Will it be Halliburton?

“Reminds me of that movie quote...

I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take any more”

“WASHINGTON - Pentagon officials have acknowledged that Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff and other Bush administration political appointees were involved in a decision to pay Halliburton Inc. to plan for the postwar recovery of Iraq's oil sector, a Democratic lawmaker said Sunday.

The decision, overruling the recommendations of an Army lawyer, eventually resulted in the award of a $7 billion no-bid contract to Halliburton, which Cheney ran for five years before he was nominated for vice president.

Full Story”

“Absolutely stunned.”

“God Bless America!”

“they did the work under clinton as well so everybody knows that theyare the best in the world.

also, they are literally getting killed for this job...”

“Cheney wasn't vice president under Clinton and part of the regime that planned to take Iraq yet.

The taking of Iraq set up the opportunity for Halliburton to get the work.

No take-over, no contract.

There is the appearance of corruption.

It smells like racketeering.”

“also, they are literally getting killed for this job..."
stratdewd
12:12:37 AM

Does this elevate them to some sort of hero status?”

“Hey, they're gettin'
PAID as well as gettin' killed.”

“Don't fret - the execs are well protected and well paid here at home.”

“Pentagon Auditors Criticize Halliburton Billing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pentagon auditors have found "deficiencies" with Halliburton's billing system for billions of dollars of work in Iraq, according to a military audit released by a Democratic lawmaker on Monday.

The audit on Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), the U.S. military's biggest contractor in Iraq, was released by California Rep. Henry Waxman to back up claims of misuse of U.S. taxpayer funds in Iraq by the Texas firm, which was run by Vice President Dick Cheney from 1995-2000.
[...]
Waxman's office released statements from five former employees of Halliburton and one sub-contractor who complained of waste, fraud and abuse by the company in Iraq.
[...]
David Wilson, a former convoy commander for Halliburton, and James Warren, a Halliburton truck driver described instances in which new $85,000 Halliburton trucks were "abandoned or torched" if they got minor mechanical problems.

In a related development, New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg called for U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to appoint a special counsel to investigate whether Cheney helped Halliburton get deals in Iraq.
[...]”

“Liars and crooks, oh my!”

“

Halliburton's Iran Business Subject to Criminal Probe

(Bloomberg) -- Halliburton Co., the world's largest oilfield services company, said federal prosecutors subpoenaed documents in an investigation of whether the company violated U.S. laws by doing business in Iran.

The Justice Department is taking over a U.S. Treasury Department probe of Halliburton's use of a Cayman Island subsidiary to do business in Iran, the Houston-based company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company said it is cooperating with the investigation.
[...]
Cheney's spokesman, Kevin Kellems, said earlier this month that Cheney, before becoming vice president, usually opposed economic sanctions because he believed they were ineffective and unfair to U.S. companies. Cheney's press office didn't immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment.”

“Oh dear me, Halliburton playing both sides??”

“You can oppose all you want but you still are required to obey the law.”

“There is a quote from Cheney saying that Halliburton HAS to do business with corrupt regimes. Of course, he fails to say just why they have to do business that way.
(Because, deep down, they don't care about democracy, but only the stock prices and profit margin???? Just a wild guess.)”

“You really couldn't expect Halliburton to walk away from prospective business with the current US administration, could you Dunadan?”

“Certainly not while the goose that laid the golden egg is in office.

Playing both sides of the street is a classic behavior pattern for con men, informants and counter-spys.”

“"Playing both sides of the street is a classic behavior pattern for con men, informants and counter-spys."
Tilt
01:17:59 PM
07/21/04

Don't forget John Kerry.”

“FBI Investigating No-Bid Contracts Awarded To Halliburton

October 29, 2004
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The FBI has begun investigating whether the Pentagon improperly awarded no-bid contracts to Halliburton Co., seeking an interview with a top Army contracting officer and collecting documents from several government offices.

The line of inquiry expands an earlier FBI investigation into whether Halliburton overcharged taxpayers for fuel in Iraq, and elevates to a criminal matter the question of whether the Bush administration showed favoritism to Vice President Dick Cheney's former company.

<snip>”

“No Way!”

“Clinton never ever would have done something like giving no bid contracts to Halliburton...or did he?

http://www.halliburton.com/news/archive/2003/article_111103.jsp”

“WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.

Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel's CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Experts say it has been common practice in both Republican and Democratic administrations for policy makers to take lobbying jobs once they leave office, and many of the same companies seeking contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have already received billions of dollars for work in Iraq.

Halliburton alone has earned more than $9 billion. Pentagon audits released by Democrats in June showed $1.03 billion in "questioned" costs and $422 million in "unsupported" costs for Halliburton's work in Iraq.

