Halliburton Is A War Profiteer Says Bush's Pentagon

One of the many, many details in the Vanity Fair article about Halliburton that is linked to below deals with its overcharging for fuel. Now it turns out the Pentagon auditors finished their work in October 2004 -- one month before the election -- and Bush promptly buried it despite repeated requests from Republicans and Democrats.

Rep. Henry Waxman of California -- whose been slam-dunking all over the place lately -- got a copy and released details today. Among the highlights of Halliburton's thievery from the NYT:

1. Halliburton ripped American tax-payers off of at least $108 million in this one area of providing fuel -- that's much more than was thought and the final tally could be much higher.

2. A company Halliburton "outsourced" the real work to, Altanmia, is back in the spotlight with this. Depending on who you believe, Halliburton let them overcharge mightily because the Pentagon would pay any price and Halliburton's commission would only be higher. OR, if you prefer, sleazy people in the Administration forced them to use this company for nefarious reasons of its own.

3. "In one case, according to the report, the company claimed that it had paid more than $27 million to transport liquefied petroleum gas it had purchased in Kuwait for just $82,000 - a fee the auditors tartly dismissed as "illogical."" says the NYT.

That's not illogical. And that's not overcharging. That's WAR PROFITEERING. While young men and women are dying, Halliburton execs were staying in luxurious hotels, outsourcing the work, doing crucial work often poorly and then ripping off the American people. And these are Bush's friends.