Originally posted by BP:
...i've looked and have seen no evidence that haliburton was indeed the only and best for the job...



Haliburton isn't the only conglomerate capable of providing a substantial amount of assistance in rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure, though it's easily in the top three in the US and would certainly be in the top 10 in the world...

You must remember that the US government puts contracts like this out for bid. The best qualified, lowest cost and most flexible win the business (furthermore, they like to award it to US-based businesses over foreign entities). These contracts aren't entered into lightly or merely given "cursory glances", either. Even some of the small ones I've done take as long a 8-12 months to hammer all the terms and conditions, all the while going through "umpteen" revisions...

I know a thing or two about government contracts, given that I deal with certain Federal entities and a few State one's in my line of work. I'm no guru on the topic, but I've lived through enough of them to know some of their workings.

Haliburton's ability to execute hasn't really been disputed by anyone on either side of the partisan debate, though their embarassing overcharges and some of their goofs in accounting have been.

Don't worry too much. The GAO is watching our tax dollars rather closely, especially on a politically charged issue like Iraq. They've caught Haliburton's goofs more than once; Kellogg, Brown & Root (a Haliburton subsidiary) is on a number of watch-lists on Capitol Hill and in the non-profit watchdog sector (rightfully so in some cases; other cases it seems there were genuine mistakes made in the charges).

They are far from perfect, but they are better-equipped at working with the Us government than any other private firm I can think of...

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