HALLBURTON bills US *DOUBLE* actual cost for Iraq administrative items

[Bluebear]

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Five companies, including a subsidiary of military contract giant Halliburton, billed the U.S. government a total of $62.1 million for administrative operations, which is more than twice the amount those companies spent directly on the projects in Iraq that they had been contracted for, according to a report released Monday by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

The report says KBR spent a significant amount more on ATOs than other contractors.

KBR and Halliburton representatives did not return calls for comment.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/25/news/companies/military_contractors/?postversion=2006102519

[SpreadItAround]

1. The rich get richer...

...the poor get poorer and the dead will always be dead.

Sad.

[annabanana]

2. Kick this thread like you would kick those THIEVES!

Americans don't like being lied to, and they REALLY don't like being stolen from! Every person on the street ought to know what a spectacular den of theives is running the world and calling themselves legitimate.

[bananas]

3. Standard mark-up. nt

[mod mom]

4. The second mark-up went into the GOP coffers, no doubt.

[Toots]

5. War Profiteering should be a crime

They make a fortune off the blood of our children..

[SpiralHawk]

6. MORE republicon crony corruption. How typical

All the repubs do is steal steal steal from the taxpayers of the USA

Oh, excuse me, I forgot: they are also into deviant sex with minors, and -- as Denny Hastert has made clear -- PERVERT PROTECTION.

[katinmn]

7. "This was an exceptional quarter for Halliburton,"

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/katinmn/103

[DrDebug]

14. 50% of their revenue comes from Iraq nowadays n/t

[spanone]

8. Why Not? There is NO congressional oversight whatsoever on spending.

Fuck it, take all you want Halliburton and if the Thugs retain Congress they'll be even more for ya!
Fuckers.

[distantearlywarning]

9. I believe this is the reason we are in Iraq.

Not for oil, or for moral reasons. We are there because it makes Bush & Co and all their buddies richer.

[Virginia Dare]

10. Lockheed Martin profits are up 47%...

Look at the top brass at the Pentagon and you will see that by and large they are heavily invested in the defense contracting industry.

It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out what's going on here.

Chickens die by the day while the foxes run amok all over the henhouse.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2480389&mesg_id=2480389

[Canuckistanian]

11. I'm sure Cheney had nothing to do with it

So stop saying that.

[Vidar]

12. Only double? I'm impressed.

[troubleinwinter]

13. I used to work in the industry.

Multi-bulti-million $ federal public works projects.

We had to competitive bid.

A standard profit was 3.5%. That was OK. Less was bad, more was good.

Within the industry, about 3.5% is what companies shoot for. Sometimes ya low-ball it at 2.5% or so and pray you can make it up on 'change orders' or sweet-talk some subcontractors into better deals.

NO-BID CONTRACTS ARE GUARANTEED TO BE RIP-OFFS.

Competetive bid = 3.5%
No-bid = 100%

These are OUR dollars. We are getting fucked.

[bobthedrummer]

15. kick