Bechtel, Iraq and the Big Dig

The AP reported today that Bechtel announced that it will be leaving Iraq. Who hired Bechtel you ask?  Well it was our old friend Andrew Natsios.  Natsios after working with Bechtel on the Big Dig project thought so well of them that he hired them to work in Iraq when he was the administrator for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Well we know how that Big Dig thing worked out. Natsios’ comments on rebuilding Iraq on ABC’s Nightline in 2003.  Ted Koppel grilled him about hiring Bechtel after the criminal investigation of their work on the Big Dig (at 7:15 of the video).  Natsios says that you really can’t believe the headlines and what the reality was.  Um, what?

It’s a 9 minute video but a lot of gems here, see if you notice any similarities between his cost estimates of Iraq and our cost estimates of the Big Dig.  We now know that the rebuilding cost so far is estimated between 35 to 50 billion.

TED KOPPEL: I mean, when you talk about 1.7, you’re not suggesting that the rebuilding of Iraq is gonna be done for $1.7 billion?

NATSIOS: Well, in terms of the American taxpayers contribution, I do, this is it for the US.

…

KOPPEL: You’re saying the, the top cost for the US taxpayer will be $1.7 billion. No more than that?

NATSIOS: For the reconstruction. And then there’s 700 million in the supplemental budget for humanitarian relief, which we don’t competitively bid ’cause it’s charities that get that money.

KOPPEL: I understand. But as far as reconstruction goes, the American taxpayer will not be hit for more than $1.7 billion no matter how long the process takes?

NATSIOS: That is our plan and that is our intention. And these figures, outlandish figures I’ve seen, I have to say, there’s a little bit of hoopla involved in this.

Yup, and the Big Dig was going to cost 2.5 billion.

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