From CNN/Money:

“The first contracts for rebuilding post-war Iraq have been awarded, and Vice President Dick Cheney’s old employer, Halliburton Co., is one of the early winners.
“The Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) unit of Halliburton (HAL: up $0.61 to $20.73, Research, Estimates), of which Cheney was CEO from 1995 to 2000, was awarded a contract late Monday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to put out oil fires and make emergency repairs to Iraq’s oil infrastructure…
“Though none of the potential administrators of such a contract — including the Defense Department, the State Department’s U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations — have claimed responsibility for handing out the job, Monday’s award could mean the Defense Department will be in charge.”

Once again: This war is not about oil.

The peace, however… well, yeah, that’s about oil.

The upcoming peace will be historic; the first-ever corporate occupation force will be unleashed on Iraq. Expect to see joyous Iraqi executives dancing in the streets as benevolent US oil magnates ride on in, handing out candy bars and bubble gum.

All that wealth, of course, belongs to the people of Iraq. The Administration’s been clear on that. And it’s vitally important to get that wealth flowing into the Iraqi economy. It’ll just be flowing in the form of dollars rather than, oh, say, francs. Or rubles.

At least it’s nice to know that our government is willing to pay the costs of rebuilding Iraq. The fact that the costs (in the case of oil infrastructure, that’s “$5 billion initially, with $3 billion more in annual operating expenses”) will be paid from our rickety national budget directly into, for example, the coffers of Dick Cheney’s old company… well, that’s war for ya. It’s hell. Certain existing contracts will get wiped off the map, we knew that goin’ in. We can’t hang around and wait for some fledgling Iraqi government to decide which oil companies from which nations they want to deal with - there’s no time. It’ll have to be administered by American and British companies for now, a rough-and-ready Coalition of the Shilling.

Afterwards, the “Iraqi People” can decide who gets all the big oil contracts - the folks who put ‘em in power or the sniveling weasels who were propping up the previous government. That’s not our our choice, that’s the choice of the Iraqi People. The same way the American People chose Halliburton to bear our standard into the upcoming peace.

But that’s not important right now - there’s a war on. Paying too much attention to little side details like this while American men and women are out there in the trenches - that wouldn’t be patriotic. So check out MSNBC’s latest SlaughterCam and try to focus on what’s really important here. Don’t worry - those petty, pesky post-war details are being handled by qualified personnel who have the spare time to think about such things. Like the Defense Department.