Subject : Rebuttal to RB on "We all Loose": RB, Just because one is proficient at speaking such complex words like beneficiary, arbitrary, and anathema and putting those words into a sentence does not make them an intellectual. It’s easy to speak if front of people when you are sitting behind your keyboard using “spell checker”. Try doing it live, unscripted and on the cuff. Actions speak louder than words & speak softly but carry a big stick are just a couple of sayings that come to my mind when I think of people who are not gifted with more than desirable speech abilities. While I do agree that under normal circumstances no-bid contracts are not good for the American people the situation over in Iraq is not your normal circumstance. There were people injured, hungry, without food, water, electricity, or fuel. People were dying and the country could have reverted to anarchy if we hadn’t gotten a handle on the situations. Now imagine us telling them to wait a couple of weeks or months until we assess all of the situations, put together a damage analysis and wait for all of the bids to come in before we can review them and decide on what we are going to do. The country would have gone to hell in a hand basket and you are your kind would be screaming, “we told you so and how come that damn Bush administration is letting this happen??!!” When you are at war and especially after the war you need to stabilize situations, not bid on contracts. If you didn’t then more people would die but hey you’d get the best price! Where can I find the article or report of Halliburton saying that they should be able to keep the money because it was a bookkeeping error? I wish to verify. jdf