<HTML>In a message dated 4/29/2003 4:22:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time, dhenwood@panix.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">$50-100m as in million? Is that a misprint? That's not even pocket change. </BLOCKQUOTE> Got to be a misprint. Should be $50-$100 bln. Right now, Iraq has over $52 billion outstanding contracts with Russian companies, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in DC. I can't imagine the US is going to let those stand. Apparently, the US is reviewing the legality of those contracts at the moment. There's no way the US will let half of their anticipated reconstruction costs, go to Russian, mostly oil and energy, companies. There's a better chance the US works out sub-contracting arrangments with Russian companies, but for a fraction of what Russia's current contracts are worth. Nomi</HTML>