NEWS

WASHINGTON, June 16 (Summary of Washington Post Article) - The House Committee on Government Reform said it will hear testimony of former Halliburton employees who say the company defrauds the U.S. government for cost reimbursements in Iraq and Kuwait. The former employees will testify in July. They were not permitted to testify at a June 15 hearing on Halliburton because committee chairman, Tom Davis (R-VA), was not convinced they were credible witnesses. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) disclosed their accusations and protested their exclusion from the committee hearing. The committee also requested documents from the Defense Department and the General Accounting Office related to the involvement of a political appointee, Michael Mobbs, in the decision to award Halliburton a contract to plan for the restoration of Iraq's oil fields. Mobbs, an adviser to Douglas Feith, an undersecretary of defense, said that he briefed top officials -- including Vice President Cheney's chief of staff -- before he selected Halliburton to do the job. The disclosure was criticized by members of Congress and government contracting experts who said contracts should be awarded by career civil servants, not political appointees.