“Phantom Legions For Iraq,” by Jim Hoagland, Washington Post, 4 Aug, p. A19.
“$1.9 Billion of Iraq’s Money Goes to U.S. Contractors,” by Ariana Eunjung Cha, WP, 4 Aug, p. A1.
Jim Hoagland writes with some incredulity about how the House of Saud seeks to influence U.S. presidential elections.
Can you imagine?
I can’t remember the United States ever trying to influence other nations’ national elections before. Really, how dare they?
I mean, just because we’re the world’s sole military superpower, does it make sense that countries all over the world are keenly interested in who gets elected President here? Enough so they’d try to do something about it?
God! I just must be so naïve!
Like when I was working for the U.S. Agency for International Development in the 1990s and I realized that many of the contracts USAID gave out for development projects in failed states around the world actually went to U.S. firms!
Again, really, how dare they?
Certainly, any failed state must possess a host of well-run companies capable of running large-scale development projects, right? Wasn’t Iraq just loaded with them after all those years of Saddam’s rule?
The story on Halliburton is not that they won big contracts, because they are an industry leader. Nor is the story that they got those contracts without competition. When the U.S. Government wants deals cut fast, they do that all the time.
What’s the issue on Halliburton is whether or not they did a good job. If they did, then all these criticisms are meaningless. And if they didn’t, then all these criticisms are still meaningless, because the real point here is that the U.S. Government and ANY contractors it used in Sys Admin ops need to get a whole lot more efficient in their efforts than was demonstrated so far in Iraq.
The focus on process here is wrong, the focus on performance is dead on. But the answers we come up with can’t be about labeling Halliburton the devil, but instead need to be about how we’re going to organize the Defense Department to handle the Sys Admin jobs of the future—and yes, there will be plenty of them no matter what happens with Iraq or Bush-Cheney.
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