything with design is done with RFPs. You don't want the cheapest guy doing design work, you select based on qualifications.