Big, Easy Iraqi-Style Contracts Flood New Orleans

by Democracy Now (reposted)

Fri, Sep 23, 2005 7:07AM

As Katrina's flood waters recede, government contractors are flowing into the Gulf Coast and reaping billions of dollars in pre-bid, limited bid, and sometimes no-bid contracts. We speak with Pratap Chatterjee, managing editor of CorpWatch.org, about his latest article titled "Big, Easy Iraqi-Style Contracts Flood New Orleans."

In it, he writes, "In Iraq, limited accountability, corruption, massive cost overruns, and devastating failures fed the chaotic mess that has followed the 2003 fall of Baghdad. Nonetheless, the largest Katrina contracts have been won by many of the same politically connected companies that oversaw that failed reconstruction. And it is perhaps no coincidence, since many of the same people in the Army Corps of Engineers are awarding them-and in much the same manner: as open-ended, no- or hastily bid contracts with guaranteed profit margins."

* Pratap Chatterjee, managing director of http://CorpWatch.org.
- Read article: "Big, Easy Iraqi-Style Contracts Flood New Orleans" ( http://www.corpwatch.org/print_article.php?id=12647 ).

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http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/23/1338250

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