When Aljazeera Tells The Truth But ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN Don't, Is That Liberal Bias?

A subsidiary of the controversial American firm Halliburton has bagged two new contracts to restore Iraq's oil infrastructure.

The US military on Friday awarded the two-year contracts worth up to $1.2 billion to Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Halliburton. The fresh contracts came even as Pentagon's inspector-general was considering whether to launch an investigation into an earlier Iraq oil contract awarded to KBR. The fresh contracts entrust the subsidiary with the task of restoring oil fields and installations in southern Iraq to pre-war levels.

"The competition for the two contracts was full and open in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations," the Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement. "This process provides for a fair and impartial evaluation of the offerers proposals. The contractors were selected on the basis on best value to the government and qualifications to do the work described in the solicitation."

The contracts cover a full range of services, ranging from putting out oil fires to environmental cleanups, restoring installations to safe operating conditions, maintaining oil fields, pipelines, buying and importing fuel, distributing fuel inside Iraq and providing technical assistance. The new contracts replace a previous contract awarded to KBR in March without competitive bidding to restore Iraq's war-ravaged oil industry.

Contract scrutiny
The earlier contract is under scrutiny by Pentagon auditors, who earlier this week found "suspected irregularities."

A draft audit found that KBR overcharged the government by some $61 million for fuel purchased through a Kuwait contractor, Altanmia. It raised a stink in the US. Critics of the Bush administration alleged that Halliburton was being favoured since Vice President Dick Cheney was the company's former chief executive.

I've already heard reporters call this "another no bid comntract". It's not.

What this is is the competitive contract that had to be let by the government AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to replace the justified sole source contract KBR was awarded last March. Despite all the BS from Krugman and let pass by the NYT editors, that was the ONLY "no bid" contract KBR had. But it's a liberal media mantra, "Halliburton - No Bid - Cheney". And the profit on that "no bid" contract? A whole 3.5%. If Cheney's is supposed to be taking care of Halliburton, I'd be pissed if I were Halliburton.

So if you want to be sure which networks HAVE a liberal media bias, what how they report this contract. If it's reported as a fair and square win, competitively won, then they are not biased. Anyone who claims "no bid" are doing so by kneejerk liberal reaction.

As far as the "audit", that's a minor, insignificant consideration. In no way does that have any effect of whether or not KBR should be kept out of the bidding. It's a dispute, an unresolved dispute. It's a "he said, she said" case between the Defense Contract Audit Agency and KBR. Note that the Contracting Officer has told DCAA to go pound sand. DCAA's referal to the IG will go nowhere because DCAA has it's head up it's ass. KBR was told to split the sourcing by the customer. The customer has that right and KBR has no right to refuse. And if Kuwait law says "you're not getting that data" you're not getting that data, so a waiver is legal.

So remember, anyone questioning this contract as improper is either biased or a sloppy reporter, especially if they say "no bid".

"Halliburton - No Bid - Cheney"

yes, that's what the liberals and their media are chanting.

Halliburton only made a 3.5% profit? I hope they made it up by volume. There are some states that have a mandatory profit for companies doing business in their area (so the "big guys" can't run the "little guys" out). I have relatives in Wisconsin that told me their state requires businesses to make a minimum of 6% profit.

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