Do not make the mistake of thinking that because my conclusion is the same as another person's that my reasoning is the same
Pentagon Finds Halliburton Overcharged on Iraq Contracts
By DOUGLAS JEHL
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 — A Pentagon investigation has found evidence of overcharging and other violations in billions of dollars worth of reconstruction contracts for Iraq that were awarded to Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, military officials said today.
The violations by a Halliburton Company subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown and Root, could involve "potentially tens of millions of dollars" in overcharging for fuel that the company is trucking into Iraq under one of two contracts, said Michael Thibault, deputy director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency. In a draft report, Mr. Thibault said, the agency has recommended that the Army Corps of Engineers seek reimbursement from the company.
A second set of violations, in a second contract with the Army, involve unacceptable delays by the Halliburton subsidiary in providing cost estimates to the government for dozens of separate projects already under way in Iraq, Mr. Thibault said. These violations, for work that includes the construction of food, housing and other facilities for the military, could involve overcharging as well, Mr. Thibault said.
A spokeswoman for Halliburton, Wendy Hall, said in an e-mail message that "it is not the fact that K.B.R. has overcharged." Ms. Hall said she was confident that responses being prepared by the company would satisfy the audit agency.
Posted by P6 at December 11, 2003 09:44 PM | Trackback URL: http://www.prometheus6.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2497...
This certainly isn't the first time a contractor overcharged the government. This shouldn't even be news, it is so commonplace.
I am not apologizing for the practice, but I think if this is going to be made into a story, then every contract since the creation of the military-industrial complex needs to be re-examined.
I can't find a distinction between "overcharge" and "over-budget". It isn't helping that you aren't seeing it reported without the "Dick Cheney" spin on it. It would be like every story about Democrats beginning with "Democrats, the party of impeached President Clinton..."
Exactly Phelps. This is just a reverse of the Clinton years, when everything associated with the man was vilified simply because it had in some remote way something to do with him. I usually can't even read stuff like this, the incessant spinning makes me want to hurl.
At least you guys recognize the similarity to what happened in the Clinton years. It's amazing what short memories most right-wingers have on this issue.