Yahoo! News - Bush: Halliburton Must Pay for Overcharge
"If there's an overcharge, like we think there is, we expect that money to be repaid," the president told reporters Friday when asked about the contract controversy.

Pentagon (news - web sites) auditors say Houston-based Halliburton charged up to $61 million too much for delivering gasoline to Iraqi citizens under a no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq's dilapidated oil industry. The company denies overcharging.

I can hear the paper-shredders whirring to life. What do you want to bet that the overcharges are going to turn out to be totally justified because of "security reasons"? Is there anyone out there who still doesn't believe this war was soley for the money? Read on:

Meanwhile, an Army spokesman disclosed that companies from France, Germany, Russia and Canada won't be eligible to replace Halliburton as the recipient of the oil reconstruction contract.

The Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing bids and hopes to decide this month who will get the oil reconstruction deals worth up to $800 million in northern Iraq and $1.2 billion in the south.

The decision means that an additional $2 billion in contracts in Iraq, not disclosed before, would be forbidden to countries that opposed the war, along with the $18.6 billion in Iraq work the administration declared off-limits earlier this week.

My guess is these contracts will go to more subsidiaries of Halliburton or other Bush campaign contributors. Plenty of opportunities for yet more overcharges! What's a few dead American boys when there are billions of dollars to be made?

"Steal a little and they throw you in jail
Steal a lot and they make you king"

-Bob Dylan