Well, I see that my old nemesis Halliburton has managed to get itself back into the news. I did a lot of net research into these criminal war profiteers back in October of 2003. Figured I'd put out some of those findings that we may have forgotten about, to refresh everyone's memories on what these crooks have been up to. If anybody wants to see the thread in which I did all this research, it's from another forum and can be found
here. Note the wingnut attempts to spin.
(All these stories except for the Taipei News and the Limbaughtomy links were originally off the AP wire, but the Yahoo News stories have long since disappeared and the new links therefore go to Independent-Media and other news archives. But they are the same stories.)
Report Links Iraq Deals to Bush Donations
Companies awarded $8 billion in contracts to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan have been major campaign donors to President Bush, and their executives have had important political and military connections, according to a study released Thursday.
The study of more than 70 U.S. companies and individual contractors turned up more than $500,000 in donations to the president's 2000 campaign, more than they gave collectively to any other politician over the past dozen years.
...
o The top 10 contractors contributed $11 million to national political parties, candidates and political action committees since 1990.
o Fourteen of the companies won contracts in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Those companies, combined, have given more than $23 million in political contributions since 1990.
o Most contractors, their political action committees and their employees have contributed just under $49 million to national political campaigns and parties since that year.
o In the same time period, contractor donations to Republican Party committees outpaced contributions to the Democrats, $12.7 million to $7.1 million.
Many of the companies with large contracts have important political connections.
Halliburton chief appeals for help after congressional charges
Cheney headed Halliburton before he became President George W. Bush's running mate in the 2000 presidential election.
But the lawmakers had much more up their sleeves.
As soon as Lesar finished with the first round of denials, they disclosed that the Iraqi national oil company was paying between 90 cents and 98 cents to import a gallon of gasoline into Iraq, compared to Halliburton's 1.62-1.70 dollars.
Waxman and Dingell also said last week that the UN oil-for-food program was being used to pay Halliburton, in possible violation of a UN Security Council resolution.
According to the congressmen, Resolution 1483 called for creation of a monitoring board to ensure the money was used for humanitarian purposes.
"Not only has this board not been created, it now appears that part of the one billion dollars transferred from the UN oil-for-food program has been squandered by paying inflated prices to Halliburton," Waxman and Dingell wrote to the head of the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Halliburton Contract Extended in Iraq
Democratic members of Congress have said the no-bid contract showed favoritism to the Houston company that Cheney led before he ran for vice president. They also accused Halliburton of gouging U.S. taxpayers by paying too much for emergency imports of oil from Iraq's neighbors.
Cheney's office has said the vice president has no current ties to Halliburton and had nothing to do with the contract. He still receives deferred payments for services performed while he was employed by the company.
Separately, Halliburton reported Wednesday that its third-quarter revenue rose to $4.14 billion from $2.98 billion a year earlier, in part because of KBR's government work. However, the company reported that its net income declined because of legal costs and lower-than-expected results from joint ventures.
Halliburton says KBR unit's profit, sales soar
"The US government is paying nearly three times more for gasoline from Kuwait than it should and then it is reselling this gasoline at a huge loss inside Iraq," they said in a letter Wednesday to National Security Advisor Condolezza Rice.
"Whether this is due to incompetence, malfeasance or some other reason, the waste of taxpayer dollars must be stopped."
Something Fishy about 'No-Bid' Contracts for Iraq Reconstruction?
Yet some key Iraq contracts already were bid secretly, or on a sole-source basis, to companies with strong ties to the Bush administration. These included a $1.39 billion contract to a subsidiary of Halliburton, an energy giant formerly chaired by Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites).
Another $680 million contract for Iraq's power grid, water system, and airport facilities went to Bechtel Group Inc., after a secret bidding process. Together, the six companies invited to bid on the Bechtel contract contributed $3.6 million to federal election campaigns, two-thirds to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
"These suspect contracts with Halliburton and other companies raise questions about the awarding of contracts to friends of the administration," says Sen. Richard Durbin (D) of Illinois. "Wasn't there someone in the room who said, 'This just doesn't look right.'?"
Halliburton admits complicity in scandal
On Tuesday, a US lawmaker said the military had revealed for the first time that KBR had a contract encompassing the operation of Iraqi oil fields.
Previously, the US Army Corps of Engineers had described the contract given to Halliburton as involving oil well firefighting.
But in a May 2 letter replying to questions from Henry Waxman, a Democrat, the army said the contract also included "operation of facilities and distribution of products."
And of course, the Republicans don't want anybody to know:
GOP Refusing to Allow Testimony on Halliburton Spending
-Lodged 100 workers at a five-star hotel in Kuwait for a total of $10,000 a day while the Pentagon wanted them to stay in tents, like soldiers, at $139 a night.
-Abandoned $85,000 trucks because of flat tires and minor problems.
-Paid $100 to have a 15-pound bag of laundry cleaned as part of a million-dollar laundry contract in peaceful Kuwait. The price for cleaning the same amount of laundry in war-torn Iraq was $28.
-Spent $1.50 a can to buy 37,200 cans of soda in Kuwait, about 24 times higher than the contract price.
-Knowingly paid subcontractors twice for the same bill.
...
In his letter to Davis, Waxman charged that since House Republicans won't let the whistleblowers testify Tuesday, the congressional committee is "not fulfilling its obligation to protect the taxpayer from waste, fraud and abuse."
Oh, and they're racists.
Nov 29, 2003 Five black veterans have accused Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, of engaging in racial discrimination. One of the men, a 21-year veteran of the Marines, contended in an arbitration filing that he was paid less than his colleagues, endured racist epithets, was passed over for promotion in favor of less-qualified people who were white and ultimately lost his job at Kellogg Brown & Root, the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton, which is a major global supplier of oil field services.
