If Not Them, Who?

Amidst all the sound and fury regarding Halliburton's no-bid Iraq contracts, one fundamental question screams out to be answered: Who else could have done the work? Answer: No one. Instead of being thankful that we have a mighty American company capable of undertaking the gargantuan task of REBUILDING AN ENTIRE BLOODY NATION, instead of being thankful that company is made up of employees willing to put their lives on the line in the everyday course of their duties, instead of expressing our gratitude to the men and women who, through their collective efforts, make Halliburton a shining example of American ingenuity, we snipe over the fact that Halliburton received a no-bid contract. Of course, even that would be irrelevant had not the Vice President helped run the company during his years in the private sector. I'd love to see a poll, taken in 1998, showing what percentage of people had so much as heard of Halliburton, let alone was able to describe what it did. 5% tops -- and that's charitable. If I ran Halliburton, I'd quickly retire to Galt's Gulch.

And now, on election-eve, Little Bunny Foo-Foo hops out of the forest to make a clean breast of it. Bunnatine Greenhouse (yes, that is apparently a real name, not something out of a Dickens novel) is at the center of the latest Halliburton dust-up, which consists of nothing but generalized allegations of impropriety and an utterly unremarkable fledgling FBI investigation. And just what are the alleged improprieties? Apparently, nobody knows, including the AP, which, heaven forfend, doesn't let the dearth of facts get in the way of running with the story. My bet -- we won't hear anymore of this, and certainly nothing more after next Tuesday.

Bonus: When I said above that we wouldn't hear anymore of this, I was of course speaking about the actual substance of the Greenhouse allegations. There was never any question that Team Kedwards would sing another refrain of the Halliburton Chorus:

"You cannot stand with Halliburton, big oil companies and the Saudi royal family and still stand up for the American people."

Unlike last night's story, this morning's AP piece at least has the virtue of stating the obvious:

Democrats long have accused the Bush administration of showing favoritism to Halliburton, but had trouble making the charges stick after congressional investigators found the company got no-bid contracts in part because no other firms could do the work.