"The Spoils of War"-How and why Halliburton stole billions from The People

"Halliburton subsidiary KBR got $12 billion worth of exclusive contracts for work in Iraq. But even more shocking is how KBR spent some of the money. Former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official Bunnatine Greenhouse is blowing the whistle on the Dick Cheney–linked company's profits of war"

(More)
<http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/050307roco02?print=true>

How an incredibly courageous black woman is attempting to call attention to the mammoth perfidy of dick cheney, halliburton and busholini inc. And how all these tens of billion dollar no bid contracts got KBR through the multi-billion dollar judgements against a susbsidy dick stupidly bought, Dresser Industries, for asbestos damages. Really freaking convenient.

I did not know that Bunnatine Greenhouse, the top civillian official at US Army Corps of Engineers, was the sister of basketball hall of famer, Elvin Hayes.

A good, if infuriating, read from Vanity Faire.

:kick:

esp. women whistleblowers.

I've long said that Iraq was a way to "save" Halliburton, especially when the asbestos lawsuits came due.

...how do we stop the bleeding of this nation?

<snip>

As for learning the real extent of malfeasance in Iraq, that may never happen. The Republican majority in both houses of Congress seems disinclined to hold more hearings—or to exercise the subpoena power that only the majority wields. All the Democrats can do is shake their fists.

"If the administration shares our concern about not wasting taxpayers' money, you would think they would want to learn from the auditors and whistle-blowers what has gone wrong," Congressman Waxman says. Instead, the government has ignored its own auditors—both at the Pentagon and at the G.A.O.—who found glaring irregularities in KBR's books on Iraq. "Why has the administration turned away?" Waxman says. "I don't know as I have an answer to that question."

<snip>

"At the Corps, as at other government agencies, senior officers often leave for cushy jobs with the very companies they negotiated with on the government's behalf. Especially the biggest ones, such as Halliburton and Parsons. Greenhouse's mission was to be sure some of the pie was saved for small and minority-owned businesses. That wasn't just policy—it was the law. Greenhouse had to sign off on every contract valued at more than $10 million. On no less than 50 of the documents she signed, she added clauses and conditions to make sure the law was upheld. There was grumbling from the start, and after Ballard, her mentor, left in 2000, she says, underlings started chopping big contracts into parts worth less than $10 million to try to evade her scrutiny. She could deal with that. But then came the war in Iraq, with its promise of glittering profits. And suddenly everything changed.

<snip>

Worst of all, the contract would be "cost-plus": KBR would just submit bills for whatever it spent, and the government would reimburse it, adding fees of between 2 and 7 percent as KBR's profit. It didn't take a genius to see that the more money KBR spent, the more profit it would make. KBR says that its award fee of up to 5 percent on RIO is based in large part on its ability to control costs. But the G.A.O. has concluded that KBR let costs spiral out of control.

Incensed, Greenhouse went over to whisper in Lieutenant General Strock's ear that the KBR people had to leave the room. The general complied with her request, but seemed adamant that KBR get the job on the grounds of "compelling emergency." All Greenhouse could do was insist that the contract be limited to a year.

The next day, the final contract was submitted to Greenhouse for her approval. The basic terms—five years, non-compete, cost-plus—remained. Greenhouse signed—the country was, after all, on the eve of war—but only after writing, "I caution that extending this sole source effort beyond a one year period could convey an invalid perception that there is not strong intent for a limited competition." (In light of the pending investigation into Greenhouse's charges, the Army Corps declined to comment on any details of her case.)"

(Too bad she signed).