Iraq: Companies with GOP ties get lucrative contracts (06/03)
In early February, the Bush administration announced plans for an Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance to oversee three agencies involved in the reconstruction of post-war Iraq: humanitarian relief, reconstruction and civil administration. Directed from the Pentagon, the head of the new office was to be Jay Garner, a retired general. Although the Pentagon would oversee reconstruction efforts, international groups and non-government organizations would not deal directly with the Defense Department. Instead, they would work with US Agency for International Development (USAID).