Word: oiled
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...further entrenchment of Bechtel's financial and political clout. The federal government turned to Bechtel to construct warships for both the British and American fleets. And after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Secretary of War Henry Stimson literally ordered Bechtel to build the Alaska Oil Highway...
Following the war's end, it was the barren deserts of the Middle East that yielded Bechtel's biggest prize to date--oil. The company seized upon the opportunity by building much of the Arab world's modern oil-producing infrastructure. McCartney reports that even as Bechtel was working hard to establish cozy ties with Saudi Arabian King Ibn Saud, former employees of the company were involved behind the scenes. Several worked for the U.S. Export-Import Bank, a government agency that subsidizes American corporate ventures abroad, to facilitate financing for the enormous projects...
...close links with the Central Intelligence Agency. The firm and the government together sent covert operatives on overseas intelligence missions--to determine political trends in Israel and the practices of the Mossadeq government in Iran (that regime was later overthrown in a CIA-staged coup, shortly after it nationalized oil...
When Col. Moammar Khaddafi staged a coup in Libya in 1969, the United States determined that the new government would be favorable to oil interests, and actively encouraged Bechtel to continue its oil industry work there. In the 1970s, when the Arab boycott of Israel prompted legislation in Congress to punish companies that severed links with Israel to pander to Arab countries, Bechtel successfully lobbied against the proposed bill...
Also in the 1970s, Bechtel started working in the nuclear industry and soon dominated nuclear construction projects in the United States. But Bechtel's reputation for product quality in developing oil pipelines was not matched by its performance in building nuclear waste disposal facilities. The leaky Taranpur nuclear facility in India is one example. To help cover up the problem, Bechtel hired Indian workers to spread radioactive waste with bamboo poles...