Why we are at Orange Alert part 2

[RainDog]

initially I thought that we were at orange alert to obscure that Bush had signed patriot 2, after a gutless voice vote by Congress, on the same day that Saddam was paraded before Americans on tv...but I think Saddam cancels out patriot 2, since most Americans don't seem to care about what laws are passed in their name these days.

it makes more sense, though, to wonder if we didn't go on orange alert for more "personal" reasons. notice that Air France had three flights cancelled...and they supposedly have an American escort tonight...

The orange alert went into effect on the 22nd, which would coincide with Christmas holiday worries. but it also coincides with the fact that Cheney may be facing charges in France over the Halliburton biz scandal there.

maybe all these terror scares related to France are just hardball tactics to tell them they'll be harrassed in America if they try to extradite Cheney.


http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/122203G.shtml

 Saturday 20 December 2003

  A judicial investigation has been opened with regard to “the bribery of a foreign public official”, for the first time in France. It focuses notably on the French company Technip and the American Halliburton, which were associated in a Nigerian operation. Such an international inquiry is possible since the 1997 adoption of an OECD convention on the “fight against the corruption of foreign public officials in commercial negotiations” which came into effect in French law in 2000. It’s within this new judicial framework that the Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke is conducting his investigations and the Paris court contemplates an eventual indictment of the present United States’ Vice President, Richard Cheney, in his capacity as former CEO of Halliburton. The investigations concern 180 million dollars of commissions paid on the occasion of a gas complex bid in Nigeria.

  The hypothesis of an eventual indictment of Dick Cheney is officially contemplated by French justice. According to projections of the case, he could be charged with “eventual complicity in supplying the means or the orders or the reception (of stolen goods)”, for the misappropriation of public property. If such a prospect is not on the agenda, it is possible since the opening of the judicial inquiry October 8 for “the bribery of foreign public officials and misappropriation of public property” targeting the American company Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) which is the principal subsidiary of Halliburton, known for having obtained more than 2 billion dollars worth of Iraq reconstruction contracts from the American government and over which Richard Cheney presided as CEO from 1995 to 2000.

  Concretely, Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke is trying to identify the beneficiaries of 180 millions dollars of commissions paid during the bidding for a gas complex construction contract in Nigeria for an amount estimated at 6 billion dollars or three times that of Iraq….

more background on Halliburton/Europe/Iraq contracts

http://www.truthout.org/docs_01/02.23D.Cheney.Circumvented.htm

[joefree1]

1. Great post thanks

I wonder why they went and proved Dean right when he said we are no safer after Saddam's capture.

[RainDog]

2. maybe Cheney's in Saddam's hidey-hole

but then again, Cheney built his underground bunker at the v.p's residence after 9-11. wonder if he has a tunnel to get him to a helicopter when the French Foreign Legion come to serve him with a warrant?

:)

[dbt]

3. KICK!

Thank you again, RainDog!

:bounce:
dbt

[havocmom]

4. oui, mon ami

Raindog, you make a very valid point. Chicken Hawk Dick tries to do government like the corporate pirate he is. Diplomacy not in his playbook but intimidation sure is.

Governments should not be run like corporations. The two entities do not serve the same purpose. The malAdministration is a good lesson on this issue.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. A few other factors to consider

First news was breaking that the US forces didn't capture Saddam but instead that the Kurds had handed him over. Once again the WH lied about a major event in order to gain political points and their story was about to get blown to bits again.

Second, it was close enough to the end of Christmas shopping season not to have a significant effect on retail sales.

Third, there are a growing number of so called self-made al Qaeda terrorist experts who have been making a lot of noise on the Internet for the last couple of months. Most of their 'facts' are either bogus or a rehashing of previously known info from prior to 9-11. Some of them claim to either have made direct contact with al Qaeda terrorists in chatrooms and through email and oddly enough most of what they were reporting ended up being sighted by Tom Ridge as his reasons for going to Orange Alert. These so called 'experts' are a new breed of terrorists and should be prosecuted for their activities.