zimv20
Jun 14, 2004, 03:17 PM
link (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2625453)
June 14, 2004, 6:46AM
Democrat says Cheney's staff involved from start in Halliburton contract
By DAVID IVANOVICH
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney's staff was involved from the very start of the decision-making process that ended with Houston's Halliburton Co. being awarded a multibillion-dollar contract to perform work in Iraq, a key Democratic lawmaker said Sunday.
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff, was briefed in October 2002 on a proposal to assign Halliburton the task of drawing up a secret plan for putting out oil-well fires and rebuilding Iraq infrastructure in the event of war in Iraq, said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., whose staff was briefed last week by Pentagon officials.
The following March, Halliburton -- without facing competition from any other bidders -- was awarded the contract to implement that plan.
At other critical junctures in the decision-making chain, political appointees insisted on hiring Halliburton, despite the objections of career employees at the Pentagon, Waxman said.
"For months, Vice President Cheney has been saying that his office was not consulted before the award of the Halliburton contracts, but that does not appear to be true," Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, said in a statement released Sunday.
Waxman, insisting lawmakers are not "getting straight answers from the White House," called for an independent congressional investigation.
The Government Reform Committee is slated to hold a hearing Tuesday regarding Halliburton and contractors performing work in Iraq.
Waxman, in a copy of the letter, pointed to a special team created before the war in Iraq called the Energy Infrastructure Planning Group. This team, led by Michael Mobbs, a political appointee and special adviser to Douglas Feith, the Defense Department's undersecretary for policy, was instrumental in getting Halliburton selected for the job, Waxman said.
Mobbs, briefing committee staffers last week, said he was told by colleagues in the government that three companies -- Halliburton, Bechtel and Fluor -- were qualified to conduct the planning study, Waxman said. Mobbs concluded Halliburton was the best company for the job.
In the October 2002 meeting, chaired by Stephen Hadley, the deputy national security adviser, administration officials discussed the plan to assign Halliburton to conduct the study.
Hadley later told Feith the group had no objection to the proposal. But lawyers for the Army Materiel Command apparently did, Waxman said.
The plan was to assign Halliburton to conduct the study under an existing contract, in which Halliburton provided logistical support such as serving up meals and washing clothes for U.S. troops.
Army Materiel Command lawyers apparently believed ordering the company to provide contingency planning for putting out oil-well fires was stretching the logistics contract too far. But the Defense Departments general counsel's office intervened and overruled their objections, Waxman said.
June 14, 2004, 6:46AM
Democrat says Cheney's staff involved from start in Halliburton contract
By DAVID IVANOVICH
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney's staff was involved from the very start of the decision-making process that ended with Houston's Halliburton Co. being awarded a multibillion-dollar contract to perform work in Iraq, a key Democratic lawmaker said Sunday.
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff, was briefed in October 2002 on a proposal to assign Halliburton the task of drawing up a secret plan for putting out oil-well fires and rebuilding Iraq infrastructure in the event of war in Iraq, said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., whose staff was briefed last week by Pentagon officials.
The following March, Halliburton -- without facing competition from any other bidders -- was awarded the contract to implement that plan.
At other critical junctures in the decision-making chain, political appointees insisted on hiring Halliburton, despite the objections of career employees at the Pentagon, Waxman said.
"For months, Vice President Cheney has been saying that his office was not consulted before the award of the Halliburton contracts, but that does not appear to be true," Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, said in a statement released Sunday.
Waxman, insisting lawmakers are not "getting straight answers from the White House," called for an independent congressional investigation.
The Government Reform Committee is slated to hold a hearing Tuesday regarding Halliburton and contractors performing work in Iraq.
Waxman, in a copy of the letter, pointed to a special team created before the war in Iraq called the Energy Infrastructure Planning Group. This team, led by Michael Mobbs, a political appointee and special adviser to Douglas Feith, the Defense Department's undersecretary for policy, was instrumental in getting Halliburton selected for the job, Waxman said.
Mobbs, briefing committee staffers last week, said he was told by colleagues in the government that three companies -- Halliburton, Bechtel and Fluor -- were qualified to conduct the planning study, Waxman said. Mobbs concluded Halliburton was the best company for the job.
In the October 2002 meeting, chaired by Stephen Hadley, the deputy national security adviser, administration officials discussed the plan to assign Halliburton to conduct the study.
Hadley later told Feith the group had no objection to the proposal. But lawyers for the Army Materiel Command apparently did, Waxman said.
The plan was to assign Halliburton to conduct the study under an existing contract, in which Halliburton provided logistical support such as serving up meals and washing clothes for U.S. troops.
Army Materiel Command lawyers apparently believed ordering the company to provide contingency planning for putting out oil-well fires was stretching the logistics contract too far. But the Defense Departments general counsel's office intervened and overruled their objections, Waxman said.
