The Army Corps. of Engineers lied outright to conceal Vice President Dick Cheney’s direct involvement in the awarding of no-bid contracts to Halliburton, the company he headed as CEO before joining the Bush Administration.
That’s the only conclusions any rational person can reach aftter reviewing documents obtained by Judicial Watch in a Freedom of Information action.
According to JudicialWatch:
One document uncovered by Judicial Watch suggests the United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) may have publicly lied regarding the involvement of the Vice President’s office in awarding the contract.
In an email dated April 22, 2003, Carol Sanders of the USACE, writes, “Mr. Robert Andersen, Chief Counsel, USACE, participated in a 60 Minutes interview today in New York regarding the sole source award of the oil response contract to Kellogg, Brown and Root….Mr. Andersen…was able to make many of the points we had planned.” Sanders subsequently provided sound bites from the interview, including, “There was no contact whatsoever (with the VP office).”
This directly contradicts another email uncovered by Judicial Watch in 2004. The email, dated March 5, 2003, sent by an official of the Army Corps of Engineers whose name was redacted, stated, “We anticipate no issue [with the KBR deal] since the action has been coordinated w VP’s office.”
The newly released documents also prove the Department of the Army abused the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process by improperly invoking exemptions. One document, for example, includes a frank admission by an Army Corps of Engineer official: “I am copying you on this crap since I honestly believe the competitive procurement will never happen.” The Army attempted to withhold this embarrassing document even though no appropriate exemption applied. It took the intervention of a federal district judge to force the Army to release the document.
“These new documents raise questions about the involvement of the Vice President’s office in the controversial KBR deal. One has to wonder whether the Army was being forthright about the issue,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
It raises a lot more than just questions. The no-bid contracts to Cheney’s old company always smelled even though Cheney denied any involvement and the mainstreamers in the media didn’t think it worth investigating.
Just another example of corruption in what may go down in history as the most corrupt Presidential administration to ever inflict harm on this country.
Review the documents obtained by Judicial Watch.
