From Wednesday's Houston Chronicle, "E-mail causes Cheney critics to call for inquiry":

Vice President Dick Cheney's ties to Halliburton Co. have again come under scrutiny, after a Pentagon e-mail surfaced suggesting he knew in advance about a decision to award the firm a multibillion-dollar contract without seeking bids from competitors.

Lawmakers urged a congressional probe Tuesday after a watch-dog group unearthed an e-mail from an unidentified official at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers indicating the Pentagon "coordinated" with Cheney's office when releasing information about Halliburton's contract to restore Iraq's oil infrastructure.

The March 5, 2003, e-mail, obtained by Washington-based group Judicial Watch and first reported by Time magazine, describes the authority Douglas Feith, the Defense Department's undersecretary for policy, had to both release information about and execute the contract.

In terms of declassifying details about the contract, the e-mail said Feith "approved, contingent on informing WH (the White House) tomorrow. We anticipate no issue, since action has been coordinated w (with) VP's office."

The contract was awarded three days later. That decision, however, was not made public for another two weeks, because — at that point — President Bush had not made the final decision to go to war.