US suspends Halliburton decision (BBC)

[bobthedrummer]

The US Army has suspended for now a decision to withhold some payments to its largest contractor, Halliburton:grr:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3574824.stm

[rawstory]

1. DUPE.

but thanks.

[bobthedrummer]

3. This is a different (BBC) story-mods, please use your discretion

[bobthedrummer]

2. WTF, this decision was mainstream news tonight-now its suspended

:argh:

[John Q. Citizen]

5. It's hard to tell

which of these stories are dupes and which are breaking news. Haven't they already done this once already earlier today?

[bobthedrummer]

6. rawstory has a similar story on page 6-not from BBC

it's really a mindfuck in any event-I heard about the decision to withhold payment on CBS Evening News.
:crazy:

[xray s]

4. They are clearing the decks before the RNC

Sweeping up the trash before W's big show.

[seemslikeadream]

7. NEED A JOB

[bobthedrummer]

8. KBR employees are ensconced in $110 a day hotel rooms

our troops in $1.59 per day tents:mad:
we pay for this with our taxes:puke::grr:

[seemslikeadream]

9. DOD Officials Take Heat From House PanelOn Iraq Contracting; DOJ to Probe

DOD Officials Take Heat From House Panel
On Iraq Contracting; DOJ to Probe Halliburton

"Contractor performance in Iraq has not been perfect, but it has not been terrible," Zakheim told the committee, recognizing the difficult conditions under which the contractors are working in Iraq. "We believe that contractor financial and internal control problems will resolve themselves," he said, but reiterated that his people will "take whatever steps are necessary to protect the government's financial interests."

Dining facilities subcontract costs. DCAA found that KBR did not adequately support billed dining facilities costs and that meals billed "significantly" exceeded meals served. This finding led to agreements with KBR where the company is voluntarily withholding $140.7 million in future billings and DCAA is suspending $35.8 million in current billings (81 FCR 175).
Violation of Anti-Kickback Act. KBR discovered and reimbursed the government for $6.3 million that might have been paid to two former employees in the form of kickbacks. Zakheim emphasized that this kind of reporting should be encouraged and KBR should not be faulted for it (81 FCR 78).

Application of the FAR. DCAA found that KBR was not observing the 85 percent limit in the reimbursement vouchers it submitted for its undefinitized LOGCAP task orders. Zakheim said that applying the 15 percent withhold to all costs billed under undefinitized LOGCAP task orders could result in a reimbursement of $200 million.


Zakheim told the committee that allegations by these government employees contributed to DCAA's decision to refer the fuel overcharging issue to the DOD IG.

KBR is also under investigation by the State Department.

MORE
http://subscript.bna.com/SAMPLES/fcr.nsf/0/61a2bc731759dfa885256e59001c8d73?OpenDocument

However, now Dov Zakheim, former DOD Comptroller is under investigation!
DOD IG is investigating Zakheim, who reported directly to Paul Wolfowitz. Apparently there is the matter of the money that was appropriated for Afghan reconstruction that got sidetracked for the invasion of Iraq before there was any Congressional authorization for doing so.

[seemslikeadream]

10. dual USA-Israeli citizen like Dov Zakheim

Iraq Survey Group
Donald Rumsfeld's al Qaeda

By John Stanton and Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writers


And with the ISG's intelligence fusion operation located in Washington, DC, that means Rumsfeld's hands are dirty. There is also a clear line that can be drawn between the ISG and Undersecretary for Plans and Policy Douglas Feith's Office of Special Plans/Office of Northern Gulf Affairs (speculation has been that he is a dual USA-Israeli citizen like Dov Zakheim). Feith reportedly created the disinformation about Iraqi WMD and then Rumsfeld/Cambone allegedly used torture as a tactic to elicit false confessions and exaggerated claims under extreme duress. It is a tactic that SS Commander Heinrich Himmler and Soviet KGB Chief Levrenti Beria practiced so well in Germany and the USSR, respectively. No one claims that the USA and Israel rise to the level of Nazi and Soviet torturers, but, it is too early to say.

Recent evidence offered by General Janis Karpinski, NGO's and investigative reporters, indicates that Israeli interrogators may have been active in Iraqi detention centers. But the Israeli government has stated that any Israelis in Iraq were there on their own. We are inclined to believe them to a point. The problem is that it gives rise to the specter that anti-Arab Israeli xenophobes, including members of the racist and terrorist Kach and Kahane Chai, were participating as either freelance torturers in Iraq or as part of a parallel intelligence operation—separate from Mossad—being run out of Ariel Sharon's office. They, like their American counterparts, make for great recruits. The scary part is that neither government can control them—or, perhaps, does not want to get involved.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/070904Stanton-Madsen/070904stanton-madsen.html