U.S. ambassador intervened in Halliburton contract, documents show

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20041110-1515-halliburton.html

By Larry Margasak
ASSOCIATED PRESS
3:15 p.m. November 10, 2004

WASHINGTON – The U.S. ambassador to Kuwait intervened last year to ensure that Halliburton, the oil services company once led by Vice President Dick Cheney, retained a Kuwaiti business as a subcontractor to deliver fuel to Iraq, documents released Wednesday show.

State Department documents appear to contradict the Bush administration's assertion that all decisions involving Halliburton's contracts were handled only by career contracting officers for the government.

The ambassador's effort was aimed at ensuring that the company favored by the Kuwaiti government remained part of the contract.

With Iraq experiencing a gasoline shortage after the U.S.-led invasion last year, U.S. officials gave Halliburton the job of obtaining fuel in Kuwait and delivering it to Iraq. The work became part of Halliburton's existing $2.5 billion no-bid work to restore Iraq's oil industry.