Panel to Hear of Halliburton Waste

[Rose Siding]

In the spring of 2003, not long after John Mancini arrived in Kuwait City as procurement employee for Halliburton Co., he came to an unsettling conclusion: No one cared about his skill at buying goods and making sure government money was wisely spent.

Over the next three months, Mancini said in a recent interview, he watched as colleagues at Halliburton subsidiary KBR paid inflated fees for cell phone services, bought hundred of rolls of duct tape for $60 each and obscured the waste by failing to file paperwork properly. In one case, he said, a fellow procurement employee recorded a multimillion-dollar purchase as a $200 order, then dismissed it as a mistake.

After he and others raised questions, Mancini said, the company sent in a team to prepare for government audits. "The waste was unbelievable," said Mancini, who left KBR after three months. "This was pure negligence."

Stories like Mancini's will be the focus of a hearing today by the House Committee on Government Reform, as it examines allegations of waste, abuse and profiteering related to the Army's contracts in Iraq with Halliburton, the oil services company that Dick Cheney ran from 1995 to 2000.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4051-2004Jul21.html?nav=rss_politics

[PeaceProgProsp]

1. One day, the US is going to have to have a wealth tax

to undo all the damage bush has done -- ie, to get back all the free money he's giving away to super large corporations through no-bid contracts, and legislated gifts like the tax code.

[maddezmom]

2. wonder if it's going to be on CSPAN???

[Rose Siding]

3. It looks like the 911 report is sweeping the schedule

but I'll check back later

[maddezmom]

5. any news?

:)

[Tellurian]

4. It's not on anywhere I've looked...

may have turned into a closed door hearing followed by a press release..

The timeliness of the 911 Report sweeping the airwaves is quite convenient.

[denverbill]

6. Yeah, privatization will end govt waste and fraud.

Let just gives Halliburton $20 billion to rebuild Iraq and let them do it however they want with no oversight.

[struggle4progress]

7. kick

:kick: