Erik Eckholm has an extremely important piece in tomorrow morning's issue of The New York Times on allegations of unethical dealings in Halliburton's Iraq contracts. In "Top U.S. Contracting Official Calls for an Inquiry in the Halliburton Case", Eckholm writes that a possible case is emerging very quickly. Although this story is not surprising, I'm glad to see that it is finally being covered--even if at this late date. Eckholm leads with this:

The top civilian contracting official for the Army Corps of Engineers, charging that the Army granted the Halliburton Company large contracts for work in Iraq and the Balkans without following rules designed to ensure competition and fair prices to the government, has called for a high-level investigation of what she described as threats to the "integrity of the federal contracting program."

The official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, said that in at least one case she witnessed, Army officials inappropriately allowed representatives of Halliburton to sit in as they discussed the terms of a contract the company was set to receive.

Her accusations offer the first extended account of arguments that roiled inside the military bureaucracy over contracts with the company.

Halliburton and the Pentagon are moving quickly to quash the notion that there was wrongdoing in their contracts, but I would imagine that the Johns--Kerry and Edwards--will not let the story go away that easily. You should hear this story emerge in their rhetoric quite quickly, if not by tomorrow morning.