Bechtel

So the NYT has a story on Bechtel winning the first major contract for construction in Iraq. Here’s one paragraph, in it’s entirety:

Administration officials said it was important to give contracts to American corporations, essentially leapfrogging over international groups, as a way to demonstrate to the Iraqi people that the United States is a liberator bringing economic prosperity and democratic institutions to their nation.

I hope, but somehow doubt, that this was a poorly executed paraphrase. In Bechtel’s defense, this wasn’t a no bid contract like the now nixed Haliburton deal, but the bidding was open only to US companies.

AB