The Army Corps of Engineers announced Tuesday that it had granted the primary contract for extinguishing oil-well fires in southern Iraq to a subsidiary of Halliburton, the Houston-based company where Vice President Dick Cheney was once the chief executive. (The value of the contract is tied to how many fires have to be put out.)

Two other contracts, worth a total of nearly $12 million, also went to United States companies. And other contracts, worth several hundred million dollars, are soon to be announced. They cover reconstruction or repairs to five airports, railroads, schools, hospitals, irrigation systems and other facilities.

Some of the companies best-placed to win contracts are, in fact, among the politically best-connected in Washington: the Fluor Corporation, which has ties to former Pentagon procurement officials; the Bechtel Group, whose officials include former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and other former Republican cabinet members; and Halliburton, where Mr. Cheney was chief executive from 1995 to 2000. Just the beginning of war profiteering...