First - There needed to be a pre-defined standard for profiteering. I don't think there was. If so, please give a source.
Second - contracts entered into between Haliburton and the government, either bid or no bid were entered into mutually. Haliburton did not have the power to force the government into poor contracts.
Third- Some Haliburton contracts existed with the government prior to the Iraqi war.
Fourth - This issue has been on the table for 6 years. Why has no action been taken if the law was broken?
Fifth-Haliburton is a diversified company. Defense contracting is only a small percentage of the total business (part of which was spun off recently, although Haliburton still has a controlling interest). The stock price mirrors the stock price of many companies in the energy business during the period shown above.
So, I am on record. If I am wrong, I am wrong for all to see.
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Originally Posted by dc_dux
The Defense Contracting Auditing Agency (DCAA), the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) and the Government Accoutabilibty Office have indepedently identified more than $1 billion in questionable Halliburton (and subsidiarty KBR) overcharges in Iraq.
The DCAA on several occasions recommended withholding payments on some Halliburton contracts pending support documentation from Halliburton. Rumsfeld ignored the DCAA recommendations.
In Congressional oversight hearings of Iraq reconstruction funding abuses over the last three years, the Repub majority repeatedly refused the request by Dems on the committees to subpoena Halliburton for supporting documents. The latest request was last Feb ( link)
Other DCAA audits: http://reform.house.gov/search/resul...ts+halliburton
Ace....perhaps you are right (although the audits suggest otherwise), and now that we finally have a Congress that takes its oversight responbilities seriously, we shall see in the coming months. |
I guess the question is going to boil down to - how does a business account for doing business in a war torn country?
If you ever had the experience of doing business in a foriegn country your perspective may be different. For example if you travel or need to ship goods across certain boarders you have to bribe officials. How do you account for that in a legitimate way on an expense report? You can't, but it is a real cost. I can only imagine what it took under the table to get things done in Iraq. I think that will be the reason Congress won't make a big deal about this. They can't want this to see the light of day, it is a reality and will be in the future no matter who was or will be in the White House.