The Second Coming

Things fall apart . . the centre cannot hold . . .The best lack all convictions, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. -- W. B. Yeats, The Second Coming

I am not an evangelical, but our president is. People seem loathe to talk about. In his own small circles he's a proud believer; yet in the public eye he's "slouching toward Bethlehem." Fearful of being exposed for the religious fanatic he is, he avoids the discussion. But those who know him, know exactly what's going on.

Perhaps you believe his believing isn't relevant. But it is. It's at the core of his decision-making. And as he is the "decider," it's critical. Just the other night when a friend of his was asked if Bush thinks we should curtail our energy consumption, his friend said, no, absolutely not. George W. Bush believes we are a "blessed" nation. Our lifestyle is fed by the fruits of the land God gave us. We are meant to use it--not save it.

There is, of course, no discussion of how our nation's consumption of much more than what comes from our own large continent fits into God's plan. There is simply an unspoken assumption that if we can get our fat hands on it, it is, apparently, "God's will."

It will be very interesting to see how George W. submits to God's will when Bolivia kicks us out of their country. On May 1, the Washington Post reported that Bolivian President Evo Morales made good on his threat to nationalize the oil and gas fields that "private companies have plundered for years." (Those private interests to which Morales refers, are largely U.S. corporate interests.) While the announcement was not unexpected, it apparently did surprise a few when it was accompanied by a deployment of soldiers to the fields.

Bolivia is not alone in the desire to curtail huge profits, by U.S. interests, while the citizens on whose land they operate benefit little. In Venezuela, over 30 oil contracts were recently voided because the government is now demanding a larger stake in the profits. A similar situation appears to be brewing in Ecuador, where limits on foreign crude profits are becoming law.

But Bolivia is going a step further: in March of this year they opened criminal cases against three former presidents and eight lesser officials for alleged mishandling of foreign oil contracts. It's exactly what the public wants: accountability. Funny how it's happening in Bolivia, but has yet to happen here, in this hotbed of Democracy, this "blessed" nation of ours.

It will be interesting to see if the Bolivian investigations into oil and gas industry corruption will lead to a revisiting of the 1999 water contract Bolivia signed with one of Bechtel's subsidiaries. That deal, a 40-year contract allowing Aguas del Tunari to take over the water supply to Bolivia's third largest city and charge exorbitant rates of the poorest while raking in huge profits, was actually terminated --but only after massive protests. And Bechtel still made out. They sued Bolivia for $25 million based on the loss of profits they could have made if the original contract had played itself out.

Meanwhile, the Bechtel bunch is cleaning up in Iraq. For those who worry that the war was all about oil, that's not entirely true. Sure, we want the oil, but equally important is Iraq's potential for supplying the likes of Bechtel and Halliburton with a seemingly unlimited number of opportunities to overcharge and under deliver on a myriad of contractual services. Iraq is the land of opportunity for large Western corporate interests and the inexhaustible needs our invasion has created were arguably one of the biggest motivations for our invasion of that country in the first place. From the perspective of our evangelical leader, it's all worked out quite nicely.

But there is an enemy lurking--one Bush hasn't the sense to be concerned with--not yet at least. It isn't Al Qaeda and it isn't the Democrats either. It's a black woman named Bunnatine (Bunny) Greenhouse. A former top-ranking official in the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Greenhouse took exception to the exclusive, no-bid contracts, the government kept giving to KBR (formerly Kellogg, Brown and Root--a Halliburton subsidiary). This was back in 2004. After two years of questioning the questionable practices of paying over $10M to KBR without offering competitive bidding, Greenhouse was hauled into a general's office and demoted for poor performance. She was also given the option to retire. Greenhouse decided to fight back.

Since then she has managed to continue to work while building her case. It's like holding two jobs, really, but her determination is evident. Her contention is that she was chosen by God to "be a fisher among men." According to a detailed article in April's Vanity Fair, Greenhouse talks about her message from God and says that at the time she didn't know exactly what it meant, but now she does.

It all started in 1997, when General Joe Ballard, the Army Corps's first black chief engineer, gave Greenhouse her personal mission: he wanted her to "shatter the cronyism that had led to bad contracts." She started by enforcing a law already on the books that required small and minority-owned companies to have a fair chance when bidding on government contracts. Since she had to sign off on anything over a certain amount, she would see any really large, lucrative deals, so she had some control. But after a while, she says the cronies tried to beat the system by dividing the work up into smaller projects; hence, the ability to get them signed off by Greenhouse's subordinates, whom were presumably tied to the companies getting the contracts. But even that pales in comparison to what happened when the war began.

Greenhouse describes a high-level government meeting that included members of KBR, the very company responsible for preparing the plan for restoring Iraqi oil. She also says that "it's strict protocol in the procurement business that the contractor who drew up the contingency plan for a job should not be allowed to bid on the job itself: he'd know the exact budget and other details that would give him an unfair advantage." Yet, KBR got the contract.

Since then other troubles with KBR have hit the press. When KBR chose Altanmia Commercial Marketing Company to supply gas to Iraq at $2.65/gallon, twice what others would have charged, people were up in arms. But instead of getting to the bottom of the scandal, the Army Corps of Engineers signed a waiver behind Greenhouse's back that essentially said they didn't want to see KBR's records and nobody else was going to see them either. As the contractor who hired KBR, the Corps had the legal right to do that--the question is, who within the Corps would give that order? No one seems to know.

But the story isn't over. Whatever is going on with Iraqi oil and KBR will come out in the end because of people like Bunny Greenhouse. Just as President Bush feels a sense of righteousness to his cause, Greenhouse too senses a greater destiny, pulling her toward a cause that is in exact opposition to that of our President.

While Bush manipulates the truth so he can continue to take from others by force, shoving his misguided ideology onto a frightened and ignorant group of followers who fail to see beyond the surface, Bunnatine Greenhouse is fighting to reveal the truth and free the oppressed.

Can you believe it? Our president turned out to be the anti-Christ and Jesus is a black chick. What will they think of next?