To carry out this choice bit of war profiteering, Halliburton hooked up with Altanmia Marketing of Kuwait. Altanmia was given exclusive rights to ship Kuwaiti gasoline to Iraq -- "even though it had no prior experience transporting fuel," U.S. Congressional investigators report. So what is the firm's actual expertise? Investments, real estate -- and acting as "representative agents for companies trading in military and nuclear, biological and chemical equipment," The Wall Street Journal reports.
In other words, Halliburton's new partner traffics in the essential elements of WMD -- the very stuff whose spread and sale the United States is ostensibly dedicated to stopping around the world. Ostensibly. But as always with the Bushists, the rhetoric of "security" is a thin rag to cover their unquenchable thirst for state-supported brigandage.
After grabbing the gasoline subcontract -- before the bidding process was closed, naturally -- Altanmia proceeded to charge Halliburton more than twice the price that other exporters were getting for moving gasoline into Iraq. Luckily, the White House has given Halliburton a "cost-plus" contract to lord it over Iraq's energy sector. Thus, the higher Altanmia's costs, the more "plus" Halliburton gets for its coffers -- and all of it paid for by those eternal suckers, the American people. It's crony capitalism at its finest: The suckers shoulder the financial risk, the American military serves as company muscle; all Halliburton has to do is sit back and rake in the dough -- minus a few campaign contributions and "retirement packages" for their political operatives, of course.
http://www.tmtmetropolis.ru/stories/2004/01/23/120.html
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