Postwar Construction

A decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to solicit competitive bids for emergency repairs to oil fields in Iraq was an encouraging sign that the administration understands the importance of not letting the multi-billion dollar repair become stained by secrecy and cronyism.

The corps said this week that because the damage to the oil fields was not as extensive as anticipated, the “bridge contract” it had with Halliburton Co., which was at one time run by Vice President Dick Cheney, would not continue and the corps would seek bids for future work. The argument over no-bid contracts was muted by the war, but with the fighting largely over, they threatened to become much more of an embarrassment to the White House. Bob Herbert, a columnist for The New York Times, recently stressed interconnections between favored bidders and little-known organizations that had long pressed for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

For example, former Secretary of State George Shultz is a director of the Bechtel Group, one of the finalists for the huge reconstruction contract to be awarded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Mr. Shultz is also chairman of the advisory board of the pro-war Committee for the Liberation of Iraq.

A Bechtel senior vice president, Jack Sheehan, is a member of the Defense Policy Board, a government-appointed body that advises the Pentagon. According to the Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group founded by Ralph Nader in the 1960s, nine of the 30 members of the Defense Policy Board have won more than $76 billion in defense contracts in the past two years. Richard Perle was chairman of the board until he resigned that post a few weeks ago after allegations of a conflict of interest.

Former CIA Director James Woolsey, who has hailed the invasion of Iraq as the beginning of World War IV (the cold war being WWIII), is another member of the board. He is an official of the Paladin Capital Group, known for its solicitation of domestic security contracts.

Such connections recall President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warning against a “military-industrial complex” in his farewell address. They also stir resentment around the world among those who distrust American motives and believe that the United States seeks control of Iraqi oil and hegemony over the entire region.

Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Republican, joined last week with two Democrats, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Hillary Rodham Clinton, in introducing a bill that would require federal agencies to explain why they are avoiding normal open competitive bidding. She said, “fair and full competition would ensure the best value for American taxpayers.” She could have added that it would allay some of the suspicions at home and abroad over the management of postwar reconstruction in Iraq.