Oops! Halliburton went a billion over budget. I'm sure they regret the error.

The Army has ordered nearly $5 billion in work from Halliburton Co. to provide logistics support to U.S. troops in Iraq over the next year, $1 billion above what the Army paid for similar services the previous year.

The new order, which comes despite lingering questions about the company's past billing, replaces an earlier agreement that expired last June but had been extended through this spring to ensure a continuous supply of food, sanitation, laundry and other logistical services for the troops, according to Linda K. Theis, an Army spokeswoman.

The new order does not change the nature of Halliburton's work, but the higher price tag does reflect the growing demand for the company's services as U.S. forces continue to battle a stubborn insurgency two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The increased bill parallels ballooning overall costs in Iraq. President Bush said in March 2003 that combat in Iraq would cost about $60 billion. But the cost for military operations alone had hit $135.3 billion as of March 2005, according to the Office of Management and Budget. The price tag would be far higher if the costs to fund the Coalition Provisional Authority, reconstruction projects and intelligence operations were included.

Yeah, it's hell to start a war and then profit obscenely by it.

But another oops!....

The new order took effect two months ago but had not been made public. Theis, the spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Field Support Command, which oversees the contract, said that there was "not a conscious decision" to keep the new deal quiet but that her office had simply been too busy with other news.

Yeah, because the way these guys spend money, what's another billion here or there anyway? They can't be bothered with accountability to the people! They're too busy spinning the war.

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