By Molly Ivins
http://www.sunjournal.com/node/78586
Jun 22, 2003
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WorldCom, shortly to become MCI, has been given a contract worth $45 million in the short term to build a wireless phone network in Iraq. I learned via The Associated Press that Washington Technology, a trade newspaper that follows computing-related sales to the U.S. government, "found WorldCom jumped to eighth among all federal technology contractors in 2002, with $772 million in government sales." And that is only counting the deals in which WorldCom is the primary contractor. It is actually getting much more as a subcontractor.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission recently reached a settlement with WorldCom, fining the company $500 million for its $11 billion defrauding of investors. The company did not have to admit any guilt. "The $500 million is in a sense laundered by the taxpayers," Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, told AP.
WorldCom got the Iraq contract without competitive bidding, to the anger of rival companies A&T, Sprint, etc., which actually have experience in building wireless networks, according to APr. A WorldCom spokesman "also stressed the company's deep, overall relationship with the U.S. military and government." ...
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