Byron Dorgan: “This was provided to American soldiers by the subsidiary of Halliburton Corporation. They ordered hand towels under…”

“This was provided to American soldiers by the subsidiary of Halliburton Corporation. They ordered hand towels under their contract for the American soldiers. Well, guess what. The guy who ordered these was the order manager sitting in Kuwait. His name was Henry Bunting. He came and testified before my hearing. He said: I ordered these towels, but I ordered white towels, plain white towels. My supervisor said: You cannot do that. You need for our name, Kellogg, Brown and Root, the subsidiary of Halliburton, to be embroidered on the towel. He said: Well, that is going to triple the cost. He was told: It does not matter. It is a cost-plus contract. The American taxpayer pays for this. Katy bar the door. Spend whatever you like. The American taxpayer will pay for it. Two hundred and twenty million dollars to a contractor to rehabilitate health clinics in Iraq. The $220 million is gone. The contractor has it all, and there are 20 health clinics built. And a physician goes to the Health Minister and says: I want to see these 220 health clinics the American taxpayer paid for; the Health Minister of Iraq said: Well, those, you have to understand, are 'imaginary' clinics. Seven thousand six hundred dollars a month to rent an SUV, $45 a case for a case of Coca-Cola, $85,000 trucks that have a flat tire and they are left beside the road to be torched in Iraq because they cannot fix a flat tire. American taxpayer is going to pay for all of that. It is a cost-plus contract.”