Secret Squirrel
10-30-2004, 03:04 PM
The FBI has begun investigating whether the Pentagon improperly awarded no-bid contracts to Halliburton Co., requesting an interview with a top Army contracting officer and collecting documents from several government offices.
The line of inquiry expands an earlier FBI investigation into whether Halliburton overcharged taxpayers for fuel in Iraq, and it elevates to a criminal matter the election-year question of whether the Bush administration showed favoritism to Vice President **** Cheney's former company.
FBI agents this week requested permission to interview Bunnatine Greenhouse, the Army Corps of Engineers' chief contracting officer who went public last weekend with allegations that her agency unfairly awarded KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, no-bid contracts worth billions of dollars for work in Iraq, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Asked about the documents, Greenhouse's attorneys said yesterday that their client will cooperate but that she wants whistle-blower protection from Pentagon retaliation.
"I think it (the FBI interview request) underscores the seriousness of the misconduct, and it also demonstrates how courageous Ms. Greenhouse was for stepping forward," said Stephen Kohn, one of her attorneys.
FBI agents also recently began collecting documents from Army offices in Texas and elsewhere to examine how and why Halliburton, an oil-services conglomerate based in Houston, got the no-bid work.
"The Corps is absolutely cooperating with the FBI, and it has been an ongoing effort," said Carol Sanders, a spokeswoman for the Army Corps. "Our role is to cooperate. It's a public contract and public funds. We've been providing them information for quite a while."
The FBI declined to comment yesterday, but a law-enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the investigation does not involve anyone in the White House - including Cheney's office.
Wendy Hall, a spokeswoman for Halliburton, said that the company is cooperating with various investigations, but she dismissed the latest allegation as election politics. She said that Congress' auditing arm, the Government Accountability Office, had found the company's no-bid work in Iraq to be legal.
"The old allegations have once again been recycled, this time one week before the election," Hall said. "The GAO said earlier this year that the contract was properly awarded because Halliburton was the only contractor that could do the work.
"We look forward to the end of the election, because no matter who is elected president, Halliburton is proud to serve the troops just as we have for the past 60 years for both Democrat and Republican administrations," she said.
link (http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031778817930&path=!nationworld&s=1037645509161)
The line of inquiry expands an earlier FBI investigation into whether Halliburton overcharged taxpayers for fuel in Iraq, and it elevates to a criminal matter the election-year question of whether the Bush administration showed favoritism to Vice President **** Cheney's former company.
FBI agents this week requested permission to interview Bunnatine Greenhouse, the Army Corps of Engineers' chief contracting officer who went public last weekend with allegations that her agency unfairly awarded KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, no-bid contracts worth billions of dollars for work in Iraq, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Asked about the documents, Greenhouse's attorneys said yesterday that their client will cooperate but that she wants whistle-blower protection from Pentagon retaliation.
"I think it (the FBI interview request) underscores the seriousness of the misconduct, and it also demonstrates how courageous Ms. Greenhouse was for stepping forward," said Stephen Kohn, one of her attorneys.
FBI agents also recently began collecting documents from Army offices in Texas and elsewhere to examine how and why Halliburton, an oil-services conglomerate based in Houston, got the no-bid work.
"The Corps is absolutely cooperating with the FBI, and it has been an ongoing effort," said Carol Sanders, a spokeswoman for the Army Corps. "Our role is to cooperate. It's a public contract and public funds. We've been providing them information for quite a while."
The FBI declined to comment yesterday, but a law-enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the investigation does not involve anyone in the White House - including Cheney's office.
Wendy Hall, a spokeswoman for Halliburton, said that the company is cooperating with various investigations, but she dismissed the latest allegation as election politics. She said that Congress' auditing arm, the Government Accountability Office, had found the company's no-bid work in Iraq to be legal.
"The old allegations have once again been recycled, this time one week before the election," Hall said. "The GAO said earlier this year that the contract was properly awarded because Halliburton was the only contractor that could do the work.
"We look forward to the end of the election, because no matter who is elected president, Halliburton is proud to serve the troops just as we have for the past 60 years for both Democrat and Republican administrations," she said.
link (http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031778817930&path=!nationworld&s=1037645509161)