Monday, January 19, 2004

The L. Jean Lewis factor

Needlenose has an interesting take on the recent news that Halliburton is being investigated by the Pentagon Inspector General's office.

As he suggests, this is an investigation that bears close watching. I wouldn't quite leap to the conclusion that the probe is already in the bag, but Needlenose's point -- that this is precisely the kind of thing that L. Jean Lewis, the IG's chief of staff, is likely to cover up. It's always best to wait and see what emerges, but the probability of a whitewash is always imminent when Lewis is involved.

For those needing a quick refresher, my previous posts on Lewis are here, here, here, here and here.

If nothing else, this case underscores my original point: Lewis' hiring has severely undermined any real reason to believe that any investigation of the Bush administration's cronies by the Pentagon will be either thorough or untainted.

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