Brother, Can You Spare A Government Contract

Considering the impeccable source they have on the inside, Halliburton must have just screwed up royal to get this treatment:

The Army is discontinuing a controversial multibillion-dollar deal with oil services giant Halliburton Co. to provide logistical support to U.S. troops worldwide, a decision that could cut deeply into the firm's dominance of government contracting in Iraq.

The choice comes after several years of attacks from critics who saw the contract as a symbol of politically connected corporations profiteering on the war.

Under the deal, Halliburton had exclusive rights to provide the military with a wide range of work that included keeping soldiers around the world fed, sheltered and in communication with friends and family back home. Government audits turned up more than $1 billion in questionable costs. Whistle-blowers told how the company charged $45 per case of soda, double-billed on meals and allowed troops to bathe in contaminated water.

The Right does a peculiar thing when faced with this kind of news. They'll say something like, "See, the system works! Chimpy McHitlerburton isn't a king, and cronies aren't getting paid off!" They said it when the Hamdan decision came down, that it proved we weren't living in a fascist dictatorship.

Talk about setting the bar low! Halliburton delivered substandard service for years and years and years, raking in billions and billions for projects all across the globe, particularly in Iraq, and now, when troop drawdowns are looming and reconstruction is being abandoned, when most of the contract work in Iraq is wrapping up, NOW the Army gets religion and moves away from Halliburton, and I'm supposed to be cheered by this?

Too little, too late.

And also, they're not even completely out the door:

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.

And if they don't get it, I'll eat a shoe.