Cheney denies co-ordinating Iraq contract for former firm

Published on Tuesday 1 June 2004 01:05

A PENTAGON e-mail has emerged suggesting that United States vice-president Dick Cheney’s office "co-ordinated" a multi-billion-pound Iraq reconstruction contract awarded to his former employer Halliburton.

The e-mail, reported in Time magazine, was sent by a US army corps of engineers official on 5 March, 2003 and said that Douglas Feith, a senior Pentagon official, provided arrangements for the Restore Iraqi Oil contract, between Halliburton and the US government.

The e-mail, said Mr Feith, who reports to deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, approved arrangements for the contract "contingent on informing [the White House] tomorrow". It added: "We anticipate no issues since action has been co-ordinated [with] [the vice president’s] office."

Kevin Kellems, a spokesman for Mr Cheney, said: "Vice president Cheney and his office have had no involvement whatsoever in government contracting matters since he left private business to run for vice president."

An official familiar with the e-mail said the memo merely mentions that the White House had been given a standard courtesy call notifying it about a contract decision which was being announced soon.

Mr Cheney was Halliburton’s chief executive from 1995 to 2000. The Texas oil services firm has been accused by Democrats of war profiteering after winning billions in contracts from the US military in Iraq.