WAR FUNDS ADVANCE IN CONGRESS.

The article focuses on the controversy raised by two construction contractors, San Francisco, California-based Bechtel Group Inc. and Pasadena, California-based Parsons Corp., supported by Halliburton Co.'s Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) Inc. unit for the Iraq reconstruction contract USAID. As the war in Iraq advanced into its second week in March 2003, the U.S. Congress was deciding to use more than 75 billion dollar to pay for the conflict, that is, for Iraq reconstruction and U.S. domestic security. Meanwhile, a Corps of Engineers contract with KBR to extinguish oil well fires in Iraq was raising controversy. The firm claimed in its announcement that it had significant experience in fighting oil well fires in Kuwait set during the 1991 Gulf War. But Terry Farley, former president of Bechtel Construction, which Kuwait Oil Co. hired to manage fire suppression then, indicates KBR and Halliburton may have overstated their role. INSET: SPENDING BILLS INCLUDE:.