Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), a division of the Houston-based oil services company Halliburton, has won a Pentagon contract to assess and rehabilitate possible damage to Iraq’s oil infrastructure, in case Saddam Hussein sets his oilfields ablaze following a US military strike. The company was also contracted to oversee firefighting operations in Iraq’s oilfields.
The KBR contract adds force to the arguments of those who believe oil is Washington’s primary motive for war, considering George W. Bush's Vice President Dick Cheney served as Halliburton’s chief executive officer (CEO) from 1995 until the 2000 Presidential election.
US military intelligence reports claim that Iraq is booby-trapping its oilfields in an attempt to ignite the reservoirs, as the Iraqis have done upon their withdrawal from Kuwait in 1991. The Iraqi government has strongly refuted these allegations as American propaganda.
In a bid to salvage Iraq's vast oil reserves and prevent a colossal environmental disaster, the Bush administration devised a high-priority strategic plan to rapidly seize control of the oil fields. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
