Congressman Darrell Issa wants the DoD to buy CDMA cellular network technology for Iraq's postwar wireless infrastructure. (Iraq is one of three countries without a major cellular system; Afghanistan and North Korea are the others. Guess we'll fix that problem for both of them, too.) Congressman Issa has drafted legislation to make that happen, complaining that GSM is “European” technology, and that licensing royalties would go to French and German companies if the DoD follows its current plan.

“If European GSM technology is deployed in Iraq,” Issa wrote in a letter to the DoD and to the US Agency for International Development, “much of the equipment used to build the cell phone system would be manufactured in France, Germany, and elsewhere in western and northern Europe. Furthermore, royalties paid on the technology would flow to French and European sources, not U.S. patent holders.”

Well, at least the money wouldn't flow back to his district, as it would if CDMA was chosen.

Congressman Issa is from the San Diego area, home of Qualcomm–the patent-holder for CDMA. He founded a company called Directed Electronics, which until last year was working with Qualcomm joint-venture Wingcast to develop hardware for “automotive telematics” based on CDMA technology. According to OpenSecrets.org, he recieved over $160,000 in compensation in 2001 from Directed (deferred from his wages in 2000, while he was still serving on the company's board). Qualcomm was his sixth largest campaign contributor.

GSM is an open international standard. CDMA isn't used by any of Iraq's neighbors. But, dammit, if anybody is going to profit from this war, it should be Darrell Issa, right?