Government Contractors Line Up for a Piece
of the Rebuilding Effort In Iraq

The line is long and getting longer. Some say it's long enough to encircle Washington. That is the visual image of private contractors seeking a piece of the $25 to $100 billion reconstruction effort planned by the U.S. government in Iraq. Who are they? Some call them the "Beltway Bandits." Most of us remember names like the Bechtel Corporation, Halliburton, Fluor, and Kellogg, Brown and Root Engineering. These and others will be ready to line up for big fat contracts to clean up the mess created by the war in Iraq.

Keep your eye on the ball here, especially the price tag, which is likely to go up much higher if this war goes on for very long.

Many state and local government officials in the U.S. are less than pleased to hear this news since they have been turned down repeatedly over the past 3-5 years by Washington for routine improvements to their financially-strapped sewer and water plants and other public infrastructure facilities.

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