Source: Seattle Times (AP)
Link: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002075416_webhalliburton28.html
Title: "FBI investigating how Halliburton got contracts"
Date: October 28, 2004
The FBI has begun investigating whether the Pentagon improperly awarded no-bid contracts to Halliburton Co., seeking an interview with a top Army contracting officer and collecting documents from several government offices . . . .
. . . . FBI agents this week sought permission to interview Bunnatine Greenhouse, the Army Corps of Engineers' chief contracting officer who went public last weekend with allegations that her agency unfairly awarded a Halliburton subsidiary no-bid contracts worth billions of dollars in Iraq, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Seattle Times
Comment:
Some folks suggest anti-Bush sentiment is an irrational hatred. While I think such a reduction of issues is in itself irrational and worthy of ridicule, the Halliburton issue is an excellent example:
If mistrusting the administration is so "hateful", why does the administration consistently live up to these allegedly "hateful" concerns?
Simply, if everything is as square as the administration would like us to believe, what's with the necessary appearance of impropriety? To the other, if everything is remotely as crooked as it appears, how much more are the people expected to tolerate?
So a politician botched a bunch, alienated our neighbors, and found a new low standard for political integrity. That's no reason to vote for someone else, is it? After all, what could be more hateful than paying attention to what's going on?
When "small government" conservatives want to stick their noses into your home--be it your speech, your sex, or what you're allowed to teach your children--a classic response becoming antiquated for its complexity is, simply, "If you're law-abiding, you don't have anything to worry about". Well, Cheney and Bush, apparently being squeaky-clean in their ethical postures, should go ahead and cough up the energy notes, openly assist the prosecution of officials responsible for prisoner abuses, and hold accountable those responsible for the Guantanamo travesty against international human rights.
Remember, giving your opinion as to the state of the economy is apparently as hateful as lying outright.
Progress: Bush/Cheney '04. Soon we won't have anything to say, because there will be nothing left. And besides, if you find something to say, you're just not "with us".
If we look at the nightmares of the folks who "hate" Bush based on history--including that before his own presidency--we might wonder how hateful they are when the administration goes to such lengths to vindicate their concerns.
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