- The Army Corps of Engineers is "likely" to
cancel the no-bid contract extension granted a week ago to Halliburton
for delivery of oil-related services amid allegations that Halliburton
is overcharging the federal government to import oil into Iraq. The decision
to revisit the contract extension comes in part due to the assertions from
inside the Pentagon that Halliburton's price for imported gasoline was
"at least double what it should be."1
-
- Jeffrey Jones, the Director of the Defense Energy Support
Center (DESC), told minority staff of the House Government Reform Committee
that it costs the DESC $1.08 to $1.19 to buy and import fuel via truck
into Iraq - a price that's less than half the $2.65 Halliburton is charging
the US government.2
-
- Congress has been critical of the no-bid contract - valued
at up to $7 billion, since it was awarded to VP Cheney's former employer,
Halliburton. Questioned about the secretive no-bid process in April, then-White
House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, "the criteria should be followed
by the contracting agencies. The White House does not get involved or dictate
to agencies on how to award contracts."3 But President Bush signed
an executive order within a month of taking office setting terms for executive
agency contracting processes, a process the White House said should strive
for "the highest quality at the best price to ensure that government
is a responsible steward of the American people's hard-earned tax dollars."4
-
- Scrutiny of the Halliburton contract has become more
intense since Congress passed the President's emergency request for $87
billion. Stripped from the final bill, at White House insistence, say Senate
Democrats, was a provision to subject those who deliberately defrauded
the United States or Iraq to jail terms of up to 20 years and costly fines.5
Sources:
-
- 1. Letter from Rep. Henry Waxman and Rep. John Dingell
to Lt. Gen. Robert B. Flowers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 11/5/03.
- 2. ibid.
- 3. White House Press Briefing, 4/11/03.
- 4. "The President's Small Business Agenda,"
Whitehouse.gov; http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/smallbusiness/taxpayer.html.
- 5. "Rage erupts over profiteering clause,"
The Hill, 11/5/03.
-
- http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1682546&l=8013
-
- Comment
- From Donald Hart
- 11-7-3
-
- I hope you will publish this outrageous act from Halliburton.
-
- If this doesn't prove to anyone that this was a purposeful
sweetheart deal from Dick Cheney, then that person is just not paying attention.
-
- Can't the people sue to recover this Windfall Profit?
I can't stand the thought that people who have done very little to harm
others get long prison sentences like the Ernst Zundel case in Canada.
But the executives of Halliburton know they have the Vice-pResident of
the US to help them stay out of jail with as much vigor as he has kept
the list of attendees of his 'Energy Policy' cronies from the public!
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