Open invitation to looters

Posted by R. Neal

Check this out:

The Katrina Reconstruction Summit
Monday, September 26, 2005
Senate Hart Building, Washington, DC

The Katrina Reconstruction Summit is hosted by U.S. Senator Mel Martinez and organized by Equity International as a public service.

The Summit is designed to bring together Congressional leaders, business leaders, and relief and reconstruction experts, discussing details of the $62.3 billion passed by Congress for Katrina relief and reconstruction; specifics of Katrina relief and reconstruction programs; economic infrastructure reconstruction priorities, including energy, housing, healthcare, and other sectors; creating jobs; building small business; and corporate philanthropy.

Confirmed participants include top executives from KBR [a division of Halliburton], McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, L3-Titan, IBM, DynCorp, Accenture, Deloitte, Clark Construction Group, 3M, CACI, Unisys, Lucent, and Parsons, and many government officials and diplomats.

All the heads of all the families in one place! The Washington Post files this report:

As fiscal hawks surrendered, would-be government contractors were meeting in the Hart Senate Office Building to figure out how to get a share of the money. A "Katrina Reconstruction Summit," hosted by Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) and sponsored by Halliburton, among others, brought some 200 lobbyists, corporate representatives and government staffers to a room overlooking the Capitol for a five-hour conference that included time for a "networking break" and advice on "opportunities for private sector involvement."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) sent his budget director, Bill Hoagland, who cautioned that federal Katrina spending might not exceed $100 billion. But John Clerici, from a law firm that helped sponsor the event, told the group that spending would "probably be larger" than $200 billion. "It's going to be spent in a fast and furious way," Clerici said.

Sipping coffee from china cups and munching on doughnuts, the corporate crowd heard Joe McInerney, president of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, predict: "I think we'll see Mardi Gras in New Orleans to some extent this year."

Yeah, I can hear it now, all up and down Bourbon Street... "Show us your no-bid contracts!"

(Thanks to Brian at Resonance for the heads up.)