Earning a contract with the U.S. government is not an easy task. It's not a simple matter of presenting a bid. Contractors face mountains of forms, bureaucratic red tape and competition. The lowest bidder does not always earn the contract. The government considers many factors in awarding the highly desired jobs. In fact, employing the services of a consulting firm, familiar with such contracts, is standard procedure. This is especially true in the case of the US military's latest tragedy, rebuilding the ruins of Iraq.

This is where New Bridge Strategies comes into play. Created and managed by several of Bush's closest buddies and seasoned profiteers of corporate imperialism, NBS calls itself "a unique company that was created specifically with the aim of assisting clients to evaluate and take advantage of business opportunities in the Middle East following the conclusion of the U.S.-led war in Iraq." What they do is take money from industrial, development, and investment corporations that wish to win big governmental contracts in the "post-war" reconstruction of Iraq. These companies pay NBS to fill out the forms, advise them of strategies involving bidding for contracts, and steer them toward certain regions of the Middle Eastern country depending upon the particular firm's mission.

On their website, NBS explains that they "seek to expedite the creation of free and fair markets and new economic growth in Iraq, consistent with the policies of the Bush Administration." The website also features an interactive map that displays "areas of opportunity in the post-war rebuilding effort for specific industries." Located out of Washington DC, NBS is not competing for a slice of the 20 billion dollars for reconstruction that congress just approved but is aiming to receive it nonetheless. These friends of the Bush administration are funneling money through such corporations as Halliburton or Bechtel into their own already overflowing pockets in the form of "advising fees" and "services."

Take a look at some of the fatcats behind the operation:

Joe M. Allbaugh, Chairman and Director of New Bridge Strategies, is the CEO of The Allbaugh Company, LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based corporate strategy and counsel firm. Joe served as the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under President George Bush until March 2003. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., he was Chief of Staff to then-Governor Bush of Texas and was the National Campaign Manager for the Bush-Cheney 2000 presidential campaign.

Ed Rogers is Vice Chairman and director of New Bridge Strategies. Ed has served as the Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States, Executive Assistant to the White House Chief of Staff, and worked in the White House Office of Political Affairs during the Reagan Administration.

Barbour Griffith & Rogers was founded by Rogers and Haley Barbour, after whom Rogers named his first-born son. Barbour, former Director of the White House Office of Political Affairs under Reagan and former Chairman of the Republican National Committee chaired the Bush for President Washington, DC Campaign Advisory Committee. BG&R describes themselves as, "a company of lawyers, policy specialists and other professionals based in Washington, D.C. Our firm is actively involved in the shaping of public policy issues that dominate the American political and corporate agenda. We serve as advocates in federal government relations, a vital link to state governments, and an ally in business development anywhere in the U.S. and in markets around the world." (www.bgrdc.com)

John Howland, director and CEO of New Bridge Strategies is Executive Vice President of the mysterious Crest Investment Company of which I could find little information. Crest is difficult to locate on the web, though I did come across a US Department of Commerce page on the business development mission of Peru & Chile showing Crest's ties to the promotion of the oil and gas industrial sectors of these Latin American countries. NBS's website writes that Howland "has worked with Middle Eastern governments and companies, including Iraq (prior to 1989), for over twenty-five years in many areas including food distribution, transportation and oil and gas."