RateItAll: The Opinion Network

it seems doubtful that the findings from this probe will be concluded in less than 72 hours and the fact that haliburton is being investigated does not necessarily hurt the president. it remains to be seen whether the dealings mr. cheney had with haliburton were illegal or unethical, but if they were he will be dealt with in the future. the effect on this election will be minimal though.

As if anyone thought Halliburton wasn't going to be awarded the major contracts!

The allegations leading up to this FBI probe were motivated by political events, despite Halliburton's claims otherwise. It won't affect the election much, but the case itself will be affected. Halliburton is being investigated on charges that no-bid contracts had been rewarded for Iraqi reconstruction on the count of VP Cheney's contacts with that organization. A former Army Corps of Engineers officer last week stepped forward with evidence suggesting that Halliburton had indeed been receiving these contracts. Also the government was being overcharged for fuel by the company. Whatever the basic circumstances, the allegations are strong--apparently this officer is asking for whistleblower protection against the Pentagon, who will retailate strongly against her. The FBI getting involved here seems to suggest that there are criminal allegations contained within the complaint that was filed. She complained that the integrity of the federal contracting process had been violated by this no-bid contract being awarded to Halliburton. Also she cites as evidence an e-mail dated from 2 years ago coordinating the contracts from Cheney's office, who is still getting deferred compensation from this company, which he served as an executive for from 1997-2000. There seems to be some conflict of interest here. My understanding is that they're operating now with a new contract that was competitively given, but they were already on the ground in Iraq building up oil infrastructure, so they would've gotten it anyways. The allegations were thrown in near election day to get press attention to the potential case. It certainly doesn't help Bush in that it brings to closer light his connections to the military-industrial complex.

It should have no effect, but the demo screech machine is hard to ignore, by ordinarily civilized people. I personally welcome this probe, I would like to know whether these incessant alleged accusations are true. But to politicize this in the run-up to the election, in the last few days before the election doesn't accrue much objectivity to those initiating the allegations. Lawrence Walsh (11/92) would be so proud of this as genius. The NY Times' fingerprints are all over it, crack objective journalists that they have shown themselves to be. How many October Surprises can one election cycle stand?

This would be even worse for Bush if there were more time for the FBI to find out just how corrupt and connected to Cheney this company is before the election.

This has been a long time coming, but who knows if they will actually find anything, or release their findings to the public.