From Crooks and Liars:
In 1966, a principled young Republican Representative from Illinois was outraged that there wasn't enough Congressional oversight regarding contracts awarded to corporations providing services and logistics for the Vietnam war. In particular, he was concerned about the long-standing relationship between Texas-based Brown and Root (which would later be absorbed by Halliburton) and Texan president Lyndon Johnson.
Feeling marginalized by the Democrat-controlled Congress, he opined that only "an investigating committee controlled by the minority, can assure vigorous investigation..."
Here's the money quote:
As a Republican congressman from Illinois in 1966, [he] raised questions about the 30-year association between Halliburton’s chairman and then-president Lyndon Johnson. "Why this huge contract has not been and is not now being adequately audited is beyond me," [he] said. "The potential for waste and profiteering under such a contract is substantial."
Would you like to guess whose words these are? Why, they belong to none other than America's crazy uncle in the attic, Donald Rumsfeld! Why, oh why did he hate freedom so much?
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