Halliburton Subcontractor Threatens to Withhold Food from Troops

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

From "U.S. General Criticizes Halliburton" in Wall Street Journal via The Memory Hole:

"The top U.S. military officer in Iraq has criticized Halliburton Co. as stumbling in one of its most pressing assignments: the construction of new bases for U.S. troops in Iraq. The critique by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, laid out in a draft letter to senior Army officers, marks the Army's first open criticism of Halliburton's conduct on the ground in Iraq and Kuwait. Until now, the Houston-based contractor has insisted the Army has been satisfied with its performance despite continuing fights with Pentagon auditors over alleged overbillings and shoddy record-keeping.

Gen. Sanchez's letter, which made the rounds in Washington last week, addresses efforts by Halliburton's Kellogg Brown & Root subsidiary to help the Army consolidate to fewer, but larger, bases around Iraq without interrupting military operations. In Baghdad, Iraq, for example, U.S. troops are moving from 26 bases to as few as six. But in the letter, Gen. Sanchez says KBR hasn't said precisely when it will have these consolidated bases ready for new troops. Army officials say KBR's shortcomings on the base construction have complicated the largest troop rotation since World War II.

(snip)

The letter also criticizes KBR for late payments to food subcontractors, said Army officials, who gave details of the letter but declined to provide a copy. At least one subcontractor has threatened to withhold food service to about 2,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq, leading the Pentagon's inspector general to investigate KBR food-subcontractor complaints that KBR isn't paying its bills on time.

WSJ link for anyone with a subscription:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107930944257855070,00.html

[htuttle]

1. Well, this privatization crap is working out splendidly!

Privatized military services are more expensive, and provide lesser quality services to the troops.

What's the upside? A) most military contractors are Republican donors and B) when contracted military personnel die, it rarely make the news -- much cheaper political cost than when a US soldier gets killed.

The bottom line is that the only benefits to privatized military services are political -- and are taken at the expense of US troops and the US taxpayer. Same old story, I guess.

[Bandit]

2. Seems these Republicans only support the troops if they make cash money

This doesn't surprise me in the least.

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. If they're hungry, they'll kill more. That'll get bush's numbers back up

[AP]

4. Some levels on which this is interesting:

First, I'd like to hear what those freepers who screamed at me that I had to support the troops have to say to the executives at Haliburton who are still paying Cheney for his service there.

Second, what the hell?? Isn't this a pretty good example of why we shouldnt' be privatizing key parts of the miilitary? Doesn't this jeopardize the whole operation?

[aquart]

6. Yes, but here's another question:

WHY is Halliburton, flush with billions in government money, having trouble paying its subcontractors?

WHY didn't they just cut the checks?

Is Halliburton about to become Enron?

[Wapsie B]

7. That's what I was thinking.

Another Enron in the making would'nt suprise me in the least. How much would anyone bet that some of the meal money's sitting in some off-shore account right now?

[AP]

11. That's part of the business model for these corps.

They're about transferring wealth to private hands, rather than building up lasting corporations.

One of the advantages of being a public company is that shareholders get a cut of the profits, but are only responsible for the debts up to the value of their shares.

So, if you want to pass all the value to shareholders and none of the liabilities for bad acts, what Enron did is the way to do it. Haliburton might be doing the same.

[cetasika]

5. does the army not have any cooks>?

I thought they did.

[Bridget Burke]

12. Not as many as formerly.

The "privatization" mood has taken over. Pay civilian companies large sums of money to do the job formerly done by service personnel.

It costs more & quality suffers. But corporate contributors to the party get fat contracts.

[Atman]

8. Hey, it's just business

Fuck em. Bush said he'd run America more like a business, and he is doing exactly that. Too bad the people supporting the idiot never took into account his previous stellar record with the businesses he's been involved in!

[Ilsa]

9. And you forgot to mention something.

Quote:
"...previous stellar record with the businesses he's been involved in!"

His record with Texas govt. has been more of the same: he gave away our rainy day fund in the form of a property tax credit. Saved us a whopping $65 a year for a $90,000 house (we pay an extra $65 a month now). Put the education system in dire financial straits, and now over 100,000 (or is it twice that?) kids have been kicked off CHIPs. He's done for 'Murica what he did to Texas - screw us!

[Ilsa]

10. It's working like the outsourcing of medical records-keeping.

Remember the story about the data clerk in India who threatened to publish a hospital system's patient records on the internet? She and others hadn't been paid by the subcontractor of the subcontractor of the contractor for the hospital.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

13. and Bush criticises Kerry for not approving the 87 billion?

yet another example of Bush's fine friends in high places.