Iraq war contracts handed out two years ago!

[DrBB]

A LTTE in the NYTimes today points out this starting little gem, buried in a story about Halliburton corruption:

"We will bear the cost of the potential overcharge, not the government," said Randy Harl, the president and chief executive of the Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root, to which the contract in question was awarded, in a statement.

The contract was awarded two years ago by the Army Field Support Command. It called for the subsidiary to provide a number of logistical services for troops in Iraq, including housing, transportation, food, laundry and recreation. Kellogg Brown & Root, in turn, contracted with the Kuwaiti company to handle some of the work.
link

The letter writer pretty well nails it:

To the Editor:

Re "Halliburton Says Worker Participated in Kickbacks" (news article, Jan. 24):

A spokesman for Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, claims that a contract for logistical services for troops in Iraq was awarded two years ago? Not only was our government overcharged for these services, as Halliburton now admits by repaying $6.3 million, but this contract also predates the invasion of Iraq by more than a year. How could a company get a contract for an event that had not yet taken place unless it surely knew that it would?

Paul H. O'Neill, the former Treasury secretary, surely got it right when he claimed that almost from the inauguration the Bush administration was involved in planning to invade Iraq. This is another reason, perhaps, that Vice President Dick Cheney (chairman of Halliburton until 2000) doesn't want the content of his secret meetings with energy companies made public.  

SUSAN ADDELSTON
Jackson, N.J., Jan. 24, 2004
link

Right on, Susan--good eye!

[Hubert Flottz]

1. This should hang Bush and Cheney's a$$ except for one thing!

The Republicans can do ANYTHING they want as long as they have a lock on all three branches of the government!

[krkaufman]

2. Lock on all three branches of the government!

> The Republicans can do ANYTHING they want as long
> as they have a lock on all three branches of the
> government!

Four. Don't forget the "free" press.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. REICH errr...I mean RIGHT!

Tis a giant crock of Bushit!

[FreeperSlayer]

4. Hope you're not shocked!

These criminal bastards will do anything, at any time, to achieve their aims.
BUSH OUT!

[DrBB]

5. Course not. But PROVING it

...is another thing. This is pretty unequivocal. "We hadn't made up our minds" sez BushCorp, "O'Neill is talking out of his ass."

Well, um, kinda hard to square that with the fact that you were actually handing out the contracts, though, isn't it?

[Solomon]

6. Even worse, what do you think the "shock and awe" was really all about?

Not only the contracts you mentioned, but how about all those contracts for the weapons, bombs, gasoline for tanks, etc., which were no doubt inked before the first bomb was dropped on Iraq. I've said it over and over that when they feared that the so-called "decapitation strike" just might have succeeded in killing Saddam, they immediately went to "shock and awe" before it could be confirmed whether he was dead or alive. All that money which had changed hands in anticipation of the bombing. Not to mention already lining up companies to re-build the infrastructure after the bombing.

They weren't going to let all that go down the drain. Look back at the timing of the shock and awe. The newspeople were still speculating on whether "we got Saddam" in the decapitation strike. Next thing you know - BOOM DE BOOM DITA BOOM! Better use up all those bombs we sold, and make room to replenish the supply.

The bombing of Iraq may have been one of the most collossal commercial ventures ever undertaken. As Carl Sagan would say, "beeelions and beeelions ..."

[Bandit]

7. No wonder Cheney won't release the awarding process er I mean energy

meetings. We all know this stuff but it is good to see it finally hit the news. At least a little bit if you consider a LTTE to be news. Wake Up people. Cheney sold out America years ago and it will catch up with him and all you who support the crooks will be guilty by association IMHO.

[Bandit]

8. Kick for a VERY important story

This is HUGE If/when this story actually gets into mainstream media it will rock their boat like it has never been rocked before. It goes to show how this was planned well in advance and how the LIES were assembled to launch it. Release Cheney's energy meeting transcripts. That is when the No-Bid Contracts were awarded. Well over a year before the fact.

[Solomon]

9. It's part of the drip drip we all talk about.

Pretty soon the drips are going to coalesce into a big ball and then
WHOOOOOSH! O'Neil's book is part of the drip as is everything else people get dismayed over because theses things are seemingly ignored. But they do add up.

[DrBB]

10. This gets a kick

Not the kind of post that requires a lot of response, but I want people to see this information. Good ammunition here.

[havocmom]

11. keep it kicked

this is important stuff. The evening people will want to see it and send it along.

I love DU!

[MissB]

12. Kick again. (nt)

[Snappy]

13. Send this

to the Kerry campaign and anyone else that can put this in the public light..

[havocmom]

14. And email link with recommendation to read 4th paragraph several times

Send it to any friends who are still on the fence. Especially send it to anyone with offspring of military service age.

The malAdministration's plan for those young people is military invasions to enrich large corporations who still mail checks to the Vice pResident and a deficit they will never be able to pay off.

[mike1963]

15. Good grief, how many smoking guns will it take????????/

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:
:eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[Kathy in Cambridge]

16. Kick

[Toots]

17. Kick

:kick:

[DrBB]

18. Nother kick for visibility

Just want people to see this--could come in handy.....

[imax2268]

19. KICK

:kick:

[greatauntoftriplets]

20. It is really sad to define killing people...

...as contracts. Sounds a bit too Mafioso. What a sorry state of affairs this once-grand experiment has come to.