RESTLESSNESS IN THE COLONIES

Pay-cut rumors trigger deadly riots

AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Former Iraqi soldiers angry over rumors their pay would be cut off clashed Saturday with coalition troops in Baghdad and in the southern city of Basra in riots that left two Iraqis dead and dozens injured. Coalition officials said Saddam Hussein supporters fomented the violence.

Elsewhere, a U.S. soldier from the 4th Infantry Division was killed and another was wounded in an ambush early Saturday in Sadiyah, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The death brought to at least 88 the number of American soldiers killed by hostile fire since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1.

The trouble started in Baghdad when hundreds of ex-soldiers assembled Saturday morning at a U.S. base at the city's former downtown airport to collect their $40 monthly stipend, which the coalition has been paying since Saddam's army was disbanded in May.

The crowd began hurling stones at U.S. troops and Iraqi police, who fired shots to try to disperse them.

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Iraqis say contract bidding is rigged

From the Houston Chronicle:

The scramble to win U.S.-financed contracts to rebuild Iraq has been marred by misunderstandings and complaints from Iraqis that the American bidding process is bewildering and biased.

Many Iraqi businessmen feel shut out of the billion-dollar reconstruction of their country. While seeking subcontracts from huge American companies overseen by U.S. government agencies, the Iraqis claim that contracts have gone to foreign companies that charged many times more for the same work that they do.

After bids are solicited, the Iraqis say, contract winners are not announced and losers hear nothing, creating suspicions among the Iraqis that the process is rigged.

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As New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has said about the bidding, something "weird" is going on.

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