The thing that speaks for itself:

US should 'seek resolution' with Iraq over $1.4 billion Kellogg, Brown and Root contract
Iraq-USA, Economics, 12/31/2005

The United States should "seek resolution" with the Baghdad Government in relation to a $1.4 billion contract awarded to the firm Kellogg, Brown and Root using Iraqi oil revenue, officials from the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB) set up to track the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI) said this week.

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Asked about audit reports that were redacted before being provided to the IAMB, Bert Keuppens of the IMF said early on the Board had noticed that DFI money had been used to pay sole-sourced contracts to Halliburton. US Department of Defense audits provided to the IAMB were heavily redacted, but subsequently the Board was provided with full copies, which had in any event had already been posted on the Internet by US Congressman Henry Waxman.

Comes now before the public in Ellen Knickmayer's Most Buried Article in the WaPo, found through the good offices of the Iraq Revenue Watch:

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - The Bush administration does not intend to seek any new money for Iraq reconstruction in the budget request going before Congress in February, officials say.

Not everyone is pleased:

"It is easy for the Americans to say, 'We are doing reconstruction in Iraq,' and we hear that. But to make us believe it, they should show us where this reconstruction is," said Mustafa Sidqi Murthada, a men's clothing store owner in Baghdad.

Whether the is glass half-full, or half-empty depends on whether you're drinkin pourin' I guess.

The title here is the title of an article in Salon reprinted in full in Spiegel Online.  This from the lede:

Halliburton and its subcontractors hired hundreds of undocumented Latino workers to clean up after Katrina -- only to mistreat them and throw them out without pay.

The link to that article, and a wealth of information on topic is available from Gulf Reconstruction Watch.

In their attempts to gather information the Salon reporters came across this gem:

(James) Hale says that his union's legislative staff has pressed members of Congress for more information; apparently the legislators were told that they could not get copies of the contracts because of "national security" concerns. [Hale is a VP of the Laborer's Union].

Note that all of the work described is being performed on U.S. military installations throughout the Southeast.  Lack of toilet paper and food an issue of national security?