Throughout history, there have always been prominent people who assume that certain laws shouldn’t and don’t apply to them. Americans aren’t different in this regard. Whether it’s ignoring conventions against torture, violating anti-trust statutes, or evading trade embargos, a few heavyweights figure they just aren’t included in prohibitions supposedly meant for everybody. And since they are rarely punished beyond a tsk-tsk or laughable fine for their violations, who can argue that their view of being above it all is inaccurate?
Now that Kurt Eichenwald has exposed Donald Trump in regards to the Cuban embargo, it’s worth recalling that another powerful Republican violated U.S. embargos, too. And he had absolutely no regrets about it. That fellow is Dick Cheney, the former vice president, who as CEO of Halliburton didn’t like the sanctions against Iran and Libya and other nations. And he got around them through sketchy shenanigans that violated the spirit and sometimes the letter of those laws.
During Cheney's tenure at Haliburton, for example, the company carried out business with Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Iran, and Nigeria even though the U.S. had imposed sanctions on them. Cheney lobbied fiercely for eliminating the sanctions, even as his company quietly did business with them. Some of this business was clearly illegal, and Halliburton was fined for it. Other business was merely shady.
In July 2000, the same month Cheney picked himself to be the GOP’s vice presidential nominee, he was asked whether Halliburton or its subsidaries were trying to do business illegally with Iraq. He denied this, noting that as CEO, he had imposed a policy of having nothing to do with Iraq. This claim was an outright fabrication. Halliburton subsidiaries sold more than $73 million in oil-production parts to Iraq under sanction. In 2000, Cheney’s last year at Halliburton, his compensation at the company was $20 million, after taxes.
Here’s then-Rep. Henry Waxman, Democrat of California, in a 2002 letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld:
I am writing about Halliburton's ties to countries that sponsor terrorism.
Halliburton has recently been awarded a leading - and lucrative - role in the U.S. war against terrorism. Yet there is also evidence from press accounts and other sources that indicates that Halliburton has profited from numerous business dealings with state sponsors of terrorism, including two of the three members of President Bush's "axis of evil." I would like to know what the Defense Department knows about these ties and whether you think this should be a matter of concern to the Congress and the American taxpayer.
Republicans in the Administration and Congress have previously expressed great concern about American citizens and companies trading with countries despite U.S. embargoes. For example, the Vice President's chief of staff testified that Marc Rich, who was granted a pardon by President Clinton, could be considered a "traitor" for trading with Iran even if his actions were technically legal. These same concerns appear to be implicated by Halliburton's conduct, yet rather than being criticized, the company is rewarded with valuable government contracts.
Halliburton's Activities in Nations that Sponsor Terrorism
In press accounts and SEC filings, Halliburton and its subsidiaries have been linked to three nations known for their support of terrorism: Iran, Iraq, and Libya. Since at least the 1980s, federal laws have prohibited U.S. companies from doing business in one or more of these countries. Yet Halliburton appears to have sought to circumvent these restrictions by setting up subsidiaries in foreign countries and territories such as the Cayman Islands. These actions started as early as 1984; they appear to have continued during the period between 1995 and 2000, when Vice President Cheney headed the company; and they are apparently ongoing even today.
Here’s 60 Minutes in a 2004 piece—“Doing Business with the Enemy”:
U.S. law does ban virtually all commerce with the rogue nations, but there's a loophole that G.E., Conoco-Phillips and Halliburton have exploited: The law does not apply to any foreign or offshore subsidiary so long as it is run by non-Americans.
"These three companies, as far as we were concerned, appear to have violated the spirit of the law," says Thompson. "In the case of Halliburton, as an example, they have an offshore subsidiary in the Cayman Islands. That subsidiary is doing business with Iran."
That subsidiary, Halliburton Products and Services, Ltd., is wholly owned by the U.S.-based Halliburton and is registered in a building in the capital of the Cayman Islands – a building owned by the local Calidonian Bank. Halliburton and other companies set up in this Caribbean Island, because of tax and secrecy laws that are corporate friendly.
Halliburton is the company that Vice President Dick Cheney used to run. He was CEO from 1995 to 2000, during which time Halliburton Products and Services set up shop in Iran. Today, it sells about $40 million a year worth of oil field services to the Iranian government.
In the case of Iran, Thompson says they earn most of their revenues through their oil industry. [...]
60 Minutes decided to ask Halliburton's subsidiary about its work in Iran. But we weren't allowed to enter the building with a camera. So we went in with a hidden camera, and were introduced to David Walker, manager of the local Calidonian Bank, where the subsidiary is registered.
60 Minutes was expecting to find a bustling business, but, to our surprise, Walker told us that while Halliburton Products and Services was registered at this address, it was in name only. There is no actual office here or anywhere else in the Caymans. And there are no employees on site.
Dick Cheney publicly opposed sanctions on Iran and Libya and other nations. He called the Clinton administration “sanctions happy.” Other Americans, including many progressives, had their own reasons for opposing the sanctions—as they did (and do) the embargo on Cuba. But they did not, like Trump and Cheney, laugh up their sleeves at the law and its enforcers while making lucrative deals evading the sanctions. That privilege is reserved for hoi oligoi.