NEWS

DALLAS, May 30 (Summary of WFAA-TV article) - A computer engineer who returned from Iraq said some of the civilians working for Halliburton are not qualified for the job. "I've told a U.S. congressman and a U.S. senator that the American public is not getting what they're paying for, and the Army is not getting the expertise they deserve in a combat zone," Scott Stahlman, a former employee for a Halliburton contractor, told Dallas television station, WFAA-TV. The military paid Stahlman's employer $200,000 per month for their expertise in computers at Camp Anaconda, north of Baghdad. But, once they arrived at the camp, they found Stahlman and his seven colleagues were not qualified to handle the work. Stahlman said there was "no way" he could competently do the work the military wanted him to do. "Neither could the others except for one individual," he said. Stahlman and his colleagues realized their employer had falsely claimed its employees are experts in repairing software used only by the Army. The employer told its employees not to let the Army find out. "They specifically said, 'don't lie, but there are specific ways you can present the evidence,'" Stahlman said. Stahlman was released from his job after a disagreement with a supervisor. He doesn't know how widespread the incompetence is, but he said that's a cost of war the U.S. may never know. The U.S. is currently spending $4 billion per month on the war in Iraq.