[Lerkfish]

this NYT story details the beginning of a criminal investigation;

The Pentagon has launched a criminal inquiry into allegations of fraud at Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, the oil services company formerly run by Dick Cheney, US vice-president.

The Pentagon inspector-general had been considering a request from military auditors to investigate an Iraq contract awarded to KBR, including allegations that the company overcharged the US government for fuel imports into Iraq.

On Monday, it was confirmed that the inspector-general had launched an investigation into the matter. "The Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the criminal investigative arm of the office of the inspector-general, is investigating allegations of fraud on the part of Kellogg Brown & Root, including the potential overpricing of fuel delivered to Baghdad by a KBR subcontractor," a Pentagon official said.

[eklipse]

Iraq's future is in capable and responsible hands.

It was silly to question the contracting of Halliburton to handle a large proportion of the country's 'reconstruction'.

The war was not about money or oil.

Dubya should receive a Nobel peace prize.

War is peace.

Up is down.

Black is white.

.........

....

[angaq0k]

Originally posted by eklipse:
Iraq's future is in capable and responsible hands.

It was silly to question the contracting of Halliburton to handle a large proportion of the country's 'reconstruction'.

The war was not about money or oil.

Dubya should receive a Nobel peace prize.

War is peace.

Up is down.

Black is white.

.........

....

And nothing actually ever happened.

[vmarks]

Sensationalism.

We knew that there were allegations that Halliburton's KBR overcharged the Pentagon. What is the right response by the Pentagon? Audit to find the truth of the matter. Better than that, KBR has held off billing until the whole mess is straightened out, so that no future error is billed.

When you make mountains out of molehills, the peaks obscure your view of the whole topography. Address them in the totality of what they are, molehills, and the whole problem becomes manageable.

[gadster]

Originally posted by vmarks:
Sensationalism.

We knew that there were allegations that Halliburton's KBR overcharged the Pentagon. What is the right response by the Pentagon? Audit to find the truth of the matter. Better than that, KBR has held off billing until the whole mess is straightened out, so that no future error is billed.

When you make mountains out of molehills, the peaks obscure your view of the whole topography. Address them in the totality of what they are, molehills, and the whole problem becomes manageable.

When you're looking through your binoculars the wrong way around, mountains indeed do look like molehills. And the detail is hard to glean. It fits the pattern, this behaviour of Hallitosurtons. I can't believe so many of you are defending this plainly steaming pile of prime türd.

[Lerkfish]

Originally posted by gadster:
When you're looking through your binoculars the wrong way around, mountains indeed do look like molehills. And the detail is hard to glean. It fits the pattern, this behaviour of Hallitosurtons. I can't believe so many of you are defending this plainly steaming pile of prime türd.

REPUBLICAN'S GUIDE TO GROUPTHINK
Premise: I must defend against all criticisms of the present administration and declare them invalid.
data: Valid criticisms of the present administration exist.
conclusion: Criticism, in and of itself, therefore must be invalid.

[gadster]

Originally posted by Lerkfish:
REPUBLICAN'S GUIDE TO GROUPTHINK
Premise: I must defend against all criticisms of the present administration and declare them invalid.
data: Valid criticisms of the present administration exist.
conclusion: Criticism, in and of itself, therefore must be invalid.

Captain's Log: Lerkfish appears to have infiltrated enemy intel. Send agents to cover. Out.

[angaq0k]

From this website: http://www.fpif.org/papers/2004cost.html

Quote:

Who was checking Halliburton's assessment of what work needed to be done, to make sure they weren't tailoring the scope of work to what they could do rather than what needed to be done? Who was going to monitor Halliburton, which was already providing a wide array of services for the U.S. military worldwide? And if there were problems, who was going to discipline Halliburton, a company that U.S. forces were already depending on for meals, clean laundry, vehicle maintenance, base building and repair, and a host of other essential functions?
(...)
Then of course there is the “meals not served” scandal, in which Halliburton was billing the Pentagon for 42,042 meals a day at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait while only 14,053 were actually served. That's not a small undercount, a case of being a little off in playing “guess who's coming to dinner?” as one Halliburton PR person put it. That means day in, and day out, billing U.S. taxpayers for three times as many meals as were actually served. And according to press accounts, the quality of the meals was so unappealing that many U.S. soldiers in Kuwait skip out of the mess hall and go out and buy food from vendors on the street. So far, $27 million in overcharges have been detected in just five facilities, with roughly another 50 to be checked. 10 This sounds like a case of a company that was not just “stressed out.” This sounds like a company that was taking advantage of the fog of war and occupation to take U.S. taxpayers for a ride.


The rest of the article is pretty interesting if you are into that money thing and expenditures for war thing.

[DeathToWindows]

I hear the Beater of the Drums. (LOTR/ref)