Friends in High Places: The Bechtel Story : The Most Secret Corporation and How It Engineered the Wo by Laton Mccartney (books to read to be successful TXT) 📕

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

in Alexandria, Halim had begun his career working for an Egyptian engineering firm. It was in Libyan politics, however, that the short, roly-poly Halim made his fortune. Returning to his native land, he became enmeshed in palace intrigues, and quickly rose to become minister of the oil-rich province of Cyrenaica, where he gained a reputation as a shrewd-and avaricious-politician. So much graft did Halim extort during his tour in Cyrenaica that he was eventually compelled to leave the province for fear of physical injury. Halim, however, had taken care to share his booty with the king and his courtiers, and with their backing he was named prime minister in 1954.

In his new post, Halim enriched his king and himself with a series of spectacular deals. The first was with the French government, which paid handsomely for its oil concession. The second was with the U.S.

Air Force, which, according to former CIA officials/ paid Halim a $1

million fee for arranging the lease for Wheelus. It was the oil companies, though, which paid most of all.

Unlike the Iranians and Saudi Arabians, who awarded their countries’ drilling rights to a single company or consortium, Halim divided Libya into dozens of grids or sectors, and gave out separate concessions to different oil companies, both the majors, like Esso, and the smaller independents, like Occidental. Halim was thus able to constantly play the oil companies against each other, sending the bidding for individual concessions higher and higher. The more oil companies were involved, the better it was for Halim, not only in bribes to gain concessions, but in kickbacks and contracts the companies were compelled to give, either to Halim directly or to Libyan companies· controlled by him.

But Halim didn’t restrict his demands to the oil companies. After leaving the government in 1959, he was soon putting the squeeze on Bechtel as well. His proposal was a simple one: if Bechtel wanted to work on a second pipeline project, this one for Oasis, the company would have to pay Halim a “retainer” of $2, 500 a month-“walkingaround money,” as a former Bechtel director described it-and give his engineering and construction firm, Libeco, 10 percent of its net profits on all projects. According to former CIA officials, funds allocated for Libeco were to be paid to a London account controlled by Halim.

Assuming all went well on the Oasis pipeline, Bechtel would then be rewarded with additional construction contracts. There was, in fact, no end to the work Bechtel could do in Libya-provided it cooperated with Halim.

Despite the millions of dollars that were conceivably at stake, Jerry 146

LIBYA

Komes and his superiors in San Francisco were uneasy. It was one thing to build a palace or two for a Saudi prince; it was quite another to enter into a formal business arrangement with someone the likes of Halim. Komes’s reservations were evident in a November 25, 1960, memo he sent to Steve Bechtel, Jr. Under a “strictly confidential”

heading, Komes wrote:

I am convinced that our joint venture with Libeco is the only answer on a short-term basis. For the longer view, however, I think we should take steps to protect ourselves. There is no doubt that Libya is a volatile, explosive situation, and when the as-it-nowseems inevitable blow up occurs, many could be hurt.

To deal with the danger-and to buffer Bechtel from it-Komes proposed that Steve junior adopt a four-point plan: 1. Through your father’s friends at the State Department, try to get a confidential briefing on Libya and Ben Halim.

2. The same