It is difficult to draw conclusions about a company's employment practices based on the accusations of a handful of employees, specialists in employment law say, and nearly every large company has faced its share of discrimination claims. But such accusations made by veterans are potentially very sensitive for Kellogg Brown & Root, which has strong ties to the military.
A former Army staff sergeant said he lost his job when the company fired 84 percent of the blacks in his unit, according to the filing. Two other claimants, a former Army major and a former sergeant, said that, in separate incidents, they were told their jobs were no longer necessary - only to find later that white employees were promptly given their old positions.
A fifth man, a former Air Force sergeant, said that he was repeatedly denied employment at Kellogg Brown & Root when he applied in person for jobs at the company but received an offer when he sent his résumé via fax; the offer was rescinded before he could start.
"I was devastated," said Wayne Whiting, the former Army staff sergeant. He and the other four men have begun arbitration proceedings against Halliburton and Kellogg Brown & Root. "I was a former military guy, now a retired military guy, and I was well known in logistics, and I was just surprised that a company of this magnitude could go on to treat their employees with no kind of respect whatsoever."
The terms of the employment contracts signed by the four former Kellogg Brown & Root employees prohibit them from suing in federal court. This is not unusual, employment lawyers say. A date has not yet been set for the arbitration, which will be in New York, said Joshua Friedman, the lawyer for the veterans.
The stories of the four veterans who worked at the company have common elements. Each man says that he was singled out for unfair treatment by superiors. Two say that they complained to the human resources department at the company, and three filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
All four lost their jobs and contend that clearly less-qualified white employees took their old positions - even after the company told them, in some cases, that the positions were to be eliminated.
Mr. Whiting, for example, started in November 1998 at Kellogg Brown & Root in Taszar, Hungary, helping to run a supply system for the Army, according to the arbitration filing. He was told in an e-mail message in October 2000 that his position was being eliminated, the filing said. Then he learned that one of his subordinates, who is white, was taking over his old job.
According to the arbitration claim, the e-mail message with the news of Mr. Whiting's job loss came after one of his supervisors told him, "You're not the right man and color for this job."
"The Dittohead Recovery Zone" sums things up:
Sometimes it is better to look at the end result. Then decide if it fits one of the reasons given.
At this point we know beyond any doubt that Halliburton has been awarded $425 MILLION Dollars in open ended no bid contracts to get the oil flowing in IRAQ. That is a clear result.
We do not know about the WMD
We do not know about Saddam Hussein
We do not know about Democracy in IRAQ
We do not know (for sure) if the IRAQIs are better off.
We do not know if the Iraqis are happy we are there.
We do not know if we are safer from terrorist
We do not know if Saddam Hussein helped Al Queda
WE do know that Halliburton is making huge amounts of money
Despite the fact that Halliburton
- pled guilty to a felony paid a 1.2 million dollar fine
- moved ops to a Cayman tax shelter to avoid 80 million in taxes
- over charged taxpayers 2 million dollars on a Fort Ord contract
- offered to settle fraud lawsuits by stockholders for 6 million dollars.
- admitted to illegal bribes in Nigeria
- paid Dick Cheney 40 million dollars
- is under SEC Investigation for questionable accounting practices.
They've got a link on there to the court records for that felony conviction. It concerned Halliburton pleading guilty to illegally exporting goods to the terrorist nation of Libya in 1995. They mention Cheney in the court report, saying
10. Defendant Richard B. Cheney ("Cheney") is currently the Vice-President of the United States, domiciled in the State of Texas or Washington, D.C., a resident of Washington, D.C., and was the Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton from 1995 into 2000. Cheney is sued herein under Texas state law as a direct participant, aider and abettor, and co-conspirator in the fraudulent acts, omissions, and scheme set forth below.
His company pled guilty for a felony, for "illegally exporting goods to the terrorist nation of Libya in violation of 50 U.S.C. §§ 1702 and 1705, 31 C.F.R. §§ 550.202, 550.208, 550.409, and 18 U.S.C. § 2" while Cheney was CEO, the top dog of the company. The boss. El capitan. Now, he might not have known everything going on in his company, but if he doesn't know that somebody downstairs is shipping goods to a rogue terrorist state, then he does deserve to be named as a defendent.
Here's a blog with a lot of resources for looking into past Halliburton shady deals:
Hell for Halliburton
(there's links for the below stories at the site)
Halliburton Corporation and it's various subsidiaries are under fire for various illegal and questionable activities around the globe and at home: The former Cheney led Corporation has been granted "prior immunity" by the President. WE do know that Halliburton is making huge amounts of money feasting at the public trough on no bid taxpayer funded government contracts despite the fact that Halliburton:
- pled guilty to a felony paid a 1.2 million dollar fine
- moved ops to overseas tax shelters to avoid millions in taxes
- over charged on million dollars of contracts at home and abroad
- offered to settle fraud lawsuits by stockholders for 6 million dollars.
- admitted to illegal bribes in Nigeria
- paid Dick Cheney 40 million dollars and continues to pay Cheney
- is under SEC Investigation for questionable accounting practices.
- Gives hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions to Republicans only.
- Is under investigation for illegal activities in France.
Despite these violations of law and trust Cheney's company is raking in big bucks to make the oil flow.
This blog is dedicated to exposing the incredible felony record of the Halliburton Corporation and it's continuing ties to Vice-President Richard Cheney, the Republican Party, and George W. Bush.
Hell of a lot of sins there.
Reccomend if you want to, I put a lot of work into getting all this together so the more people who read it the better.