Biggest reconstruction contractors are GOP donors
http://govexec.com/dailyfed/1003/103003h2.htmA small number of U.S. companies and individuals who are major contributors to the Republican party have earned about $8 billion in post-war reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a study released Thursday.
The companies have given more money to the presidential campaign of George W. Bush than any politician in the past twelve years, the study found.
The Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington, reported that engineering company Kellogg, Brown & Root was the top recipient of federal contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq in the past two years, with more than $2.3 billion in awards. KBR is a division of oil services firm Halliburton, helmed by Vice President Dick Cheney before he joined the Bush campaign in 2000.
Bechtel Group came in second in the study, with $1.03 billion in contracts. Bechtel and KBR are the government's lead contractors in the rebuilding of Iraq. Bechtel is working on construction projects through a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development. KBR is repairing the country's oil infrastructure under an Army Corps of Engineers contract, and also supplies logistical support to the Army under a contract it won before the war began.
<more>