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April 11, 2003

Remembering Red

When I was a kid, there was no Discovery Channel. We basically had to wait for National Geographic specials. Half the time they were Jacques Cousteau, who was interesting enough, but occasionally we would get the only kind of documentary that made kids squirm with excitement.

Red Adair! Oil well fires! Explosives!

I am remembering Red in the context of reversal of fortunes and the inconsistencies of those finding fault all over the map with the liberation of Iraq. As you may have heard, Halliburton is no longer a candidate for the rebuilding of Iraq in the main, although they are subcontracting out their oil well fire duty to a couple of firms like Red's.

Halliburton's recusal is one less excuse for recognizing the thousands killed by Saddam. But those who remain steadfast in their conspiracy theories might do well to remember Red Adair. When it comes to these kinds of operations, there are in fact very few companies in the world who are well suited to it. Sure they just happen to be American, but there is something about America that generates such firms and such men as Red Adair. That's a good something.

One more thing to remember is that there were awesome predictions of how the world would suffer for years from oil well fires. Remember that? How they would blot out the sun and cause global warming to be accellerated. Here's an interesting post-mortem.

Sometimes extraordinary situations bring out the best in human beings and we surprise ourselves with how much we can accomplish.

Posted by mbowen at April 11, 2003 08:33 AM

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Comments

Posted by: Don Williamson at December 2, 2003 04:11 AM

Posted by: Texrat at August 4, 2004 02:40 PM