French companies seek contracts in post-war Iraq: I say screw them!

[inmate running the asylum]

I say screw these f****** French companies. :mad:

French firms look to EU, UN to protect interests in post-war Iraq

PARIS (AFP) - French political and business leaders are pinning their hopes on a leading role for the United Nations (news - web sites) and European Union (news - web sites) in post-war Iraq (news - web sites), after the first reconstruction contracts were awarded to US firms.

As concern mounts that Washington intends to sideline non-US companies, particularly French ones, Paris's repeated calls for a UN-supervised administration in Iraq are becoming more strident.

"The UN must steer the process," said Dominique de Villepin, France's foreign minister, in a speech to the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies on Thursday.

"More importantly, the UN must be at the heart of the reconstruction and administration of Iraq. The legitimacy of our action depends on it."

De Villepin was speaking days after Stevedoring Services of America scooped the first contract under the US Agency for International Development's 900-million-dollar (842-million-euro) budget for an opening round of Iraq reconstruction projects.

Announcing the 4.8-million-dollar deal, USAID said the Seattle-based company would provide "assessment and management" services at Umm Qasr, the deep-water port facility seized by coaltion forces in the early stages of the ground conflict.

Under a separate deal, Kellogg Brown and Root, a subsidiary of oil services giant Halliburton -- chaired by US Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) until 2000 -- won a Pentagon (news - web sites) contract to extinguish oilfield fires.

Within 24 hours of the Umm Qasr decision going public, it emerged that the French finance ministry had set up a working group with Medef, the main employers' group, to help French companies bid for contracts in post-war Iraq.

"We're working in close concertation with the French government," said one Medef official, on condition of anonymity.

"On reconstruction, we believe in the UN and European Union. If we organise ourselves with them, I don't see how the Americans can hold out on everything."

The French company with most to lose from the US-led war -- and France's refusal to support it morally or militarily -- is surely TotalFinaElf, the oil major controlled by the French state until its 1994 privatisation, during its former incarnation as Elf Aquitaine.

TotalFinaElf's long history in Iraq goes back to the company's first significant oil find at the northern Kirkuk oilfield in 1927.

More recently it is reported to have agreed deals with the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime, granting it rights to develop the country's Majnoon and Nahr Umar fields.

Mujnoon, some 30 miles (50 kilometres) north of Basra, is the largest Iraqi oilfield earmarked for development, with crude reserves estimated at between 12 billion and 20 billion barrels and a potential daily production capacity of up to 600,000 barrels.

Whether or not TotalFinaElf has any firm commitment from Baghdad -- the company has denied it signed any contracts -- oil analysts believe the rights to Mujnoon, Nahr Umar and other fields are likely to be renegotiated in favour of US and British groups.

Exiled Iraqi opposition leaders being groomed by Washington for roles in a post-war administration have also suggested US and British companies would be given priority treatment.

Despite the upswing in crude prices, the French oil giant's shares have fallen some 11 percent since the start of the year, dropping to their lowest value since 1999 and sharply underperforming both the Dow Jones EuroSTOXX Energy Index and rivals BP, Royal Dutch/Shell, ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco.

TotalFinaElf's prospects in Iraq look truly grim, oil experts say, at a time when even British companies fear being left out of Washington's plans.

British Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt earlier this month contacted USAID to lobby for British companies' involvement in the Iraq reconstruction programme, after companies including BP and Royal Dutch/Shell reportedly made representatives to the government.

"If the British are anxious, I imagine they have good reason to be," said Pierre Terzian, editor of the French oil review Petrostrategies.

Some industry insiders remain optimistic, however, preferring to play down the possibility that French corporations will be shunned by Iraq's post-war administration.

"Iraq isn't going to be rebuilt with 900 million dollars," the Medef official said. "It will take many billions more."

Where the extra billions will come from is less certain. A summit of EU leaders, bitterly divided over the Iraq war, failed to make any progress on the issue of post-war reconstruction earlier this month.

Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson had already summed up the mood among countries that had opposed military action, saying: "When you decide to launch an operation in breach of international law, you can't leave the bill for someone else."

Officials in US President George W Bush's administration have said they do not rule out asking Congress for more funds than the 74.7 billion dollars already requested for the war and reconstruction, before the end of the year.

But if the EU or its members fail to put up serious funds themselves, and Washington continues to hold the purse strings, it is not yet clear how European companies and governments can hope to improve their bargaining positions.

[Sarge]

Have a heart, man. I'm sure we can find a contract for some frogs to scrub toilets or shine the boots of GI's, although I personally wouldn't let a frog lick the bottom of my boots, much less shine them.

[Brave]

I don't know, Sarge. seeing a Frenchman licking the bottom of your boots would strike me as:

- appropriate

- just

- a great form of entertainment

By the way, you going to try to make either of the Skin games in Charlotte this season? Got one in the preseason and one in the regular season.

[Sarge]

Hey Brave,

Would love to make the games, but as it is, I received orders not too long ago. Of course I have waited 5 years here for them to play Charlotte and never got the chance when they were here 4 years ago. Don't feel too bad for me, though. I got orders to Hawaii for my last three years. It really sucks, but every once in awhile you have to suck one up for the Air Force:D