Iraq's Ministry of Housing and Construction has hired The Livingston Group to educate its chief about U.S. policies regarding the rebuilding of his country.

The firm of former Louisiana Republican Congressman Bob Livingston will squire Baqir Jabor to Capitol Hill and arrange meetings with business officials. Jabor is based at Coalition Provisional Authority headquarters in Baghdad.

TLG is the firm that famously hired Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief, the Iraqi lawyer who aided the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch, in July.

The firm helped promote al-Rehaief's book, "Because Every Life is Precious," that was published in October. It ranks 55,705 on amazon.com.

BKSH wants piece of action

Iraq has captured the attention of another key Republican operative in D.C., Charlie Black. The chairman of Burson-Marsteller's BKSH & Assocs. lobbying wing plans to set up shop in Baghdad. He told the Feb. 16/23 New Yorker that he is excited about the opportunities, but perplexed about how to go about winning Iraqi business.

Black said some days decisions are made at the Pentagon, while on other days decisions are made in Baghdad. He joked that Halliburton is the only company making money in Iraq.

thinkman2 (2/12):
This has got to be one of the funniest and ridiculous stories yet. First, who is actually putting up this money for Livingston's group?

The impression in the US is that Iraq is broke, except for the billions we're pouring into there. Second, the most naive Iraqi minister has to know that ample and free if not eager American businesses would fling open their doors to sell anything they wanted in housing and building materials and even consider joint ventures.

The American Building Products Export Alliance is one of those.
But the unanswered question is: who is really footing the bills?