The reconstruction of New Oraq by Tom Engelhardt and Nick Turse

Along with their service in Iraq, the Katrina reconstruction companies are tied together in another important way. They tend to be particularly well linked to the Bush administration and the Republican Party. As former Oklahoma Republican governor Frank Keating said of Allbaugh, "Joe ... knows how elected officials and appointed officials like me think and work, and that culture is a fraternity." Halliburton, for instance, picked off "another high-level Bush appointee, Kirk Van Tine, earlier this year to work as a lobbyist. Similarly, in 2001, Bush appointed Robert G Card, then a senior vice president at CH2M Hill, under secretary at the US Department of Energy, a position he held until 2004. Today, Card is the president and group chief executive of the International Group at CH2M Hill.