Halliburton unscathed by overcharge flap

Asia Times ^ | 12.20.03 | Hussain Khan

[danneskjold]

I'm not sure, but didn't Dick Cheney used to work for Halliburton?

[Dr. Marten]

CEO wasn't it?

[plain talk]

The Bush administration denies the charge that the Iraq war was fought for oil and that it waged the war to pay off business cronies of the White House

Got to love the writing! LOL!

[danneskjold]

:)

[AngieGOP]

The operative phrase being USED TO WORK for Haliburton.

[HardStarboard]

The deal as I understand it is that Halliburton is on a cost plus a fixed percentage contract in Iraq.

The Kuwaiti robber barrons overcharged Halliburton and Halliburton didn't catch on to the fact until they had added their percentage and billed the gov.

After finding out that the fuel could have been purchased from Turkey at about half the cost, the fan started up and the Democrats started throwing stuff at it. Of course they have ignored that the trucking expense from Turkey would have added a bunch to the raw fuel cost.

All you can say is thanks to the government auditors that caught the overcharge and give Halliburton the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully we can extract (or extort) some of the excess funds back from the Kuwaiti robber barrons.

[scouse]

Representative Henry Waxman, a California liberal

That covers it all for me. Waxman is probably the most despicable, lying socialist ba***ard of the lot.

[Coop]

Did you folks see the story buried in the back of the Wash Times yesterday, clearing Halliburton of any charges? Even the Times didn't consider it worthy of headlines. Go figure!

[gov_bean_ counter]

The rest of the untold story is that DCAA regularly finds over charges on contracts like these. The contractor reimburses the government, end of story.

[Huck]

The Kuwaiti robber barrons overcharged Halliburton and Halliburton didn't catch on to the fact until they had added their percentage and billed the gov.

Am I wrong in thinking this cost plus % structure then incentivizes Halliburton to do business with the Kuwaitis? That way they get a bigger percentage? Did Haliburton benefit from the overcharge or not? Did it hit their bottom line?

[alloysteel]

Doesn't matter WHAT Halliburton does, or doesn't, charge the government. The self-appointed judges, jurors and executioners that style themselves to be "Democrats" have already made up their minds. Since Halliburton once had ties with Dick Cheney, the REAL bogeyman of the Bush Administration, Halliburton is forever tainted, and must be punished regardless of the reason for or gravity of the offense. If there is no reason, make one up. If there has been no offense, take it anyway.

[Ann Archy]

And the Ugliest.

[hobson]

Here is the rest of the story: Halliburton's rebuttal: It saved $164 million

Halliburton sought bids from four suppliers in Kuwait, but only one met with the Corps of Engineers' specifications.

Pentagon officials said last week Kuwait's state-owned oil company authorized only one firm to bid on the contract to supply the fuel.

Stuck with only one supplier and coping with a dangerous route from Kuwait, Halliburton, through Sept. 30, had been charging about $2.27 a gallon to import gasoline from Kuwait, Pentagon officials said.

Company officials say they proposed using a second supplier from Turkey. And trucking in fuel from the north proved far cheaper, costing only about $1.18 a gallon. Turkey quickly became the chief source for fuel into Iraq. Halliburton has brought in about 150 million gallons of fuel from the north, compared with 56.6 million from Kuwait.

But when Pentagon auditors saw the cheaper rates from Turkey, they -- in essence -- concluded that Halliburton hadn't shopped around enough in the first place to find a bargain.

When calculating the possible $61 million overcharge, they compared the difference in those two prices and then multiplied by the 56.6 million gallons brought in from Kuwait.

Halliburton officials say security accounts for much of the high cost of trucking fuel in from Kuwait.

[Huck]

Interesting. I'd like to know if Halliburton got more money to their bottom line with the Kuwaiti oil, as a result of the structure of their contract, than they would have gotten from Turkey in the first place. As a cynic, I would just like to know that.

[Huck]

That is definitely true.

[Normal4me]

Can't answer your question but I saw an interview with the head of Haliburton on one of the news channels. He stated that the corporation in Kuwait had lost 60 tanker trucks and seven drivers had been killed transporting the fuel into Iraq. I guess you have to profit somewhere to make up those kind of losses.

Wonder how this would spin if Algore had been the former C.E.O.? Nevermind...Haliburton WHO?

[CaptRon]

The Bush administration denies the charge that the Iraq war was fought for oil

I love this tactic. The moment you say so-and-so denies it gives the impression that there must be some truth to the accusation you are forced to deny.

[hobson]

I don't know the answer to that. If they did profit it sounds as though it was a government imposed profit. It's just another fine example of government regulations costing the taxpayer money.

[Huck]

Wonder how this would spin if Algore had been the former C.E.O.? Nevermind...Haliburton WHO?

No question about that.