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Rooster71
07-05-2004, 10:42 AM
New info as of 7-1-04 below. Halliburton is an OIL SERVICE company. But can anyone provide any explanation as to why they have FOOD and LAUNDRY contracts in Iraq? (Other than the fact that Cheney is a crook, which I already know). These people can't even try to make honest money when contracts are handed to them! "$50,000 a month for soda, at $45 a case; $1 million a month to clean clothes — or $100 for each 15-pound bag of laundry."


By Lisa Myers
Senior investigative correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 9:57 a.m. ET July 01, 2004The Pentagon has already awarded Halliburton Co., the controversial military contractor, deals worth up to $18 billion for its work in Iraq. But now former Halliburton insiders have come forward with new allegations of massive waste of taxpayer money.

Marie deYoung, a former Army chaplain who worked for Halliburton, was so upset by attacks on the company she e-mailed the CEO in December with a strategy on how to fight the "political slurs." But today, after five months inside Halliburton's operation in Kuwait, deYoung has radically changed her opinion. "It’s just a gravy train," she said.

DeYoung audited accounts for Halliburton’s subsidiary KBR. She claims there was no effort to hold down costs because all costs were passed on directly to taxpayers. She repeatedly complained to superiors of waste and fraud. The company's response, according to deYoung was: "We can be as dumb and stupid as we want in the first year of a war, nobody’s going to care."

DeYoung produced documents detailing alleged waste even on routine services: $50,000 a month for soda, at $45 a case; $1 million a month to clean clothes — or $100 for each 15-pound bag of laundry.

"That money could have been used to take care of soldiers," she said.

DeYoung also claims people were paid to do nothing. Mike West says he was one of them. Paid $82,000 a year to be a labor foreman in Iraq, West claims he never had any laborers to supervise. "They said just log 12 hours a day and walk around and look busy," he said. "OK, so we did."

Both deYoung and West have since left the company. Pentagon documents obtained by NBC News support the whistleblowers' charges. In December auditors complained of Halliburton's "serious deficiencies," including "lack of cost control and cost consciousness." Some examples:

Purchase of hundreds of high-end SUVs and pickups, loaded with options like CD players, which "most KBR employees do not need."
"Duplication ... and gold-plating" in purchases of computers and high-tech equipment.
Halliburton employees living in 5-star hotels.
The company declined an interview but suggests in an e-mail to NBC News that critics are politically motivated: "When Halliburton succeeds, Iraq progresses. Sadly, a few people don't want either of those results."

Halliburton also said the soda problem has been "corrected," and the laundry charges are being investigated, but insists it's "absolutely not true" the company is cavalier about taxpayer money.

Whistleblower deYoung thinks the problem is obvious. "They're using the war as an excuse, but it's not the war," she said. "It was very bad management."

Pentagon auditors apparently agree. They're withholding $186 million from the company and threatening to hold back even more unless Halliburton corrects the problems.

© 2004 MSNBC Interactive

andyfox
07-05-2004, 10:44 AM
This always happens with DOD procurement, it's not Bush-Cheney style capitalism. What is Bush-Cheney style is seeing nothing wrong with giving Cheney's former company no-bid constracts and operating in such secrecy.

Rooster71
07-05-2004, 11:08 AM
The price is not necessarily what I am calling Bush/Cheney style capitalism. It's the fact that Halliburton (an oil service company) has free run to sell/supply anything they want in Iraq at any price they want. And, yes, it is all very secretive.

I think it is very important for everyone to just imagine the number of companies in this country that would be (more than) capable of fulfilling these contracts. Frankly, I don't understand why there is no more public outrage on this issue.

I have not heard one single explanation as to why Halliburton has this license to steal. I heard one of the conservative pundits (Limbaugh or Hannity, I can't remember) say that Halliburton is the only company in the world that has the "ability" to service this type of contract. I don't know what was meant by that, they are a big company...yes, but so are alot of other companies in the US.

I can't help but think of how Clinton's "Whitewater scandal" was brought up over and over again during his presidency. In my view, a little podunk real estate deal like Whitewater (which happened before Clinton was ever even elected) is about 0.0001 % as crooked when compared to the direct theft currently happening in the Bush administration.

andyfox
07-05-2004, 12:03 PM
Good points. When our leaders lie to us, we lose. When they lie to us about extramarital sex, it's sad, but not terribly dangerous. When they lie to us about going to war, it's a crime.

mr. oats
07-05-2004, 03:45 PM
HALLIBURTON .. THE REAL STORY

Try this experiment. The next time you hear some liberal parrot squawk about Halliburton just ask them one simple question. "Well, pal --- since you're such an expert on Halliburton, why don't you tell me just what it is that Halliburton does? Name one product or one service that Halliburton provides."

Don't hold your breath waiting for cogent answer.

