Monday, June 14, 2004

Proximo Satis Pro Administratio?

House Republicans are circling the wagons on Haliburton malfeasance in executing its Iraq contracts. (surprise.) Employees of the company have come forward, reporting spurious and excessive charges billed to the government in the process of performing the contracted work. (No this is not the overbilling scandal of a few months ago; that was a clerical error)

Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) continues to prevent the issue from coming before the committee, citing questions regarding the whistleblowers' credibility. (aren't those sorts of issues traditionally dealt with by having hearings where both sides state their cases?) One reason to take the complaints seriously, that Rep Davis apparently hasn't considered: An official report citing the same violations, released by the Pentagon's Defense Contract Audit Agency.

Silly me, the Pentagon and Haliburton employees are clearly not qualified to raise an issue regarding Haliburton's behavior in carrying out defense contracts.


Haliburton's response?
"Wendy Hall, a company spokeswoman, said Waxman's allegations do nothing 'to feed a single member of our military, create a single unit of housing, repair a single oil well or supply a single piece of material for reconstruction.'"

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