Sometimes, what you show is not quite what you tell. And, sometimes, that can be quite telling.

Halliburton is fed up of being vilified in the media for no reason other than it’s an easy cheap shot to take, and it plays well in parts of Peoria.

For example, scurrilous rag sheets like WaPo go around saying:

Government audits turned up more than $1 billion in questionable costs. Whistle-blowers told how the company charged $45 per case of soda, double-billed on meals and allowed troops to bathe in contaminated water.

So Halliburton decided to set the record straight once and for all, with an impassioned defense of its performance on recent no-bid military contracts:

The company maintains that its billing disputes with Defense Department auditors have been resolved and that its work has received rave reviews from the military. “By all accounts, KBR’s logistical achievements in support of the troops in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan have been nothing short of amazing,” said company spokeswoman Melissa Norcross in a statement.

Well, they certainly showed that Halliburton’s work has received rave reviews from their company spokeswoman. This must be what is described in the literature as self-defense?

But I’m just being mean. The story goes on to say:

King, the Army official, agreed yesterday. “Halliburton has done an outstanding job, under the circumstances,” he said.

Unfortunately, if King made clear what Halliburton has done an outstanding job of, the dung-flingers at WaPo did not make that clear.

For the record, I too am in full agreement with King. Halliburton has clearly done an outstanding job, especially under the circumstances. Not even Enron dared to steal so much from so many (300 million of us, give or take?) so shamelessly, while being under the full glare of the media’s klieg lights the whole time.