Chennyburton Falls......again!

[Gimpy]

Well, I was going to write "CheneyBurton Fails", but that's been self-evident from the beginning of their no-bid love-affair with the Bush Crew. Now it seems, even the Army, slow institutional entity that it is has finally had enough CheneyBurton(Halliburton).

The Army is discontinuing a controversial multibillion-dollar deal with oil services giant Halliburton Co. to provide logistical support to U.S. troops worldwide, a decision that could cut deeply into the firm's dominance of government contracting in Iraq.
...

Under the deal, Halliburton had exclusive rights to provide the military with a wide range of work that included keeping soldiers around the world fed, sheltered and in communication with friends and family back home. Government audits turned up more than $1 billion in questionable costs. Whistle-blowers told how the company charged $45 per case of soda, double-billed on meals and allowed troops to bathe in contaminated water.

Of course they've denied the allegations strenuously...they have no choice. What's interesting is the timing of this. Now that the safety of the civilian contractors is not a sure thing in Iraq (if it ever was) as the sectarian violence increases daily, perhaps CheneyBurton was looking for a way out with the blessing of the Bush Crew...they've milked the contracts as far as they can go to pad Darth Cheney's bank accounts now, and his stock options may not do so well with dead CheneyBurton employees in the Mess O'Potamia dragging the share prices down.

The real kicker here is this:

"The Iraq reconstruction is winding down . . . so there is no need for new contracts to replace the existing," a defense department official said.

Instead, the Iraqi government will have to find its own contractors to do the work, which includes tackling a large number of projects left undone by the United States.

"This is the year of transition for Iraqi reconstruction. The U.S.-funded projects are being completed and transferred to Iraqi management and control," said James Mitchell, spokesman for the inspector general's office.

That office has repeatedly warned of a "reconstruction gap" between what the United States promised in rebuilding the country after the spring 2003 invasion and what it has delivered. For instance, a contract aimed at building 142 new health centers across Iraq instead produced 20 before the program ran out of money .

Ah, yes. That fabled reconstruction. So now the US is going to dump the reconstruction of the country on a broken, non-functional government and run? How, republican. In fact, it's such a metaphor for everything that our Beloved Leader has touched in his life, from his TANG service to Harken Energy to the US economy.

Oh, and if you wanted to know...

No contractor has received more money as a result of any invasion of Iraq or any other country than Halliburton, whose former chief executive is Vice President Cheney.

As the Church Lady used to say..."Isn't that special?". And we've all paid for it by borrowing money from China and our Great-Grandchildren. How comforting.

[SuperScout]

whine, snivel, yawn.

[Gimpy]

everyone hear a hot wind blowing out of that state of denial, Texas?????????