Halliburton Reportedly Cleared of Overbilling in Iraq

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Halliburton Co. has been cleared of any wrongdoing in a Kuwait fuel-delivery contract that Pentagon auditors alleged overcharged the U.S. government by more than $100 million, the Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday.

The head of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Robert Flowers, said Halliburton's Kellogg Brown & Root unit will not need to provide "any cost and pricing data" relating to a contract to deliver millions of gallons of gasoline from Kuwait to Iraq, the paper said, citing a previously undisclosed Dec. 19 ruling.

The paper said Flower's ruling came after lower-level Army Corps officials concluded that KBR had provided enough information to show it had bought the fuel and its delivery to Iraq at a "fair and reasonable price."

In December, the Pentagon said a draft audit found evidence KBR may have overcharged U.S. taxpayers $61 million to supply fuel to Iraq from Kuwait. Halliburton strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Halliburton and Army Corps of Engineers representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.
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It's amazing how when this story was first reported, it was clearly emphasized that this was Dick Cheney's former employer...now that the story was found to be bullsh_t, there's not a mention of Cheney...hmmmmmm

 

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Shocker.

What's the Over/Under for Cheney to have a spot for life on this Board of Directors after he leaves office?

 

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The Board of Directors are ELECTED by the shareholders of the corporation. Most ex-CEO's don't sit on their boards, but if they do get nominated and elected so what? Bob Rubin is one of the top guys at Citigroup(much more influential than sitting on the board of directors)...who cares? You lefties are constantly mired in your vast right wing conspiracy theories...get past it and start working on Hillary's 2008 run!

 

[D2bets]

Did you write that article or do you have a source for it? The article I just read most certainly does not clear Halliburton (KBR) -- these are actually separate issues. In fact, this new revelation only raises additional concerns about a waiver on a no-bid contract. You need to dig a litle deeper on this one Senditin...is this a Newsmax story or something?

 

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Senditin:

First, this isn't any kind of a 'right-wing conspiracy theory' that I've cooked up ... and it has nothing whatsoever to do with being leftist (although I'm not, but that's another debate.) It baffles me how the American public isn't routinely outraged at the obvious pocketlining that motivates political leadership, decision-making, policy debate, etc. The very fact that Cheney's ex-company was given exclusive rights to this deal, with absolutely no competitive bidding, is against your so-called free market system and should serve as one of many examples of why business enterprise and politics should be mutually exclusive. And, for what it's worth, I think Clinton's little scandal (and I'm not talking about the BJ) should be held to closer scrutiny in the wake of Hilary's presumed political future. Does that now make me right-wing?

 

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D2,

The story was all over CNN this morning...you know that right wing news organization!!

 

[D2bets]

Just looked on CNN, couldn't find it anywhere. I read a Reuters story today about the waiver but it did not say Hal was cleared of overbilling. I would paste that story here but I still haven't figured out how to do that.

 

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Pandalady,

The fact is that Halliburton has done tons of work for PREVIOUS administrations including your buddy Bill. Where was your outrage then?

The largest contract they've received was for putting the damn oil fires out because they not only were the only ones who had the ability and resources in the area to do it, but it was specifically requested by the Army to be no bid due to the nature and secrecy of the job. Should we have waited six months for the fires to burn or should we have had the French dump some wine on them?

The other work they are receiving actually they won based on a BIDDING process to be the contingency supplier of choice in case of a military action.

And God forbid if they actually make money on these jobs...we wouldn't want that would we? Most companies in the U.S. do work for free or actually lose money on their jobs

P.S. Since when do girls from Canada use ya'll or y'all in their posts? Are you a plant by the Shrink? (I noticed the language in one of your topics)

 

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Listen, you gotta get past this 'leftist' title you've given me. Only by coincidence did I find this board (and specific forum) during a Republican administration ... I specifically loathe the notion that government and business make excellent bedfellows, regardless of who is doing it. It just happens that this year's flavour involves Halliburton and your VP ...

Now, just because your government chooses to label something 'secret' does not necessarily mean that this gesture is protecting the interests of the general public ... ask the Warren Commission for their thoughts on that statement ... The fact remains that Halliburton won an absolutely massive contract, without the bells and whistles generally required in a normal free-market system, are subsequently accused of over-charging the government (taxpayers), a fact which 'suddenly' is brought to the President's attention (weeks after it first hits the news, interestingly) and, within a couple of weeks, is cleared of any wrongdoing ... all the while, the Vice President has unbelievably strong ties to this company and no significant information as to the 'why's' of this dismissal is made public. If nothing else, this should cause some concern, even among Republican voters.

As much as it is the citizen's moral obligation to vote, it is as much your moral obligation to keep your elected in check, Partisanship notwithstanding.

And the y'all was tongue-in-cheek ... we don't really say that up here.