NationStates Jolt Archive

yes, we all know that some of the countries have packed up their military and gone home. We all know that it has got so dangerous that almost every aid group on the planet has had to abandon Iraq. So what's next?

Companies with big reconstruction contracts! That's who.

Yes, it's now officially too dangerous even for capitalism operating on inflated government contracts.
(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1506&e=2&u=/afp/20041222/ts_alt_afp/usiraqreconstruction_041222151313)

Contrack International Inc. has reportedly become the first major US contractor to pull out of the reconstruction effort in Iraq (news - web sites), adding that high security costs were to blame.

"We reached a point where our costs were getting to be prohibitive," company president Karim Camel-Toueg told the Los Angeles Times.

Contrack, based in Arlington, Virginia, had won a 325-million-dollar award to rebuild Iraq's shattered transport system.

US officials said Contrack's decision to terminate work in Iraq was reached with the US government in November, but had not been publicly disclosed.

Contrack, the leader of a partnership that won one of 12 major reconstruction contracts awarded in 2004, was the largest company to pull out of Iraq to date, the officials told the Times.

But the company's move would not hamper rebuilding in Iraq, they said, adding that the contract would be put up for rebidding, a process which the newspaper said could take months.




I'm curious. It says that the agreement to abandon the contract was made with the government in November. Now pulling out of a major government contract takes time to do in a manner that leaves your name clean enough to bid successfully to the government ever again in the future. So I just have to wonder when this negotation to give up on Iraq was started - especially given that the President was still talking about how wonderfully the reconstruction was going in Iraq as part of his election platform.....

This SHOULD have been news when the negotiations to withdraw started.

...and the tumbleweeds roll through another sterling thread started by Zeppistan...

Duuuu-dun dun dun....another one bites the dust...

It's those damn insurgents. Let us get done and get out. It makes everyone happier.

Hmm. Is the average American affected by bad things in Iraq?

If we count the total US casualties, and exclude accidents (those happen in peacetime at roughly the same rate), we're not losing enough often enough to make it anything but a minor news story.

Repeat the stories ad nauseam, and people have tuned out the war.

Yeah, yeah, car bomb in Iraq. Not trying to be insensitive, but what you're really trying to do is make a marketing pitch about how we should get out of the war.

And your product isn't selling very well.

Few people in the US are as worked up about this as you are.

This SHOULD have been news when the negotiations to withdraw started.Of course it should have been, but it's probable some sort of delayed disclosure was part of the agreement.

With over a year passed since 'mission accomplished' and the country 'stabalized' enough for elections to be scheduled, I'd like to see 'Shrub' walk the walk and actually visit Iraq himself. Not some middle-of-the-night, top secret, unannounced quickie photo-op at a hospital, but a genuine head-of-state, meet-the-press, motorcade with flags flying summit with the interim government.

Something like that would probably give him a whole new outlook on the term 'rockets red glare'. ;)

If we count the total US casualties, and exclude accidents (those happen in peacetime at roughly the same rate), we're not losing enough often enough to make it anything but a minor news story.

Nice to know the lives of your fellow Americans rates 'anything but a minor news story'. I'm sure the troops in Iraq feel great knowing that.

Nice to know the lives of your fellow Americans rates 'anything but a minor news story'. I'm sure the troops in Iraq feel great knowing that.

How many US soldiers have been killed in Iraq?

Is it a greater or lesser number than the 40,000 people that are killed on the US's roads each year?

How many US soldiers have been killed in Iraq?

Is it a greater or lesser number than the 40,000 people that are killed on the US's roads each year?


Ah, but we have to travel around. We don't have to be in Iraq.

Hmm. Is the average American affected by bad things in Iraq?

If we count the total US casualties, and exclude accidents (those happen in peacetime at roughly the same rate), we're not losing enough often enough to make it anything but a minor news story.

Repeat the stories ad nauseam, and people have tuned out the war.

Yeah, yeah, car bomb in Iraq. Not trying to be insensitive, but what you're really trying to do is make a marketing pitch about how we should get out of the war.

And your product isn't selling very well.

Few people in the US are as worked up about this as you are.Well, according to the latest polls, 56% of Americans now think that going into Iraq was the wrong choice as compared to 42% who think it was the right choice, and Bush stands to be inaugurated with the lowest approval rating of any President starting a second term in the last fifty years. Still think the product (and I'm only using your term because you used it--I think the idea of protest as a product is disgusting) isn't selling?

Well, according to the latest polls, 56% of Americans now think that going into Iraq was the wrong choice as compared to 42% who think it was the right choice, and Bush stands to be inaugurated with the lowest approval rating of any President starting a second term in the last fifty years. Still think the product (and I'm only using your term because you used it--I think the idea of protest as a product is disgusting) isn't selling?

I believe the point is that while going in might now be considered by many to be a mistake, there's still a majority who believe that if we suddenly left that would be a bigger mistake.

And what people seem to be selling here is that the US walk out over the next few days.

Selling an idea IS marketing.

Selling an idea IS marketing.

You're letting your democratic mask slip. I can see the consumerite lurking...

You're letting your democratic mask slip. I can see the consumerite lurking...
If the Democratic Party (and the Republican Party) are not marketing firms, then I'm the Pope.

Hmm. Is the average American affected by bad things in Iraq?

If we count the total US casualties, and exclude accidents (those happen in peacetime at roughly the same rate), we're not losing enough often enough to make it anything but a minor news story.

Repeat the stories ad nauseam, and people have tuned out the war.

Yeah, yeah, car bomb in Iraq. Not trying to be insensitive, but what you're really trying to do is make a marketing pitch about how we should get out of the war.

And your product isn't selling very well.

Few people in the US are as worked up about this as you are.


Nice try, but I have never advocated ending the war and pulling the troops out.

I was against starting it, but you broke it you bought it.....but I think, frankly, that you will wind up finding it an unaffordable purchase and fail on your obligations to the Iraqis.

And the fact that I think that the job, once started, needs to be properly completed doesn't preclude me from pointing out things that I feel are noteable along the way though....

Hmm. Is the average American affected by bad things in Iraq?

No!

It would be different if the people dying were drafted, but these people enlisted to give their lives for whatever the government wants them to do.

Besides, how high are the casualties now? 1200? Just look at previous wars!

If the Democratic Party (and the Republican Party) are not marketing firms, then I'm the Pope.
Sure they're marketing firms. But the Democratic party isn't leading the protests against the war, nor are they even taking much of an active role as an opposition party right now. I'm a member of the Democratic party, but that's not the reason I'm critical of the Bush administration--I'm critical because they're ruining the country and what's left of its reputation worldwide.

If the Democratic Party (and the Republican Party) are not marketing firms, then I'm the Pope.

If you're the Pope, hang tightly onto this tall glass full of milk and ice cream for me for a minute or two - I could really go for a milkshake.

Sure they're marketing firms. But the Democratic party isn't leading the protests against the war, nor are they even taking much of an active role as an opposition party right now. I'm a member of the Democratic party, but that's not the reason I'm critical of the Bush administration--I'm critical because they're ruining the country and what's left of its reputation worldwide.

*Applauds Incerertonia for using his/her own brain instead of listening to 527 commercials*

Well, that's one.

No!

It would be different if the people dying were drafted, but these people enlisted to give their lives for whatever the government wants them to do.

Besides, how high are the casualties now? 1200? Just look at previous wars!
How old are you? And are you a citizen of the US? If you're of draft age, you better start worrying, because if recruitment is getting tougher. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/12/18/wus118.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/12/18/ixworld.html)