$1 billion war profiteering contract« Thread Started on May 23, 2004, 12:24am »--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: Republicans hand Cheney's Halliburton a cool $1 billion windfall This is the only article in this thread View: Original Format Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc, alt.politics.bush, alt.politics.liberalism, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.gw-bush, alt.politicsDate: 2003-12-07 08:41:34 PST From The Guardian, 12/7/03: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0, ... 0.htmlIraq delays hand Cheney firm $1bnOliver Morgan, industrial editorSunday December 7, 2003The ObserverHalliburton, the engineering group formerly run by US vice-presidentDick Cheney, has been given $1 billion worth of reconstruction work inIraq by the US government without having to compete for it, thanks torepeated delays in opening up a key contract to competition.The Houston-based company was controversially awarded a contract torepair Iraq's damaged oil infrastructure without competition inFebruary.The cost-plus contract means the amount spent by the US Army Corps ofEngineers (USACE), which is running the work, is open-ended, ratherthan being fixed at the outset, because the scope of the damage wasunknown.The USACE described the contract as a 'bridge to competition', butoriginal plans to award the work competitively in August haverepeatedly slipped.So far, $1.7bn has been made available to Halliburton for the work.Figures obtained from the USACE by Democrat Congressman Henry Waxmanindicate that on 21 August, around the time the contract should havebeen opened to competition, the amount made available to KBR, theHalliburton subsidiary involved, was $704m.Since then the total has risen by $1.011bn.Waxman said:'Since August, when the follow-on contracts were supposed to beawarded, the administration has obligated more than $1bn toHalliburton under the oil infrastructure contract.These inexplicable delays may be good for Halliburton; they arecosting taxpayers a bundle.'