Part of the perceived evil that is Halliburton is the fact that Dick Cheney once ran the company. As everyone knows, we should strive mightily to avoid ever placing anyone with the know-how and ability to run a multi-million dollar corporation in a position of responsibility in the political realm. Actually making a success of yourself in the private sector disqualifies you for public service, while not having any actual discernable private sector job skills is the supreme qualification for public service.

So ... let's get to the bottom of this. Did Bush or Cheney do something underhanded or illegal in handing some rather lucrative contracts to Halliburton for infrastructure and other work in Iraq?

We'll start with another question you can ask your bedwetting leftist friends. Ask them if they've ever heard of LOGCAP. They will tell you that they don't know what that is. You won't be at all surprised. LOGCAP is the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program created by the United States Army. It is a program that uses a competitive bidding process to award a contract to a corporation to be on call to provide whatever services the Army might need ... right then. Some brilliant thinkers in the Army came to the conclusion that it might not be such a swell idea to screw around with competitive bidding processes for logistics and other services during wartime. Imagine that.

Halliburton won the competitive bidding process for LOGCAP in 1992. They then lost that bidding process five years later in 1997. In spite of the fact that Halliburton no longer held the LOGCAP contract, Bill Clinton went ahead and awarded a no-bid contract to Halliburton to do some work in the Balkans supporting U.S. peacekeeping actions. Odd, isn't it. The same people who are screaming about Halliburton right now had absolutely nothing .. nada .. nunca .. not one thing to say about Halliburton when it was the Clinton Administration that was handing out contracts .. with no bidding, by the way. You might also be interested in knowing that Al Gore was quite a fan of Halliburton. Gore's reinventing government panel had some very complimentary things to say about Halliburton and the services it provides to the U.S. government. Ahhh ... but what does Al Gore know, right?

That brings us to 2001. It's time for bidding on the LOGCAP contract again. Halliburton is right in there, and wins the bid. This means that at the time of the Iraq War Halliburton had the bid for providing logistical and other services to the U.S. government. They were the go-to company. So, along comes the U.S. Army with a fat contract for Halliburton to put out oil-well fires in Iraq and all hell breaks loose. To the left this is all the proof you needed to show that this whole war was about oil and enriching Bush pals.

Recap: Clinton awards no-bid contract to Halliburton at a time when Halliburton did not hold the LOGCAP contract. Bush awards contract to Halliburton at a time when Halliburton DID hold the LOGCAP contract.

So ... one last question for your mindless leftist friends. Well .. make that two questions. Ask them if Clinton went into the Balkans to enrich Halliburton. They'll say no. Then ask them if Bush went to Iraq to enrich Halliburton. They'll say yes. At this point do all that you can to have your friend institutionalized .. for they are beyond all help.

-Neal Boortz

andyfox
07-05-2004, 04:11 PM
The real story is that Cheney headed the company and he's now the vice president of the United States. He and his friends are too righteous to realize that they must avoid the appearance of favoritism. Bush's life has been about using his name to enrich himself, usually on the edge of prorpriety and legality.

And yes, I'm on the left. Clinton has lived his life the same way, although he didn't have daddy's name and connections to fall back on. He's small-potatoes, an amateur, compared to Bush.

Fat cats always do well when a buddy of theirs becomes president. It's SOP for both parties.

Rooster71
07-05-2004, 08:03 PM
I know very well what Halliburton does, like my original post says "they are an oil service company." Most people I know can answer your question about what Halliburton does.

[ QUOTE ]
Part of the perceived evil that is Halliburton is the fact that Dick Cheney once ran the company. As everyone knows, we should strive mightily to avoid ever placing anyone with the know-how and ability to run a multi-million dollar corporation in a position of responsibility in the political realm. Actually making a success of yourself in the private sector disqualifies you for public service, while not having any actual discernable private sector job skills is the supreme qualification for public service.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you serious? What business skills does Dick Cheney have? He was hired for his Rolodex, not his business skills. Secondly, Dick Cheney HAS spent the majority of his working life in the PUBLIC sector.

[ QUOTE ]
So ... let's get to the bottom of this. Did Bush or Cheney do something underhanded or illegal in handing some rather lucrative contracts to Halliburton for infrastructure and other work in Iraq?

[/ QUOTE ]

This has not yet been proven. But to any thinking person, there are way too many red flags that have been raised.

Yes, I am also "on the left" regarding many issues. But the scandals coming from the Bush/Cheney White House make Clinton's scandals seem about as serious as jaywalking.

It is interesting to see how the right explains away Bush wrongdoing. By the way, the "bedwetting" comment sounds very much like something that would come from Rush Limbaugh.

Rooster71
07-05-2004, 08:16 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Fat cats always do well when a buddy of theirs becomes president. It's SOP for both parties.

[/ QUOTE ]
I agree 100%. But, Bush and Cheney don't seem to care about whether their or not any favoritism appears to be shown to their cronies.

Speaking of GWB cronies, Ken Lay better hope he can beat the rap before November. If GWB is a one-termer, somehow I don't think Kenny-Boy will have it as easy.