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Journalism of Courage
With billions of taxpayer dollars at stake, lawmakers on Tuesday called for investigations into the awarding of reconstruction contracts for post-war Iraq and whether Halliburton Co has gotten a helping hand from the Bush administration.
Democrats Henry A. Waxman, and John D. Dingell, singled out the Texas energy giant for scrutiny in a letter to the General Accounting Office, Congress’ investigative arm, suggesting that Halliburton’s ties to Vice-President Dick Cheney may have given it ‘‘special treatment in the awarding of Defence Department contracts.’’
Cheney served as Halliburton’s chief executive for five years before he resigned in August 2000 to be George W. Bush’s running mate. The congressmen’s letter said the administration had awarded one of the company’s subsidiaries ‘‘a string of lucrative contracts over the last two years.’’
Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said the Houston company has not benefited from its former ties to Cheney, or from any other connections to the administration. ‘‘The vice-president has absolutely nothing to do with the awarding of the defence contracts,’’ Hall said Tuesday. Waxman and Dingell told the GAO that Cheney continues to receive $180,000 a year in deferred payments from Halliburton. Hall said the vice-president is paid only deferred compensation that he earned while working at the company, having elected years before not to receive a lump-sum payment when he resigned.
Separately, the two legislators asked the GAO to investigate the eight contracts being awarded by the US Agency for International Development to rebuild and run key institutions in Iraq after the war.
AID officials have said requests for bids on those contracts were sent secretly to a select group of US companies in February and March, using a streamlined process for urgent work involving national security.
This process — which limited the bids to companies that held security clearances and had done work for the agency — exempted AID from government procurement rules, including a public request for bids.
In requesting the GAO probe, the congressmen asked: ‘‘What, if any, national security considerations were involved in light of the facts that the government’s contingency plans to invade Iraq were not secret and that these contracts were announced while American troops were on the ground in Iraq?’’
The request for an investigation is the latest move to heighten scrutiny of the reconstruction contracting process. The emergency war-funding bill passed by the Senate last week included an amendment by Senator Christopher Dodd, setting aside $4.3 million for AID’s inspector general for ‘‘monitoring and auditing expenditures for reconstruction and related activities in Iraq.’’
The contracts involve at least $1.7 billion worth of postwar work — from rebuilding roads, bridges, airports, schools, hospitals and government ministries to running them.
So far, AID has awarded just two of the contracts, including one to manage the seaport of Umm Qasr. The winner of another contract, to rebuild Iraq’s primary and secondary education system, is expected to be announced this week. The biggest of the contracts by far is the $600-million physical reconstruction job. An AID spokeswoman said, the agency hopes to award all the contracts soon. (LAT-WP)
