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Britain
US military honoured in secret by Britian
2006-06-18
Oh, the horror!
The government has been secretly awarding honours to senior figures in the US military and foreign businessmen with lucrative public sector contracts. The Observer has obtained a Foreign Office list detailing all non-British citizens who have been awarded honours since 2003 - the first time the complete three-year dossier has been released.

It has emerged that Riley Bechtel, billionaire boss of the US-based Bechtel Corporation, which has won big transport and nuclear contracts in Britain and made a fortune from the Iraq war, was secretly awarded a CBE in 2003. This award has never been made public either by the British government or Bechtel. At the time Jack Straw, now Leader of the House of Commons, was Foreign Secretary. Although there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing, questions are being asked about whether the Foreign Office kept the awards quiet for fear of a political backlash.

But the Foreign Office says this is normal practice. On releasing the information, the Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, said: 'Honorary awards to citizens where Her Majesty the Queen is not head of state are not formally announced.' According to the Foreign Office list the Queen approved Bechtel's honour for 'services to UK-American commercial relations' on 25 April 2003 - just a week after the company won a bumper £430m contract to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure after the invasion.
Posted by:ryuge

#6  Not to mention Mind-Kontrol and Earthquakes divisions.
Posted by: anonymous5089   2006-06-18 14:47  

#5  Bechtel and Halliburton deserve every contract they are awarded.

There simply is no corporation with the breadth and scope these companies have.
Posted by: Captain America   2006-06-18 12:34  

#4  Well, what do you expect from Al-Grauniad?

This cracks me up;


Earlier this year The Guardian disclosed that Hans Rausing, the Swedish billionaire and former head of Tetra Pak, was awarded an honorary knighthood for philanthropy in January despite questions over his use of legal loopholes to avoid paying tax.


So Rausing decides that he'd rather spend his own money on areas where he thinks there's a problem and the only thing Al-Grauniad can say is that he didn't only paid crippling taxes rather than debillitating ones (thus ensuring he would have less of his own money to spend on philanthropy).

Dolts.
Posted by: Tony (UK)   2006-06-18 10:12  

#3  But does he have a Zionist death ray?
Posted by: DarthVader   2006-06-18 09:14  

#2  Shhhh! Don't tell anyone, it's a secret.
Posted by: Mike   2006-06-18 08:50  

#1  Bechtel is not Halliburton.
Posted by: Ptah   2006-06-18 08:27  

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