Bush Administration To Pay Disputed Halliburton Costs

Washington, DC - Today, despite admitting numerous problems with a contract with a Halliburton subsidiary, including disputed costs, overcharging and questionable business practices, the Bush Administration announced that they will pay "nearly all" of the disputed costs, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The disputed charges are part of a multi-billion dollar, no-bid contract awarded to a firm formerly run by Vice President Cheney.

Below are excerpts from today's article in the New York Times:

"The Army has decided to reimburse a Halliburton subsidiary for nearly all of its disputed costs on a $2.41 billion no-bid contract to deliver fuel and repair oil equipment in Iraq, even though the Pentagon's own auditors had identified more than $250 million in charges as potentially excessive or unjustified.

The Army said in response to questions on Friday that questionable business practices by the subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root, had in some cases driven up the company's costs. But in the haste and peril of war, it had largely done as well as could be expected, the Army said, and aside from a few penalties, the government was compelled to reimburse the company for its costs. ...

The contract has been the subject of intense scrutiny after disclosures in 2003 that it had been awarded without competitive bidding. That produced criticism from Congressional Democrats and others that the company had benefited from its connection with Dick Cheney, who was Halliburton's chief executive before becoming vice president."

Would you let your stake president get away with these type of business practices?