U.S. Withholds 15 Pct of Halliburton Bill

[dArKeR]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon (news - web sites) said on Wednesday it would withhold payment on 15 percent of meal bills from Texas firm Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - news) under a logistics contract in Iraq (news - web sites) that is under military auditors' scrutiny.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said the withholding would amount to about $300 million this month not paid to Halliburton, the oil services company once run by Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) that is the U.S. military's biggest contractor in Iraq.

The withheld funds cover meals provided by Halliburton unit Kellogg Brown and Root to troops in Kuwait and Iraq. If $300 million were withheld, the total expected to be billed by Halliburton for meals would be about $2 billion.

Military auditors and Halliburton have been at loggerheads for months over pricing for meals and whether billing should be based on estimates or the actual number of soldiers at the dining table on any given day.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=14&u=/nm/20040317/ts_nm/iraq_halliburton_dc_7

"The biggest bunch of crooks I've ever seen."

[lastknowngood]

1. This is great they commit fraud at least 4 times for 10s of mill

of dollars and the government withholds the tip. It's just like Enron steal 60% and payback 5% and your clear, one hell of a deal.

[kingdom cum]

2. enron

was scum at its very epitome

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. This was my question in another, similar thread.

Is Halliburton another Enron, just a middle man for contractors? If so, then the entire country has been duped.

[spanone]

4. What's most amazing or revolting is that 300 million is only 15%

of their take in this war.

[Moderator]

5. kick

for the morning crowd

[Supormom]

6. Is this what they call the Trickle Down Affect?

<Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said the company disagreed with the decision and hoped to persuade the Pentagon to drop its plans. But if the Defense Department does withhold the money, Halliburton in turn will withhold 15 percent of its payments to its subcontractors, she said.>

[Ravy]

7. Some math....

If 300 million is 15 percent, then the total government expendature is 2 billion.

Yet Halliburton claims to be bringing in a billion dollars a month from Iraq. Who else is paying them? Are they getting the oil money in addition to the government funds?

<on edit> Reread.. the 2 billion is just for the meal contracts it appears. My bad..

[tlcandie]

8. So, who exactly has who over a barrel here?

It seems that privatization will put the US military in harms way when Halliburton doesn't get their way. Seems a hissy fit is on its way and the impact will be the troops.

The whole company should be canned! The problem is how to do it and get someone else to do the job and right now there isn't another alternative I don't suppose with the exception of Iraqi people? :shrug:

[Purrfessor]

9. I'm curious to know how much is the total monthly meal bill........

A $25 per soldier per day food allowance, times 150,000 soldiers, times 30 days per month, times 12 months per year equals $1.35 billion for a full year. How much is Halliburton charging on a monthly, or yearly basis?

[henslee]

10. Great, so now we are only paying 10% above retail. eom