If you want to figure out where Bush and Cheney will be sending our troops, pay attention to the contracts given to Halliburton. The contracts will be negotiated before foreign policy changes are announced, but don’t mistake that for coincidence.

Since December 2001, Halliburton has had exclusive rights to to feed, shower, and house our soldiers abroad. In December 2001, the costs of the contract to taxpayers were minimal, at least compared with where it is today. That is to say, the company that Cheney used to run just so happened to get exclusive rights to this contract just a tad before the rest of the country and Congress realized that we’d be heading to Iraq.

This fall, the Army is choosing not to extend the contract, favoring a system in which three companies assume Halliburton’s role with fourth providing oversight. The stated purpose of this move is to limit the runaway spending and overcharging that the Army has endured since it hired Halliburton. And, oh yeah, the costs of reconstruction and support are going down.

First of all, good. Halliburton has been a grotesque example of cronyism for years.

Second, why has it taken so long for the army to promote Lt. Obvious to Captain? Duh, a lack of competitive bidding has made these costs higher. To wait until the size of the contract is expected to decrease before addressing the issue seems painfully stupid to me, though it does fit right in with Halliburton’s special relationship with our government:

Army officials yesterday defended the company’s performance but also acknowledged that reliance on a single contractor left the government vulnerable. The Pentagon’s new plan will split the work among three companies, to be chosen this fall, with a fourth firm hired to help monitor the performance of the other three. Halliburton will be eligible to bid on the work.

So Halliburton will be rewarded for its record by being eligible to bid on new contracts. My guess is that the other three companies will each be some sort of Halliburton subsidiary or partner. Then, with new contracts in hand, Halliburton is planning on leaving many of its current reconstruction projects incomplete… so the Iraqis can stand up for themselves:

“The Iraq reconstruction is winding down . . . so there is no need for new contracts to replace the existing,” Foster said.

Instead, the Iraqi government will have to find its own contractors to do the work, which includes tackling a large number of projects left undone by the United States.

“This is the year of transition for Iraqi reconstruction. The U.S.-funded projects are being completed and transferred to Iraqi management and control,” said James Mitchell, spokesman for the inspector general’s office.

That office has repeatedly warned of a “reconstruction gap” between what the United States promised in rebuilding the country after the spring 2003 invasion and what it has delivered. For instance, a contract aimed at building 142 new health centers across Iraq instead produced 20 before the program ran out of money.

“This is the year of transition” for Halliburton away from projects that are sucking money from the company to new ones yet to be determined. Civil war support perhaps? The company does seem remarkably prescient about when and where its war-support services will be needed. In fact, this should signal to everyone that the administration is shifting its approach in Iraq. Contracts are up in September and we would do well to watch where Halliburton goes to see what we can expect from the administration in the run up to the election. We will likely see Halliburton do more work on building permanent bases and inner-city bunkers for our troops, for example, as Bush hunkers down to let civil war do his democracy work for him.

Technorati Tags: Bush, Culture of Corruption, Iraq, Halliburton