It seems that everyone is jostling for position to get a piece of that sweet, sweet Iraqi pie once this war is “over.” Already we’ve learned that Haliburton, that spot where Dick Cheney spent his off time between Republican administrations, was picked to work on the rebuilding of Iraq after a secret process which involved absolutely no proposals or bidding.
Now it seems that the powers that be (or will be) want to install a cellular telephone infrastructure in Iraq with a U.S. import from military contractor Qualcomm to ensure that none of the profits flow outside the U.S. – especially not to France. Read this from Internet News.com:
The current reconstruction plan involves using U.S. funds to install a European-based wireless technology known as GSM (define) for a new Iraqi cell phone system. Issa’s bill (HR 1441) would give preference to American companies, including QUALCOMM.
“If European GSM technology is deployed in Iraq, much of the equipment used to build the cell phone system would be manufactured in France, Germany, and elsewhere in western and northern Europe. Furthermore, royalties paid on the technology would flow to French and European sources, not U.S. patent holders,” Issa said in his letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and USAID Administrator, Ambassador Wendy Chamberlain.
While QUALCOMM’s roots are deeply embedded in U.S. military, the wireless giant is taking a neutral stance to the issue.
Politics aside, a massive CDMA launch may cause problems for the region now, but not in the future. If CDMA were the dominant technology in Iraq today, customers traveling to a nearby country that has only a GSM network wouldn’t be able to use a CDMA phone there.
American companies are poised to swoop in, and the administration is trying to convince people that we are not invaders? I guess that his fuzzy math has returned – instead of huge tax cuts for the rich to stimulate the economy, he’s invading countries to open up new markets for big corporations.
Note: I flew to Chicago this morning on an Airbus A320, assembled in Toulouse, France and Hamburg, Germany. Oops! I guess some of my ticket price went back to “old Europe.” At least the wings were built in the UK.
