Navy Turns to Halliburton

NYT reported Facing extensive damage by Hurricane Katrina to naval installations in Mississippi, the Navy turned immediately to the Halliburton Company's KBR subsidiary for tasks like restoring electricity, repairing roofs and clearing debris at bases that are urgently needed for response efforts. It is a familiar role for KBR, which under longstanding contracts has delivered the engineering equivalent of first aid to the Navy and other military and government agencies after natural disasters for more than 15 years. This time, the Halliburton unit's performance is likely to be watched especially closely, as its work under separate contracts in Iraq has come under extensive criticism in the past two years. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command turned to Halliburton after the hurricane under terms of a five-year contract worth up to $500 million, renewed in 2004 after competitive bidding, that calls on the company to provide immediate services on demand after natural disasters, in humanitarian crises or in military conflicts. Last year, the Navy invoked the same contract after Hurricane Ivan hit Florida.

TheAnchoress blogged If Don Singleton is right, Gov. Blanco did not write her letter to the feds asking for help until the day they got there. But maybe the thing is just a formality and doesn’t really enter in. We’ll have to find out.

As I acknowledged here she did write another letter on 8/28 requesting the declaration that Bush did on the next day but it did not ask for troops, but just money and help with debris removal

Oh, and President Bush caused Katrina, so Halliburton could make more money. I’m just saving you time, folks, now you don’t have to go read it on the lefty blogs or in the MSM!

Lorie Byrd blogged A Polipundit reader predicted this one early on and I commented here.

The MSM is jumping on the Navy using Haliburton and its subsidiary KBR as a jab against the VP, but the reason they use Haliburton and KBR is they have worked with them for many years and they know they can get things done. Disclosure, I worked for Brown and Root (now KBR) one summer, and again for about a year after I left college.