by Herbert Docena; Middle East Report; September 03, 2004

While the likes of Halliburton and Bechtel get all the press, other US companies are hard at work trying to refashion Iraq’s legal, economic, political and social institutions-and usher in a US-friendly democracy.

Sheikh Majid al-Azzawi was one proud Iraqi. His office, surrounded by sandbags, barbed wire and tall concrete walls, looked more like a military base than an administrative building. But even the pitch-black darkness that swirled in the corridors most of the day did not dampen al-Azzawi’s spirits.