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White House Backs Pentagon Over Iraq Contract Overcharges - 2003-12-13


The White House is backing a Defense Department review of spending in Iraq that shows more than 120-million dollars in excess charges by a company once run by Vice President Dick Cheney.

White House Spokesman Scott McClellan says President Bush expects the Defense Department to follow through, using oversight measures in place, to make sure that U.S. tax dollars are spent appropriately.

"The Pentagon discovered some things that they felt needed to be looked into further, and we expect them to get to the bottom of it," Mr. McClellan said.

A Defense Department audit found that a subsidiary of the Halliburton company over-charged the Army 61-million dollars for fuel bought in Kuwait.

Halliburton is a worldwide energy services, engineering and construction company. Pentagon officials say the excess does not appear to be intentional, but instead comes from over-charging by the firm's Kuwaiti supplier.

The audit also found another 67 million dollars in extra charges for feeding U.S. troops, but those discrepancies were found before the bills were paid.

Vice President Cheney stepped-down as chief executive of Halliburton in 2000, when Mr. Bush asked him to be his running mate. Without competitive bidding, a Halliburton subsidiary was awarded the Pentagon's biggest contracts for Iraq, which could total more than 15 billion dollars.

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