Writing on the wall

Submitted by Anon on 18 August, 2003 - 6:55

THEIR DISASTER RELIEF, AND OURS

The gross neglect and incompetence with which the US government responded to the New Orleans disaster is now well known. It is equally notorious that this has more than a little to do with the population of New Orleans being 67% black and 40% illiterate, with more than 30 % living below the poverty line; and even more to do with the Bush regime’s laissez-faire capitalist dogma, which can no more cope with natural crises than it can with market crises.

It seems, though, that Bush and Co. have shut eyes and ears to reality and are planning to rebuild New Orleans in accordance with the same dogma, entirely in the interests of the very rich. More than 80% of the relief contracts have been awarded by the government without bidding or with only very perfunctory scrutiny, including massive payments to the Shaw Group and to Kellogg, Brown and Root (which claims this is merely and extension existing contracts).

KBR, which has also been awarded extensive “reconstruction” contracts in Iraq, is a particularly dodgy subsidiary of Halliburton, the former company of Bush’s deputy Dick Cheney. Congressional investigators are looking into a $568m contract awarded to Ash Britt, a Florida company that was a client of the former lobbying firm of Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi.

Richard Skinner, the inspector-general of the “Department of Homeland Security” said he was worried: “When you do something like this you do increase the vulnerability for fraud, plain waste, abuse and mismanagement.” Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi was more forthright: “There is just more of the good-old-boy system taking care of its political allies”.

The people of New Orleans are faced with the destruction of whole neighbourhoods, the destruction of poor communities and the wholesale corporatisation of their city. The People’s Hurricane Fund and Community Labor United are fighting this capitalist plan, not only raising money but making political demands on the government, notably the right of all the dispossessed to return home and their democratic control of the whole relief budget.

The PHF says: “The people of New Orleans will not go quietly into the night, scattering across this country to become homeless in countless other cities while federal relief funds are funneled into rebuilding casinos, hotels, chemical plants and the wealthy white districts of New Orleans like the French Quarter and the Garden District. We will not stand idly by while this disaster is used as an opportunity to replace our homes with newly built mansions and condos in a gentrified New Orleans.”

DIRTY DEALS

One of global capitalism’s axes of evil — 10 Downing Street, British Aerospace and the Saudi oligarchy — swung into action last month. A Saudi official claimed that the British government had already agreed to the expulsion of two Saudi dissidents, living legally in Britain and threatened with torture and death back home, in return for the Saudis buying £40 billion worth of arms from BAE.

John Reid, the loyal Blairite Defence Secretary, has been to Riyadh pushing BAE fighter-bombers. He did not deny that the Saudis had asked for the expulsion of the dissidents and for a major corruption investigation into BAE and a Saudi “prince” to be dropped. As to whether or not he had accepted the bribe, a Downing Street official had this unbelievable response: “We never discuss commercial issues”!

One of the dissidents, Saad al-Faqih, has been accused by the US government of supporting al-Qaeda. The British secret services say there is no evidence whatsoever of this. Saad al-Faqih was during the 90s involved in the same Islamist group as Osama bin Laden, the Committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights. The was before bin Laden’s global jihadist exploits. He subsequently left this and set up the (also Islamist) Movement for Islamic reform, based in London. He is a “moderate” opponent of the Saudi regime. But he is a very pesky one — MIRA’s radio broadcasts and faxing campaigns have been bothering the regime for some time.

And that is why the Saudis want him back in their hands — declaring it their “top priority” in negotiations with the British government.

What will happen to them? Well John Reid’s host in Riyadh, “Prince” Naif, could have told him. This Saudi minister oversees the secret police and is responsible for many acts of barbarity including the false imprisonment and torture of four British citizens. His office made false statements saying the expatriates had committed bombings which were actually the work of al-Qaeda.

The British government did not fight very hard for their eventual release, although they did refuse to deport Mr Faqih in return for charges being dropped. One of the four, Bill Sampson, said “The British government was more concerned to maintain BAE’s contracts with the Saudi Arabians than to protect British citizens.” They are now suing the Saudi secret police in the British courts.

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