Your Tax Dollars

Think Halliburton isn't raking it in? Check this out:

KBR, a subsidiary of Dick Cheney's infamous former company Halliburton, is in the third year of a 10-year contract with the U.S. military. According to the Washington Post, by May of 2006, KBR will have received more than $11 billion for work related to LOGCAP (the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program), which pays for, among other things, chefs, electricians, mechanics, medics, laundry, pest control, construction and water purification workers.

On Nov. 4, U.N. auditors called on the United States to repay Iraq $208 million that had been paid to KBR from Iraqi oil proceeds for services that the auditors found to be overpriced, lacking proper documentation and awarded non-competitively. While much of that money surely ended up in executive paychecks, it's also helped KBR become an attractive employer with 200,000 job applications on file.

The cardboard display on the table outside the hotel conference room promotes benefits like "integrity," "adventure" and "pride," but "the money is the big draw," says Dale, another of about 60 KBR hopefuls at this afternoon's session, which consists of an hour-and-a-half long presentation by Peter Howatt, a recruiter with KBR's special projects group.

Six other recruiters out in the hallway sift through resumes while Howatt lays out a far more realistic scenario than the military presents to Army recruits. "We don't pull any punches," said Howatt. "People know exactly what they are getting themselves into."

For the most part, the Vietnam veteran stays true to his word. In the first 10 minutes of his talk, Howatt provides his audience with the official KBR contractor death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan (68 at the time). He tells the applicants that they'll be working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with 10 days off every four months. After a short film showing construction of a tent city in the desert, he advises the room full of military veterans, former Halliburton/KBR employees and average Joes and Jills (complete with a crying baby in the back) that if they are killed in an NBC (nuclear biological or chemical) attack and their remains are contaminated, they won't be flown home to their families. Instead, they will be cremated.

But heads perk up at the mention of salary, and Howatt's sales pitch to the group is tight: "If you owe back taxes, call the IRS, tell them you are gonna go overseas, make a ton of money, and they'll be glad to let you go. Same with child support."

So Dick's company plays pimp for folks caught up in the economic vise brought about...by Dick's administration. Dick's parents must've known something when they named him...Dick.

That story reminded me of something I saw at Ian's site--yep, they're trying the same stunt for oilfield workers. Wonder if they're also investing in dead peasant policies on 'em...

That said, at least they're offering big bucks despite the disgusting "money for blood" nature of the operation. To continue the theme of Team Bush Fucking Up There AND Here, it's interesting that NOLA reconstruction isn't exactly providing the same quality/quantity of salary--instead, thanks to their initial suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act, NOLA's rebuilding is being handled by...immigrant labor (probably undocumented), forced to live in tent cities:

I started to get a taste for the ongoing scandals, small and large. One example: the largely immigrant workers, who are hired by sub-contractors to do rebuilding in the city (the contracts are sub-contracted several times, leaving little once it gets to the workers). They stay in a makeshift tent village in City Park. This is where they live -- no showers, a handful of port-a-johns. It's getting cold, into the 30s and 40s.

I realize the enormous bull market when it comes to outrage fatigue, but juxtaposing these two situations...well, goddamnit, if they're causing MY blood pressure to rise dangerously, then they oughta take away Dick's heart pills too.

Bastards.