Iraq Notebook
Halliburton wins bid on two-year Iraq contract

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Halliburton won a competitive bid on a two-year contract to rebuild the oil industry in southern Iraq, the Army Corps of Engineers said. The northern Iraq contract, worth up to $800 million, went to a joint venture of California-based Parsons Corp. and the Australian firm Worley Group.

The Defense Contract Audit Agency last month said KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, charged more than double the price for gasoline brought in from Kuwait than it did for gas trucked in from Turkey. Auditors said KBR may have overcharged the Army by $61 million.

Pentagon auditors this week asked for an investigation into possible criminal wrongdoing.

Halliburton has denied any wrongdoing and said the Kuwaiti government designated the supplier, Altanmia Marketing, and that the U.S. Army approved the subcontract.

A Corps of Engineers document released Thursday says Halliburton chose the high-priced Kuwaiti supplier in one day after considering bids from only three companies.

Probe ordered into reports of abuse of prisoners in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq has ordered a criminal investigation into reports of abuse of prisoners, U.S. officials said yesterday.

A military statement gave no indication about the scope of the reported abuse, saying simply that Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez ordered a probe "into reported incidents of detainee abuse at a coalition forces detention facility."

It added that the coalition "is committed to treating all persons under its control with dignity, respect and humanity."

In Washington, Lawrence Di Rita, spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, said it is a criminal investigation and that the reports of abuse were deemed "very serious and credible."

The announcement followed allegations by Amnesty International and former prisoners of harsh treatment of detainees arrested by U.S. and coalition forces since the Iraq war began last March.

Three U.S. Army reservists were discharged this month for abuse of prisoners at Camp Bucca, a detention center in southern Iraq where former Baath party members and other "high value" prisoners are held. Lt. Col. Allen West, a battalion commander in the 4th Infantry Division, was allowed to resign from the Army after he admitted firing a weapon near a detainee suspected of plotting attacks against U.S. soldiers.

Clark: Congress needs to ask if push for war was criminal

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark says it is up to Congress to determine whether President Bush's march to war in Iraq amounted to a criminal offense.

Asked Thursday if it was criminal to mislead the nation in going to war, Clark told reporters, "I think that's a question Congress needs to ask. I think this Congress needs to investigate precisely" how the United States wound up in a war "that wasn't connected to the threat of al-Qaida."

Clark has called for a full congressional probe into why the United States went to war in Iraq, but his comments marked the first time he had hinted at possible criminal wrongdoing.

Asked if he thought Bush might have committed an impeachable offense, Clark said, "Let's have that investigation done."

Clark renewed his criticism that Bush misled the nation on Iraq. "This was an elective war," he said. "He forced us to go to war."

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