"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong,                                                            is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt

Open and Honest Government 

 outragedmoderates.org
  Main Page
  Four Things America Agrees On
        Open and Honest Government
        Protecting America's Health
        Responsible Military Power
        Defending the U.S. Constitution
  Download For Democracy
        Government Document Library
        BitTorrent Links
        How to Use P2P Networks
  Quotes on Bush's Policies
        Republicans
        Democrats
        Military Leaders
        Scientists
        Religious Leaders
  About Us
  Media Coverage
  Contact Us
  Receive Our Email Newsletter
  Link to Us in Friendster
  Clothing & Stickers
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



"The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from [businessmen] ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted, till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention."

Adam Smith, the 18th century economist who provided the theoretical framework for market capitalism. [The Wealth of Nations, Chapter 11]

America's business community is at the heart of our economy, and it is crucial that policy-makers consider the impact their actions will have on industries.  But that doesn't mean that industry lobbyists should be allowed to make the laws themselves.  

Over 100 of President Bush's high-level appointees to regulatory agencies previously worked as corporate lobbyists in the very industries they oversee. [Denver Post]  And the shocking "If you were king" email from a energy department official to a corporate lobbyist is an example of how Bush's regulatory agencies have made policy changes based directly on lobbyists' wishes. ["If you were king" email]  
  
The graph below shows the results from a recent nationwide Harris Poll, which asked: "Do you think big business has too much or too little power and influence on Washington?"

Too much

83 percent red bar.gif 83%
Too little     9 percent red bar.gif 9%
About right 5 percent red bar copy3.gif 5%

 

The Harris Poll.  Feb. 9-16, 2004.  N=1,020 adults nationwide.   MoE ± 3.

Eighty-three percent of Americans are concerned about the unprecedented level of corporate influence on the federal governemnt; a mere 14% were satisfied with the current situation (the remainder either did not know or refused to answer).
 


OPEN AND HONEST GOVERNMENT ARCHIVE
Miscellaneous Articles | Cheney & Halliburton | Advisory Board Scandals The Bush Administration's Secrecy



Miscellaneous Articles

Archived 6/2/05:

House reverses DeLay-oriented ethics rules by 406-20 vote [
Reuters]
BitTorrent file of UN Oil-for-Food documents [outragedmoderates.org]
Sandy Berger pleads guilty to taking classified material [
CNN]
Sunshine Week brings new open government legislation [
outragedmoderates.org]
KBR charged DoD $27 million to ship $82,000 of cooking oil [
Houston Chronicle]


Cheney & Halliburton

Archived 7/13/04 (originally posted 7/1/04):

DCAA audit results in suspension of KBR's billing privileges

dcaa - kbr - front page1.gif
(Full document PDF: House Committee on Government Reform Minority Office; also available through
our
Download For Democracy P2P campaign)

This internal Pentagon report was issued by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) on May 13, 2004.  The audit found that Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) failed to prepare billings "in accordance with applicable laws and regulations and contract terms."  A key problem identified by the audit was that KBR "does not monitor the ongoing physical progress of subcontracts or the related costs and billings."  This failure is exemplified by the "37,200 cases of soda" testimony of a former KBR employee, which was posted yesterday.

The Executive summary of the 36-page report is shown below:

dcaa - executive summary.gif
dcaa - executive summary 2.gif
(Full document PDF: House Committee on Government Reform Minority Office; also available through
our
Download For Democracy P2P campaign)

The audit found that there were 10 "significant deficiencies in the design or operation" of KBR's internal control structure:

1. Lack of Written Billing Policies and Procedures
2. Failure to Adjust Billings Promptly for Changes in Indirect Rates
3. Incorrectly Prepared Adjustment Vouchers
4. Lack of Appropriate Review and Approvals of Vouchers
5. Failure to Notify ACO of Contract Overpayments
6. Lack of Reconciliation of Recorded to Billed Costs
7. Lack of Adequate Contract Briefings
8. Billing of Unallowable Costs
9. Inadequate Controls over Subcontract Billings
10. Management Oversight - Internal Audit

As a result of the DCAA audit, KBR's direct billing privileges were suspended, and KBR must send all subsequent billing to the DCAA for approval before it can receive payment.  The excerpt below, from the "Results of Audit" section, also notes that "the cost impact to the government is indeterminable; however, we consider the potential impact to be significant based on the size of KBR's operations."

results of dcaa audit.gif
(Full document PDF: House Committee on Government Reform Minority Office; also available through
our Download For Democracy P2P campaign)

outragedmoderates.org supports a formal Congressional investigation of Halliburton subsidiary KBR's contracts in Iraq and Kuwait.  Click here to write your Senator or House Representative an email telling them that you feel the same way.

Archived 7/13/04 (originally posted 6/30/04):

Former Halliburton employees report shockingly wasteful practices

The following are excerpts from the testimony of David Wilson, former convoy commander for Halliburton subsidiary KBR in Kuwait and Iraq (November 2003 - March 2004):

      david wilson - truckville1.gif
       (Full document PDF: House Committee on Government Reform Minority Office; also available
         through our Download For Democracy P2P campaign)

Oil changes were "out of the question" for convoys running from Kuwait to Iraq?  Wilson says that "it was like their whole preparation was to buy the trucks, hire the drivers, and let the rest take care of itself." 
Later in his testimony, Wilson recalls an occasion when an $85,000 truck had to be abandoned due to a flat tire: "for some reason that was never explained to us, KBR removed all the spare tires in Kuwait.  So when one of our trucks got a flat tire on the highway, we had to leave it there for the Iraqis to loot, which is just crazy." 

      david wilson 85,000 truck1.gif
      
(Full document PDF: House Committee on Government Reform Minority Office; also available
         through our
Download For Democracy P2P campaign)

Wilson says that he saw abandoned trucks "on a daily basis."  In addition to the abandonment of trucks, Wilson describes large convoys of empty trucks, which not only wasted gas and "caused extra wear and tear," but put employees' lives in unnecessary danger.  He says he still doesn't understand "why KBR would have placed our lives in danger that way for no reason."  
      david wilson - empty trucks.gif
      david wilson - under fire2.gif
      
(Full document PDF: House Committee on Government Reform Minority Office; also available
         through our Download For Democracy P2P campaign)

The following are excerpts from the testimony of Marie deYoung, former KBR employee in Kuwait (December 2003 - April 2004):

marie deyoung - laundry.gif
(Full document PDF: House Committee on Government Reform Minority Office; also available through
our Download For Democracy P2P campaign)

One hundred dollars to get a fifteen-pound bag of laundry washed?  According to deYoung, Halliburton was paying only