Well, danged, Teribus. Think I'll go out and buy some stock right now. Sound's as American as a Mom-n-Pop-Apple-Pie-Store.

Yeah right!????

Your little corporate synopsos leaves a lot to be desired. Lots of claims but not much meat. Halliburton has the resources. Hallibuton has customers all over the world. Halliburton has expertise.

Well, those generalized statements in this world economy, don't put Halliburton or Bechtel in any unique, untouchable situation. It just describes lots of companies.

At the end of the the last war I split time between running my own comany and helping my brother with his procurement company, Tradeteck, Inc. Hey, we won our fair share of contracts because we put together packages that were competitive. I learned during that year that there are so many companies doing and making so many things. I also learned that pricing is a very strange business in itself. We underbid Ford Motor Company's proposal to sell all whell drive road tractors and they were the same exact tractors that we bought thru a source a Ford! See, Ford thought they had a *lock* on the deal and never even knew that we had offered a tender. We didn't make as much as Ford would have but we still netted a half a million dollars on that deal! That's what I mean by competion.

I think that you overestimate the percentage of these contracts that would be performed by folks who today bring home a pay check from Halliburton, T.

Therre is much to be done. Most of it constrution. Don't think that there aren't a lot of mid sized construction companies that wouldn't love to have a shot at competing for roads, hospiatls, schools, office buldings, electic plants, water and sewage plants. This stuff ain't rocket science.

And my arguement that many of these folks will end up doing the work anyway will be borne out in the post war. Just stay tuned and keep an eye onyour tax dollar at work.

Lastly, had Bill Clinton done this, the Repubs would have had Ken Starr sniffin' around Halliburton and Bechtel and we both know that top be true...

Bobert