International Resources Group
The US Agency for International Development awarded a US$7.1 million contract for "personnel support" to the International Resources Group on February 25. The contract was awarded without competitive tendering. According to an April 13 investigation by the Scottish Sunday Herald, four of IRG's vice-presidents have "held senior posts with USAID, and 24 of the firm's 48 technical staff have worked for USAID". IRG's other clients include ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute, Sun Oil Company, the North Texas Oil and Gas Association and Duke Energy.
In March, USAID handed Stevedoring Services of America a $4.8 million contract to run the Iraqi port Umm Qsar. According to Philip Mattera of the Corporate Research Project, SSA played the central role in the lockout of dock workers on the US west coast of the US in 2002, in an attempt to destroy the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. During that dispute, the Bush regime intervened on the side of the bosses.
Massachusetts-based ABT Associates received a $10 million contract from USAID on April 30 to restore Iraq's shattered health infrastructure. ABT has been associated with the US defence establishment since the company's founding in 1965. Most infamously, it helped develop the Pentagon's Politica, a computer-based social and political simulation tool. According to Daniel Del Solar, one of Politica's developers, the tool played a role in the CIA's decision to launch the bloody 1973 military coup that overthrew the left-wing Chilean President Salvador Allende.
A $2.5 million contract airport management and administration was awarded to SkyLink Air and Logistic Support (USA) Inc by USAID on May 7. According to the May 7 Washington Post, the company was incorporated in the US in 1998 — a year after Skylink Aviation Inc, based in Canada, was banned from receiving UN transport contracts. The 1997 ban was a result of accusations that Skylink was manipulating the bidding process. The UN had also banned it in 1993, citing safety concerns.
On April 11, Creative Associates International "won" a contract to construct a new primary and secondary education system in Iraq. The contract is worth up to $62.6 million. CAI's past clients include the military junta that overthrew the elected government of Haiti in 1991, in a US-backed coup.
Washington's new Arabic-language satellite service station for Iraq is being produced by Grace Digital Media, an off-shoot of the Grace News Network. Grace is controlled by fundamentalist Christian tycoon Cheryl Reagan (the "Grace" in the company's name refers to "the grace of God"). According to its web site, Grace is "dedicated to transmitting the evidence of God's presence in the world today" and is "a unique tool in the Lord's ministry plan for the world". Grace CEO is Thorne Auchter, who served in the administrations of presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush senior.Stevedoring Services of America
ABT Associates
Skylink Air
Creative Associates International
Grace News Network
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, May 21, 2003.
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