The secret Kellogg, Brown & Root deal in Iraq -- too secret to ask why

[starroute]

(Note: I had to put a space before "lang=en" to keep part of the URL from dropping out. Instead of clicking on it, please copy and paste and remove the space.)

http://www.iraqwar.ru/iraq-read_article.php?articleId=20182& lang=en

When American troops are stationed overseas the US will have a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the host country which defines the legal responsibilities of the US and the host country.

The SOFA will address entry and exit of personnel and personal belongings, labor conditions, damage claims, and US contractor restrictions or requirements, and the susceptibility of companies and employees to taxes, etc.

<snip>

The Pentagon's recent huge no-bid contract with Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton (the company that Vice President Dick Cheney ran before he moved over to take the VP job) is classified. The terms are secret.

The Bush administration says that the reason that the KBR contract is a secret is also a secret. All the Army has said publicly about the contract is, "Brown & Root offered the best value to government, considering price and non-price factors," according to Army lawyer Dave Defrieze. "Cost was considered but because of the nebulous nature of cost in the contract, it wasn't the most significant."

<snip>

The KBR contract is secret for secret reasons. The press has not delved very far into the conditions of US taxpayer-paid contract work in Iraq. This leaves the public to speculate about the real reason the US is staying in a country with escalating unrest and ongoing guerrilla attacks. Although Iraq can and should be turned over to its own citizens as soon as possible, the United States may be contractually obligated to maintain an increasingly unpopular military security presence in Iraq for as long as the well-connected, highly paid high-profile contractors are there -- no matter what the losses in lives and dollars, and no matter how the political winds here in the US may blow.

[aquart]

1. "Non-cost factors"?????????

Such as........?

Boy, if I had money, I'd invest in shredder companies. The day Bushco sees the writing on the wall, there will be a wholesale destruction of records. Wholesale, hell. We're talking distributor quantities here.

[proud patriot]

2. The reason it's secret is a secret ....WTF ???????

"The Bush administration says that the reason that the KBR contract is a secret is also a secret."

:wtf:

[Jim Sagle]

3. Translation: "STFU and give us the money, peasants!"

[Trajan]

4. This is SO wrong ....

In so many ways .....

Damn ..... does ANYONE wonder why they need another 87 BILLION Dollars ???? .....

This is the ULTIMATE welfare entitlement .... all free from public view .....

This is the ULTIMATE Enron administration .. Teapot Dome is childs play .....