All of this marks a striking return to the Old Democrat distrust of all private enterprise, which held that if it moves, tax it, if it keeps moving, regulate it, and when it stops moving, subsidize it.

[Via WSJ.com: Opinion]

Many years ago I worked for Brown & Root, the subsidiary of Halliburton accused of wrongdoing. Previous to that work I worked for another engineering firm involved with government contracting. Brown & Root have been doing work for the military since the Viet Nam war and oil field related work for even a longer period. So it is no surprise they are a favored contractor for Iraq. They know the system. They know the work. They can do it cheaper than the government. In my attempt to decipher fact from partisan politics, it appears that they made some mistakes in a war time situation where they were undoubtedly the last folks to be notified. So far no one seems to be able to find any profit for Halliburton for their participation in this dangerous activity. If the result of Halliburton’s participation is low or non-existent profit they will be forced to increase the profit margin for future projects or the government may opt for new and inexperienced contractors. Hiring and training new and inexperienced contractors will make the logistics of warfare much more difficult. New contractors are typically less knowledgeable about the risks involved so they protect themselves by being less flexible and more expensive.