White House snubs nose at Halliburton criticsPerhaps the only shocking thing about Vice President Dick Cheney’s former company allegedly overcharging the government $61 million for gasoline delivered to oil-rich Iraq is that the Pentagon itself revealed the problem.

Pentagon auditors last week reported Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root also may have tried to inflate a cafeteria services contract by $67 million, but the government rejected the proposal.

In all, Halliburton may end up obtaining as much as $15.6 billion in U.S.-funded Iraq business through a noncompetitive process. This has been justified by the Bush administration because only Halliburton is said to have the expertise to carry out such mammoth rebuilding work.

Perhaps so, though no one in government has ever bothered to test or prove this assertion. Nor are last week’s allegations proven, and even if they are, no laws may have been broken.

But conflict of interest rules are designed to protect against even the appearance of insider dealing. The administration shows no remorse or basic common sense when it comes to these matters.

The rapid accumulation of stories such as the gasoline contract ought to deeply trouble the American people.