Monday, August 29, 2005

The United States of Halliburton

From Raw Story we find a story about how a Halliburton whistleblower was demoted because of "poor performance." Here's a few excerpts: http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Senior_Democrat_says_decision_to_demote_Halliburton_worker_will_chill_whisteb_0829.html
"The top U.S. Army contracting official who first raised criticism over Halliburton's no-bid contract in Iraq was demoted Sunday for what the army called poor job performance -- the first time her performance was rated low in 20 years."

and...

The official, Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse, had overseen contracts at the Army Corps of Engineers, which has managed Iraq reconstruction work. She was removed Saturday from her elite Senior Executive Service position and reassigned her to a lesser job in the civil works division.

Greenhouse's lawyer, Michael Kohn, told the New York Times he saw "obvious reprisal" for the objections she raised to a series of decisions involving the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown Root, which has netted more than $10 billion for work in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"She is being demoted because of her strict adherence to procurement requirements and the army's preference to sidestep them when it suits their needs," he said Sunday.

"Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean also weighed in, saying, "Today's news regarding Bunnatine Greenhouse is another disturbing example of the Bush Administration's determination to abuse their power to hide the truth and silence, smear or demote their critics."

"A spokeswoman for the Army Corps of Engineers, told the Times that the action against Greenhouse was approved by the Army."

It doesn't matter if the taxpayers are getting screwed----just protect Halliburton!