[extropy-chat] Halliburton gets Katrina Contract

[Mike Lorrey]

What? That KBR, a private company, is more trusted to repair hurricane
damaged facilities than FEMA? That it is good at its job? If you want
to make a believable case of any sort of malfeasance, Olga, you are
going to have to dive into KBR's contract record and show that KBR has
gotten more contracts since 2000 than before it.

And if it is, is there anything wrong with KBR cashing in on its former
relationship to a current vice president than isn't equally wrong for a
former first lady to cash in on her relationship to a former president
in order to win a seat in the US Senate? For a drunk philandering
killer to cash in on the legacy of his older brothers in the white
house to get a seat in the Senate?

--- Olga Bourlin <fauxever at sprynet.com> wrote:

> Who would have thought?  WHO would have thought?  ...
>   Halliburton gets Katrina contract, hires former FEMA director 
>   1 Sept. 2005 
>   WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 (HalliburtonWatch.org) -- The US Navy asked
> Halliburton to repair naval facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina,
> the Houston Chronicle reported today. The work was assigned to
> Halliburton's KBR subsidiary under the Navy's $500 million CONCAP
> contract awarded to KBR in 2001 and renewed in 2004. The repairs will
> take place in Louisiana and Mississippi. 
> 
>   KBR has not been asked to repair the levees destroyed in New
> Orleans which became the primary cause of most of the damage. 
> 
>   Since 1989, governments worldwide have awarded $3 billion in
> contracts to KBR's Government and Infrastructure Division to clean up
> damage caused by natural and man-made disasters. 
> 
>   Earlier this year, the Navy awarded $350 million in contracts to
> KBR and three other companies to repair naval facilities in northwest
> Florida damaged by Hurricane Ivan, which struck in September 2004.
> The ongoing repair work involves aircraft support facilities, medium
> industrial buildings, marine construction, mechanical and electrical
> improvements, civil construction, and family housing renovation. 
> 
>   In March, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management
> Agency (FEMA), which is tasked with responding to hurricane
> disasters, became a lobbyist for KBR. Joe Allbaugh was director of
> FEMA during the first two years of the Bush administration. 
> 
>   Today, FEMA is widely criticized for its slow response to the
> victims of Hurricane Katrina. 
> 
>   Allbaugh managed Bush's campaign for Texas governor in 1994, served
> as Gov. Bush's chief of staff and was the national campaign manager
> for the Bush campaign in 2000. Along with Karen Hughes and Karl Rove,
> Allbaugh was one of Bush's closest advisers. 
> 
>   "This is a perfect example of someone cashing in on a cozy
> political relationship," said Scott Amey, general counsel at the
> Project on Government Oversight, a Washington watchdog group.
> "Allbaugh's former placement as a senior government official and his
> new lobbying position with KBR strengthens the company's already
> tight ties to the administration, and I hope that contractor
> accountability is not lost as a result."
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Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
Founder, Constitution Park Foundation:
http://constitutionpark.blogspot.com
Personal/political blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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