Watchdog groups take notice
But the web of Bush administration connections is attracting renewed attention from watchdog groups in the post-Katrina reconstruction rush. Congress has already appropriated more than $60 billion in emergency funding as a down payment on recovery efforts projected to cost well over $100 billion.

"The government has got to stop stacking senior positions with people who are repeatedly cashing in on the public trust in order to further private commercial interests," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight.

Bush appointees at Halliburton
Allbaugh formally registered as a lobbyist for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root in February.

In lobbying disclosure forms filed with the Senate, Allbaugh said his goal was to "educate the congressional and executive branch on defense, disaster relief and homeland security issues affecting Kellogg Brown and Root."

Melissa Norcross, a Halliburton spokeswoman, said Allbaugh has not, since he was hired, "consulted on any specific contracts that the company is considering pursuing, nor has he been tasked by the company with any lobbying responsibilities."

Allbaugh is also a friend of Michael Brown, director of FEMA who was removed as head of Katrina disaster relief and sent back to Washington amid allegations he had padded his resume -- which he denies.

A few months after Allbaugh was hired by Halliburton, the company retained another high-level Bush appointee, Kirk Van Tine.

Van Tine registered as a lobbyist for Halliburton six months after resigning as deputy transportation secretary, a position he held from December 2003 to December 2004.

On Friday, Kellogg Brown & Root received $29.8 million in Pentagon contracts to begin rebuilding Navy bases in Louisiana and Mississippi. Norcross said the work was covered under a contract that the company negotiated before Allbaugh was hired.

Cheney's relationship with Halliburton
Halliburton continues to be a source of income for Cheney, who served as its chief executive officer from 1995 until 2000 when he joined the Republican ticket for the White House. According to tax filings released in April, Cheney's income included $194,852 in deferred pay from the company, which has also won billion-dollar government contracts in Iraq.

Cheney's office said the amount of deferred compensation is fixed and is not affected by Halliburton's current economic performance or earnings.

Allbaugh's other major client, Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group, has updated its Web site to say: "Hurricane Recovery Projects -- Apply Here!"

Shaw said on Thursday it has received a $100 million emergency FEMA contract for housing management and construction. Shaw also clinched a $100 million order on Friday from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Shaw Group spokesman Chris Sammons said Allbaugh was providing the company with "general consulting on business matters," and would not say whether he played a direct role in any of the Katrina deals. "We don't comment on specific consulting activities," he said.”

“Oh gosh, what a complete surprise ...!

(Cue Gomer Pyle: "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!")”

“Ummm, I think I posted this already:

http://www.thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/40268,3.php”

“This thread was around long before yours.”

“I love the way the media spins it. "Companies with ties to the Bush White House..."”

“Actually it would be hard NOT to award some of the rebuilding to Halliburton. They're a HUGE company in their space, and in addition to their own growth have, in past years, acquired Brown & Root, an engineering and construction company, Dresser Industries (who had acquired M.W. Kellogg), and other smaller firms as well, I believe.”

“Mine dealt specifically with the current situation of Hurricane Katrina.... not a thread started in '03 about some other situation.

anyhoo....”

“Well this thread has the historical context of Halliburton and Bush/Cheney. There is room for two threads.”

“More like a Kevin Bacon context. Anyone ever wonder why this story keeps being perpetuated by the left, but never a peep out of Haliburton's competitors?”

“Gee, after the great job they are doing in Iraq I'm not surprised.

It's proper to reward company's that do a good job, keeps costs down and have a record of spending the money wisely and properly.

The last thing Bush wants is a company that might spend billions upon billions of dollars with little thought to over site. That would be stupid....right?
last edited: 9/11/05 4:27:22 PM”

“The Army gave Haliburton its highest vendor rating for the work it did in Iraq. The Army is involved in the conspiracy too... right?”

“What conspiracy?

What did I miss?”

“Halliburton Gets Contract To Pry Gold Fillings From New Orleans Corpses' Teeth
September 14, 2005 | Issue 41•37

HOUSTON—On Tuesday, Halliburton received a $110 million no-bid government contract to pry the gold fillings from the mouths of deceased disaster victims in the New Orleans-Gulf Coast area. "We are proud to serve the government in this time of crisis by recovering valuable resources from the wreckage of this deadly storm," said David J. Lesar, Halliburton's president. "The gold we recover from the human rubble of Katrina can be used to make fighter-jet electronics, supercomputer chips, inflation-proof A-grade investments, and luxury yachting watches."”

“ouch!”

“Cramer just decided to sell HAL. DAH!”