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November 22, 2008 11:56:39 AM CST

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Army Overseer Ousted After Rejecting Bogus Iraq Bills

Posted Jun 17, 08 7:54 AM CDT in US 

(Newser) – Did a top Army official lose his job for trying to save the Army money? Charles Smith was ousted from his job after refusing to pay then-Halliburton subsidiary KBR more than $1 billion in charges deemed bogus by Army auditors. “They had a gigantic amount of costs they couldn’t justify,” Smith tells the New York Times. “The money that was going to KBR was money being taken away from the troops, and I wasn’t going to do that.” Smith’s successor coughed up the money.

The Army says it had to pay to keep food and other necessities flowing to the troops. But lawmakers have fiercely criticized KBR, which has reaped more than $20 billion in Iraq, accusing it of capitalizing on Halliburton's ties with the Bush administration. Smith’s successor took the unusual step of hiring an outside agency to review the bills. “They ignored DCAA’s auditors,” he tells the Times. “In the end, KBR got what it wanted.”

Source New York Times

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U.S. soldiers of Apache troop, 1-33 Cavarly, 3rd Brigade combat team, 101st Airborne Division buy sandwiches at a market stall in Al Sheet village, south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008.   (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
KBR's headquarters looms over downtown Houston in this Aug. 1, 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
A KBR site is shown Friday, May 4, 2007 in Houston.   (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
An Iraqi boy rides his bicycle next to a U.S. soldier, during a patrol in the Jamileh main market of the Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday, May 29, 2008.   (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A U.S. soldier secures the area as an Iraqi woman passes during a patrol is Jamileh main market of the Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday, May 29, 2008.   (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A U.S. soldier patrols in Jamileh the main market of the Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday, May 29, 2008.   (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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Iraq • Iraq contractors • KBR • defense spending • Halliburton


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