October Surprise!
As if the news of nearly 400 tons of lost high explosives in Iraq weren’t already enough, the Bush Administration has received another unpleasant October surprise this week in the form of Bunnatine “Bunny” Greenhouse. The chief contracts and procurement officer for the Army Corps of Engineers, Greenhouse has come forward as a whistle blower to expose the law-breaking favoritism given to Halliburton in the Iraq reconstruction gold rush.
Greenhouse, a high-ranking civilian Army employee in a unique position for “inside” information, renews allegations that the no-bid contracts originally awarded to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root for reconstruction projects in Iraq were granted not because of KBR’s unique qualifications but for “political reasons.” Greenhouse further charges that when she raised objections to the contracts and the selection process on procedural and ethical grounds — objections that it is her job to raise — she was cut out of the decision making process by her superiors and eventually threatened with demotion. The contracts, she says, were never even signed off on by her; instead they were signed by her assistant when she refused to grant her authorization.
A registered Independent, Greenhouse denies any political motivation in the timing of her announcement days before the November 2nd elections. Going public with her claims was, she says, a last resort after being threatened with demotion for trying to fix the problems internally. Greenhouse has requested official whistle-blower protection, and according to the Seattle Times she has received it. Reuters reports that the FBI, already investigating allegations that Halliburton overcharged U.S. taxpayers for fuel used in Iraq, has requested an interview with Greenhouse regarding her claims.
The letter informing her of the demotion cited poor job performance, which has raised questions about the real reason for her announcement. While Greenhouse has had her detractors on the job, MSNBC quotes a former supervisor as blaming most disagreements on her great integrity and insistence on following the rules to the letter:
“There were those that wanted to take short cuts in the contracting process, she didn’t allow short cuts,” says Ret. Commanding General Joseph Ballard, who served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1996-2000.
Sounds like perfect whistle blower material to me.
