Halliburton Tells Military Auditors it Saved Money

[barbaraann]

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites)'s former firm Halliburton said on Thursday it had told Pentagon (news - web sites) auditors the company had saved the U.S. government money in Iraq (news - web sites) and strongly rejected price gouging allegations.
...

http://news.yahoo.com/?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=6&u=/nm/20031218/ts_nm/iraq_halliburton_dc

I've run out of words for disbelief AND outrage now.

[tlcandie]

1. Ya, just think of all those millions of dollars it would cost US

taxpayers to take bids and committe the decision :wow: Makes all the paperwork, billing, EVERYTHING so much more efficient!

EDIT: You know if Cheney had any balls at all and any kind of conscious, he would go public and tell his FORMER employer to shut up or put up and fix it already as there will be NO dilly-dallying around with American tax dollars! But he can't afford to upset the apple cart cuz it lines his lil nest egg :eyes:

[donco6]

3. What's that line from Evita?

"Accountants only slow things down,
figures get in the way . . . "

And the money keeps rolling out in all directions

[donco6]

2. It's amazing to me that they can DO no-bid contracts.

If I tried that here in my school district, I'd be run out on a rail. Especially right now, with jobs being so tight and competition so fierce.

Bidding is just not that difficult for people who know what they're doing. There's no way there is a net savings simply because you avoided the "paperwork."

[dansolo]

7. That's the fallacy of privatization

The argument for privatization was competition, in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs. With no-bid contracts, there is no incentive to either improve efficiency or reduce costs.

[ameriphile]

4. This just in --

Black is white, and up is down.

[tom_paine]

5. In other news: War is Peace, Slavery is Freedom

Ignorance is Strength

And I have the sinking Soviet feeling that Comrade Cheney and all his Cronies are going to get away with it, scot-free.

[salin]

6. Hubris defined.

Just counter with an unbelievable counter statement... but do so exuding the confidence that you "know" folks will buy it. Unbelievable!

[MO_Dem]

8. So! I suspect now

they'll be wanting a "refund", and their old buddies and pals in the government will be ALL TOO WILLING to comply.

[htuttle]

9. Oh, yes...

I'm sure it's more expensive to pay a Private to drive a truck or dig a latrine than to hire a multinational defense corporation to do the same work.

What do Privates get paid nowdays, anyway? It must be over $1,000,000 a year each in order to be more expensive than Halliburton.

[Rex]

10. It seems that telling the polar opposite (lie) of the truth

is in vogue with the Repukes. I really don't blame them, for I know that they are evil by nature, and no one will hold them accountable. It's like expecting a bank robber not to steal from an open vault. Add to this the fact that the bank robber has been told beforehand that no one will enforce any law to stop/punish him and well...how can you blame him?

Not saying it's right.

[louis-t]

11. Could have paid locals to fix the schools,

saved money, but that's not the point. The mentality of this administration is: 'the Iraquis are dirty savages and don't deserve any better than broken toilets, no electricity, and debris filled streets. They are used to it so any slight improvement will win their hearts and minds. And if we engage in profiteering, so what?' This falls under the category of 'things that conservatives really believe but can't admit'.

[stevedeshazer]

12. dupe thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=275185

[evworldeditor]

13. $400/gal fuel

Did an interview last week with Deputy Director of Army's National Automotive Center in Detroit. We talked about the logistics of fueling the forces in Iraq, as well as Army efforts to improve its fuel efficiency.

He dropped some interesting numbers. An armoured division on the move consumes something like 800,000 gals of fuel a day. If fuel has to be helicoptered into a forward unit, it can cost $400/gallon. 70% of the Army's tonnage is fuel! If the M1A1 Abram was 50% more fuel efficient, the Army could have deployed in the first Gulf war in 2 months less time.

Although, it wasn't part of the interview, I found a Clinton-era Army document that states world oil production will peak in 2010! And you thought this war was about WMD and democracy in Iraq.

We'll publish the interview next month on EV World (http://www.evworld.com).

[goforit]

14. Haliburton IS Anti-Patriotic!!!!!!

:argh: