corrente

A great bit "AAAWWWWWwwww....!" of pity.

For Halliburton? Lord have mercy, no! For their subcontractors it turns out....

(via NYT)

The Halliburton Company said today that the United States Army had decided not to grant it additional time to substantiate its costs in Iraq and Kuwait, a decision that could cost the company 15 percent of its payment.

Government contractors normally cannot be paid more than 85 percent of their invoices until they fully account for their costs. Twice this year, the Army set this rule aside for Halliburton as the company cataloged its costs and explained how it was billing the government. The most recent reprieve expired on Sunday, and on Monday company officials said that the Army had given them assurances they could have another extension.

Today, however, the company issued a press release reversing that, saying that the Army would not grant them the reprieve after all.

I know, I know, your heart is just breaking. But read on, there's hope....

"Because of the size and scope of the tasks in Iraq and the fact that the process is complex and constantly changing," the Army Matériel Command and Kellogg Brown & Root "have agreed to work closely together to produce the final results," Wendy Hall, a Halliburton spokeswoman, said Monday in an e-mail message.

Although hundreds of millions of dollars are at issue, withholding payments would have no effect on Halliburton's cash flow, the company said. Kellogg Brown & Root would simply deny its subcontractors that money, Ms. Hall said.

As the largest corporate recipient of the government's Iraq-related contracts — worth more than $8 billion — Halliburton has been accused in Congressional hearings of overcharging and overspending in Iraq.

"Normally, these kinds of audit reports are part of a lengthy but routine process that is amicably resolved," Ms. Hall said in the statement Monday. The audit dispute is attracting news media attention only because this is an election year, she said.

Damn straight. Any other year they could loot and pillage to their heart's content. Let us vow to never let "any other year" come again for this crew of pirates.