Halliburton's Deals Greater Than Thought

[lanlady]

Front page of the WP today:

By Michael Dobbs
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 28, 2003; Page A01

Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Cheney, has won contracts worth more than $1.7 billion under Operation Iraqi Freedom and stands to make hundreds of millions more dollars under a no-bid contract awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to newly available documents.

The size and scope of the government contracts awarded to Halliburton in connection with the war in Iraq are significantly greater than was previously disclosed and demonstrate the U.S. military's increasing reliance on for-profit corporations to run its logistical operations. Independent experts estimate that as much as one-third of the monthly $3.9 billion cost of keeping U.S. troops in Iraq is going to independent contractors.

....

But, according to Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and other critics, the Iraq war and occupation have provided a handful of companies with good political connections, particularly Halliburton, with unprecedented money-making opportunities. "The amount of money is quite staggering, far more than we were originally led to believe," Waxman said. "This is clearly a trend under this administration, and it concerns me because often the privatization of government services ends up costing the taxpayers more money rather than less."

Wendy Hall, a Halliburton spokeswoman, declined to discuss the details of the company's operations in Iraq, or confirm or deny estimates of the amounts the company has earned from its contracting work on behalf of the military. In an e-mail message, however, she said that suggestions of war profiteering were "an affront to all hard-working, honorable Halliburton employees."

....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56429-2003Aug27.html

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. The more I read about this, more I think that an

international tribunal is the only way to make us pure again. Bush-Cheney have changed the rules of the United States in order to allow their cronies unprecedented private opportunities for profit. And they're using our kids as reluctant mercenaries to do it. It will take far too many years for our country to untangle the laws and remove the conservative judges that allow this administration to continue this abomination. Only an international tribunal will set us free.

IMHO.

[saigon68]

9. HALIBURTON = I. G. FARBEN / HOECHST A.G.

You got to hand it to SHRUB, he is imitating history by appointing Halliburton to get all the concentration camp work.




The original Hoechst A.G., sprang from I.G. Farben who manufactured the zyclon-B and later the much deadlier cyclos-B gas for use in Nazi death camps

[diamond14]

10. (link) bush* is an heir to Holocaust money from grandpa Prescott

and don't forget the banks that funded hitler...

Here's the documentation...bush* grandpa, Prescott, created the bush* family inheritance by working Jews to death, personally supervising slave labor at Auschwitz....Prescott had Jewish slave labor work his coal and steel mills..."cheap-labor conservatives"...make them work for free, provide minimal food/water until they die....according to the President of the Florida Holocaust Museum, bush* owes reparations for his blood money inheritance.....it should surprise no one that bush* is implementing the process that his grandpa taught him...

written by the President of the Florida Holocaust Museum
http://www.clamormagazine.org/bush.pdf

[lindashaw]

2. Halliburton better start scrambling, 'cause...

Powell is having to bargain hard with the UN. He may have to dip into Halliburton's honeypot. Hmmm.....

[JPace]

3. This is blatant corruption....

The stupid pResident and his sinister vIce pResident
are thieves and robbers of the peoples money. Without
open bidding we are being robbed and the media is
doing nothing about it!

Dear God how much longer must we suffer this fool?

He is ignorant
He is arrogant
He is a thief

[Mari333]

4. If this had been a DEM president

He would have been hauled off in chains.

WAKE UP AMERICA

[Tripper11]

6. This is what I don't get though....

Mari333 I totally agree with you except to say the rethugs wouldn't have even let it get close to this far....this is so deep, so dark so fucked up it's beyond words.
And again the question remains, "WHO IS DOING ANYTHING ABOUT THIS?"
The fact of the matter is impeachment as far as a way to rid us of * is ridiculous because we would be left with the true "evil-doer" Cheney.
The more I read the more I am convinced the majority of this entire misadministration is as dirty as can be and they would all go down should it happen.
All I can say right now after this is...vote DEM...vote * and his ilk out before the country is completely destroyed. It's half way there now and all they need is another 4 years to finish the job.

[diamond14]

11. for nixon's corruption, they first got rid of VP spiro agnew....who

resigned for stealing $$$ from funds for poor people's housing...then, gerald ford was "appointed" VP, then nixon resigned (although denied, the agreement was that ford would presidentially pardon nixon, which he did ASAP)....then, ford "appointed" VP nelson rockefeller, who was holding NO OFFICE at the time of his 'appointment'...so, in their quest to hold power at all costs, both VP and President were "appointed" by those in charge....no elections here, folks...

anyhow, IMHO, cheney will resign for "health reasons" and go back to his beautiful ranch in the Grand Teton Mountains, running things like he did before...privately....

[GOPFighter]

5. Corporations now run the government

I work for the federal government and it's frightening how much influence the private sector now has on the government. My agnecy is now only interested in what the corporations want.

Then there are all the government jobs that have been contracted out. My son works as a contractor for the government (he's a help desk technician). They've just been told their contract won't be renewed at the end of the year so they will all be let go. A new contractor (lower bidder) will take over next year. When this function was performed by government workers, they had some job security, as contractors they will never, NEVER, know from year to year if they will have a job in the future. My son's old car is about shot and he wants to get another one, but he can't because he doesn't know if he'll be employed next year.

This is no longer a government by and for the people, it's a government by and for corporations. This has got to change!

[Ilsa]

7. I've lived that way, ...

waiting for contracts to be renewed, etc. before extending myself financially.

One time my boss' boss asked me why I wouldn't buy a house in Dallas. I explained I already owned one in another city I couldn't sell, then I refused to go any further. I didn't want the bastard to realize how the rest of us worry about possible foreclosure, having a roof over our heads, etc.

My thoughts and best wishes go out to your son and his predicament.

[Tempest]

8. Corporatism

"Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism as it is a merge of state and corporate power."
- Benito Mussolini

[mrbill]

12. halliburtion/brown & root is what ike was telling us

brown & root made big bucks in viet nam.

google lbj/brown&root

[paulk]

13. after awhile you just go numb

the mendacity of this administration leaves me speechless.

The front page of the WP ! that's a good sign, however. Little by little the corrupt nature of Bush/Cheney is leaking into the public consciousness.

[robbedvoter]

14. The Onion had it right:

the onion

snip
Government No Longer Even Bothering To Hide Halliburton Favors

WASHINGTON, DC—With last week's announcement that it will award
Halliburton a lucrative contract to put out Iraqi oil-well fires after
the war, the U.S. government has officially stopped trying to hide its
favoritism toward the Houston-based company. "When we first started
cutting Halliburton sweetheart deals, we'd worry about how it would
look, with Dick Cheney being their former CEO and all," White House
press secretary Ari Fleischer said. "Somewhere along the line, though,
we just kind of said, 'Ah, fuck it.'" Fleischer added that Halliburton
has something "real juicy" coming its way when the U.S. invades Iran in
July 2004.

[0007]

15. A first class Mafia operation

.......and the majority of the American people love it?

God help the living politicians when the people wake up and take to the streets.

[saigon68]

16. I DON'T LOVE IT

i guess I'm in the monority on this one.