http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/house-arrest-for-terror-suspects/2005/09/27/1127804477969.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/postkatrina-contracts-under-fraud-scrutiny/2005/09/27/1127804477888.html

Billions of dollars of reconstruction contracts awarded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are being investigated amid concerns of cronyism and abuse.

More than 80 per cent of the $US1.5 billion ($1.98 billion) in contracts signed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency were awarded without bidding or with only limited competition, including enormous deals with Kellog, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton - the former employer of the Vice-President, Dick Cheney - and the Shaw Group. The lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, former campaign manager of the President, George Bush, and a former head of the agency, has represented both companies.

The inspector-general for the Department of Homeland Security, Richard Skinner, told The New York Times that 60 members of his staff were examining Hurricane Katrina contracts.

"We are very apprehensive about what we are seeing," he said. "When you do something like this you do increase the vulnerability for fraud, plain waste, abuse and mismanagement."