As the Trump administration contemplates bombing Iran, it’s worth remembering the role of the Bechtel Corporation in the last major war launched by the United States.

Bechtel is the U.S. military contractor preparing to build the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Pipeline across Indigenous lands in Northern B.C.

In 2003, Bechtel board member (and former Secretary of State) George Schultz was a vocal advocate for bombing Iraq – then rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure with U.S. companies.

That’s exactly what happened, with Bechtel handed billions by the Pentagon to rebuild targets destroyed days earlier by American jets.

Bechtel is a major weapons, nuclear and civil works contractor. But oil and gas pipelines have always been core to the family-owned business, going back a century to the Standard Oil boom in California.

In the 1980s, Schultz sent White House special envoy Donald Rumsfeld to lobby Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. One of the projects on the table was a Bechtel oil pipeline across Iraq. But it was never built.

20 years later, Rumsfeld was the U.S. Defense Secretary in charge of the invasion of Iraq, opening up the country to Bechtel and other U.S. companies.

B.C. Premier David Eby’s approval of the PRGT pipeline opens the door to an American company with deep ties to the U.S. government, military and oil industry.