If the murmurings in the news today are true, the Pentagon is set to end its most controversial wink-wink contracts in Iraq with gargantuan oil services corp Halliburton:
The decision on Halliburton comes as the U.S. contribution to Iraq’s reconstruction begins to wane, reducing opportunities for U.S. companies after nearly four years of massive payouts to the private sector.
After a $14.5 billiion payout, and a plethora of unfinished business — could there be less expensive contractors out there to NOT do the job?
The fact that Halliburton has overcharged the government despite winning no-bid contracts has been well-documented. Among the least impressive accomplishments of Halliburton (and let’s not forget to mention its ties to its recent CEO and current U.S. VP Dick Cheney) and its subsidiaries:
-charging $45 for a case of soda
-building only 20 of 142 contractually agreed upon health care center and then “running out of money”
-double billing for soldiers? meals
-using contaminated water for troop bathing needs
The Democrats.org blog highlights the “maybe-ness” of these contract terminations.
Personally, I’m wondering if an internal Pentagon investigation, or otherwise is finally gonna crack down on the illegally awarded contracts to Halliburton, not to mention the highway robbery that followed.
The outcome I envision — and the reason that this is not truly ground-breaking news — is that Halliburton will be awarded revised contracts after a session of supposedly “open” building.
Adele at TAPPED broadens the scope of the DoD’s chicanery, bringing up union appeals to the Pentagon’s new National Security Personnel System, which is designed to impede upon worker protections.