Posted on 10/28/2004 1:37:19 PM PDT by fidelio
BC-Halliburton-Contracts,170
URGENT
AP NewsBreak: FBI begins investigating how Halliburton got Bush administration contracts
By JOHN SOLOMON
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI has begun investigating whether the Pentagon improperly awarded no-bid contracts to Halliburton Co., seeking an interview with a top Army contracting officer and collecting documents from several government offices.
The line of inquiry expands an earlier FBI investigation into whether Halliburton overcharged taxpayers for fuel in Iraq, and it elevates to a criminal matter the election-year question of whether the Bush administration showed favoritism to Vice President Dick Cheney's former company.
FBI agents this week sought permission to interview Bunnatine Greenhouse, the Army Corps of Engineers' chief contracting officer who went public last weekend with allegations that her agency unfairly awarded a Halliburton subsidiary no-bid contracts worth billions of dollars in Iraq, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
uhm.....as a person who does contract negotiations with the federal government - - the White House does not let contracts! Congress of other agencies of the govenrment do so. Depending on the warrant of the agency, sizeable contracts may have to get congressional approval.
Even if the contract to be awarded can be done with a sole source justification, believe me, the agency will really "paper" their files so that it is bullet-proof against GAO audit.
This is just junk....GAO does the investigation, or the IG for the agency - - not the FBI!!
Take note of the connections involving Ms Greenhouse. Coming to a thread near you.
Kerry better be careful not to touch this one. He might get an October surprise that will leave egg on his face.
LOL, I so hope you are correct.
This is much less serious than the weapons cache story.
Getting to the point of absurdity, and the average voter can see this.
Kerry internals must be horrible.
Specifics?
Talk to any idiot and ask them if they even know what Halliburton does and they reply that they are an oil company. At that point I just sigh and tell them they are too stupid to even complain about Halliburton if they do not even know what they do.
I am sick of STUPID PEOPLE!!
let the rats investigate....force chaney to step down after say 2 years....then Rudy or Rice step in.....they will only be hurting themselves ...as this will give them necessary experience to tout for a run in 08.
facts are, no other company has the infrastructure that Brown and Root have.
Nobody.
That's it! Halliburton got the explosives and hid them under a pile of the uncounted Gore votes from 2000! My God! Why didn't I see this before!?!?!?!
.....notice the timing of her current position.....
1997-Present Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting, USACE
.....wonder how Halliburton "jobs".....
.....she helped award for Slick.....
Pray for W and Our Election
We know it's a non-issue, but it can hurt the president, because of morons and knee-jerk voting. People only have to allow themselves to be snowed for a few days. As I said, the quarter century-old DUI was effective in 2000. Not as effective as the left hoped, but it still lost him votes.
Her resume states that she was a "mathematics teacher/college instructor" in "several states," but no specific school is mentioned. She also is reported to have studied math at Southern University for four years, but no degree is mentioned. These things should be checked out.
Her Most Royal Highness:"Go fetch me our latest stolen FBI files to control the vote counters.
Have no fear.
These stolen FBI files have given us to total control the FBI and IRS.
The DOJ and FBI will NEVER dare to touch either of us
or our brownshirts and felons."
It will only hurt if enough people says it does - perception is nine-tenths of reality.
Since the "Bush Administration" doesn't let contracts for defense, and the article addresses the Pentagon as the focal point, what the hell is this headline about, as if I didn't know.
Nice work A.P., 'socialism's team on the street'.
Surprise, surprise. Look who fronted this toilet paper.
Oct. 25, 2004, 7:02AM
Investigation of federal contract program urged
Agency's official accuses the Army of breaking rules in awarding work to Halliburton
By ERIK ECKHOLM
New York Times
WASHINGTON - The top civilian contracting official for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, charging that the Army granted large contracts for work in Iraq and the Balkans without following rules designed to ensure competition and fair prices to the government, has called for a high-level investigation of what she described as threats to the "integrity of the federal contracting program."
The official, Bunnatine Greenhouse, said that in at least one case she witnessed, Army officials inappropriately allowed representatives of Halliburton to sit in as they discussed the terms of a contract the company was set to receive.
Her accusations offer the first extended account of arguments that roiled inside the military bureaucracy over contracts with the company.
Left out of decisions
In an Oct. 21 letter to the acting Army secretary, Greenhouse said that after her repeated questions about the Halliburton contracts, she was excluded from major decisions to award money and that her job status was threatened.
In response, Army officials referred her accusations to the Pentagon's investigations bureau for review and promised to protect her position in the meantime.
Greenhouse, 62, is a veteran of military procurement and serves the Corps of Engineers as the principal assistant responsible for contracting — the top civilian overseeing the agency's contracts. She also has chief responsibility for reviewing adherence to the Pentagon's elaborate rules, intended to shield awards from outside influence and to promote competition.
The contracts to Halliburton, a Houston-based conglomerate once headed by Dick Cheney before he became vice president, have stirred controversy and charges of favoritism because some contracts were granted on an emergency basis, without competitive bidding.
The company's operations in Iraq, involving work for more than $10 billion, have also been dogged by charges of overbilling and waste and have been an issue in the presidential campaign.
Questionable charges
The Pentagon has asserted that, as the invasion of Iraq began, Halliburton was the only company able to provide services with the required speed and secrecy. But Pentagon auditors later questioned the company's billing practices and found examples of reckless spending or unjustified charges.
Halliburton has denied wrongdoing, saying it has performed well in a war zone and that many of its critics are politically motivated.
Greenhouse's lawyers sent the letter on her behalf to the acting secretary of the Army, Les Brownlee, calling for an investigation of what the letter describes as threats to the "integrity of the federal contracting program." They sent copies to several congressional committees, and a copy was provided to The Times by a congressional staff member.
Result of complaint
In a response dated Oct. 22, Robert Fano, a senior lawyer in the Department of the Army, said that the acting secretary had referred her letter to the Pentagon inspector general "for review and action as appropriate" and that he had directed the Army Corps of Engineers "to suspend any adverse personnel actions" against Greenhouse.
Some of the contracts Greenhouse says she questioned, including a noncompetitive agreement with the Halliburton subsidiary KBR in early 2003 for Iraqi oil repairs that was initially worth up to $7 billion over five years, have already attracted debate in Congress.
In the resulting firestorm, the contract was later shortened to one year and supplanted by a competitive process, just as Greenhouse had recommended initially.
First story titled "Beyond the Call of Duty". Once again, Time proves they are partisan hacks.
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