Rivals Say Halliburton Dominates Iraq Oil Work

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=68&ncid=716&e=16&u=/nyt/20030808/ts_nyt/rivalssayhalliburtondominatesiraqoilwork

The Bechtel Group, one of the world's biggest engineering and construction companies, has dropped out of the running for a contract to rebuild the Iraqi oil industry, as other competitors have begun to conclude that the bidding process favors the one company already working in Iraq, Halliburton.

After the United States Army Corps of Engineers quietly selected Halliburton in the spring to perform early repairs of the Iraqi oil business in the aftermath of the war, other companies and members of Congress protested that the work should have been awarded through competitive bidding.

Halliburton's role in the rebuilding has been under political scrutiny because the company was formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney. But the Bush administration and the Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the Iraqi oil reconstruction effort, have repeatedly said that Halliburton has no inside track.

Preliminary plans for a new contract, which industry executives had thought might total $1 billion, were announced late in June by the Corps of Engineers. The bidding was meant, in part, to introduce competition and a sense of fairness into the lucrative Iraqi reconstruction market, an executive with a major engineering concern said. Like many industry executives, he would speak only on condition of anonymity because his company does not want to jeopardize its chances for future government contracts.

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[RaRa]

1. Oooh, that's a shocker!

Does Cheney still own stock or get money from Halliburton (aside from the $1 millinon/year "severance"?)

[BrotherBuzz]

2. Think Cheney had a hand in Executive Order 13303?

http://www.earthrights.org/news/eo13303.shtml

July 28, 2003
EarthRights International

President Bush has issued an Executive Order, so far completely unreported, that purports to grant broad legal immunity to oil companies operating in Iraq. The Order is, on its face, outrageous, and should be investigated.

Executive Order 13303, issued on May 22, 2003, claims to be essential to Iraqi reconstruction efforts. A cursory reading of the Order indicates that its real purpose is to protect oil companies by giving virtual impunity for any activities undertaken relating to Iraqi oil.

This Order, with broad language that seems to sweep aside federal statutes, including the Alien Tort Claims Act, has received no public attention. It has been brought to light by a researcher with the Sustainable Energy and Environment Network (SEEN).

Under this Order, an oil company complicit in human rights violations, or one that causes environmental damage, would be immune from lawsuits. The language of the Executive Order is so broad that it might as well have been written by lawyers for Halliburton, ExxonMobil and ChevronTexac.
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[kwolf68]

3. Good lord

I have two takes on this:

1) The Republicans will continue to gain power, dominate the SOuth, increase lead in Congress and render any opposition impotent...Fostering decades of fear, death, oppression, violence, exploitation that will eventually paint America as hell on earth

2) The gains for the right will be short lived...They will succumb to the weight of their own arrogance and extremism. "Raygun Democrats" will return, the right-wing will be considered a David Koresh-like cult and moderate to progressive policies (depending on issue) will begin to gain much favor as yelling "Liberal" or "Soclialist" at rivals will lose power.

[oasis]

4. No wonder Cheney didn't show his face this a.m.at the pig farm.

Chimpy, Rummy and Colon Bowel stood abreast to take questions from the assembled press. Condi played the role of the shrinking violet and stood a pace or two behind them. Cheney stayed inside, possibly peeking through the curtains as slimy perverts do when they have something to hide.