Cheney's office 'briefed on Pentagon deal'
By Joshua Chaffin in Washington

Published: June 14 2004 5:00 | Last Updated: June 14 2004 5:00

Senior members of Vice-President Dick Cheney's staff were briefed at
least twice by the Pentagon on a controversial multibillion-dollar
contract to oversee Iraq's oil sector before it was awarded to his
former company, Halliburton, early last year.

The existence of the briefings, one of which included Mr Cheney's chief
of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, appeared to undermine earlier claims
from Mr Cheney and White House officials that the vice-president and his
office were unaware of the Halliburton contract before it was announced.

The briefings were spelled out in a letter sent to Mr Cheney yesterday
by Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who has been a
prominent critic of the Bush administration.

Mr Waxman, drawing on recent interviews with Pentagon staff, also said
the Halliburton contract was handled by political appointees from the
administration and not career procurement officers, as the White House
has claimed.

Although Mr Waxman acknowledged in his letter that there was no evidence
that Mr Cheney had acted to influence the deal improperly, the
information about the briefings is expected to raise new questions about
the administration's handling of billions of dollars of contracts to
rebuild Iraq.

Critics accused the administration of cronyism after it emerged in March
2003 that the Army Corps of Engineers had granted a contract worth up to
$7bn (?5.8bn,