http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/191/nation/Halliburton_unit_expands_war_repair_role+.shtmlBAGHDAD -- They travel like foreign dignitaries, their SUVs escorted by two US Army Humvees and a security detail led by a master sergeant. No Iraqi official is too busy to meet them and when it comes to Iraq's most precious resource, oil, they are granted total and instant access.
Officials from Kellogg, Brown & Root Services, a subsidiary of oil-services giant Halliburton Co., are using a broadly worded contract to evaluate and repair Iraq's petroleum infrastructure, ''as directed'' by the US government, to gain a huge head start over potential competitors in redeveloping the country's vast, outdated oil industry. With much of Iraqi reconstruction bogged down by sabotage, chronic looting, and bureaucratic mire, KBR -- which also is supposed to repair war-damaged oil wells and provide general logistical support to the US Army -- has expanded its role to include everything from gasoline imports to laundry services.
Some Iraqi oil officials say KBR is using what appears to be an open-ended mandate to effectively corner a market coveted by its rivals and to win business Iraqis can do themselves.
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