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Recent
Stories
April
15, 2003
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Robert
Jensen
Self-Determination in Iraq? Then the
US Must Leave
Dr.
Susan Block
The Rape of Iraq
Ron Jacobs
Aiming at Syria: Stop Them Before They Kill Again
Robert
Fisk
The Final Sacking of Baghdad
Col. Dan
Smith
Post-War Iraq: Asking the Right Questions
Ali
Abunimah and Hussein Ibish
A Cycle of Chaos and Confrontation: Misadventures of the NeoCons
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/15
April
14, 2003
Chris
Floyd
Bush's War Without End
Uri Avnery
Gunboat Democracy: This is Only the Beginning
Wayne
Madsen
Americans: The New Mongols of the Mideast?
Shahid
Alam
Iqra: Iraq is Free
Hani
Shukrallah
Day of the Chicken Hawks
Terry
Jones
The Iraq Gravy Train
John
Chuckman
The Iraq War's Trashiest Piece of Propaganda
Patrick
Cockburn
US has a Lot to Answer For: Violence,
Misery and Poverty in Iraq
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/14
April
12 / 13, 2003
Carol
Lipton
Wag the Kennel: the Kenneth Joseph
Story
Wayne
Madsen
Meet the New Butcher of Baghdad: Maj.
Gen. Buford Blount III
John
Brown
"They Got It Down": the Toppling
of the Saddam Statue
Kathy and
Bill Christison
Final Thoughts from Palestine
William
Blum
Our Vulnerable Warmongers' Rush to Justify Devastation
Wallace
Gagne
Let the Stealing Begin
Ann
Harrison
Rosenthal Update: Judge Delays Ruling in Medical Pot Mistrial
Case
Henry Miller
What is the Greatest Treason?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Render Unto Cesar
Zeljko
Cipris
Mocking Militarism: On Ishikawa Jun's Song of Mars
Ishikawa
Jun
The Song of Mars
Jamey Hecht
Chairman of the Sandwich Board
Adam
Engel
Hell of a Town: Mayor Bloomberg and
the News
Poets'
Basement
Chang Yang-Hao, Adam Engel and Hammond Guthrie
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/12
April
11, 2003
Omar
Barghouti
From Saddam to Uncle Sam
Ron
Jacobs
Greed is Rewarded
David
Vest
The Corporate War on Iraq
Paul
de Rooij
Propaganda Stinkers: Fresh Samples from the Field
Anthony
Gancarski
Foreign Aid: Embezzlement as Public Policy
Mas'ood
Cajee
Franklin Graham: Spiritual Carpetbagger
Michael
Neumann
Now What?
Michael
Berry
The Neo-Cons Have a Dream
Stew Albert
Oh Freedom
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/11
Website
of the Day
About Those Dancing Crowds
April
10, 2003
Zoltan
Grossman
The Perils of Occupation: the Easier
the Victory, the Harder the Peace
Uri
Avnery
The Night After
Wayne Madsen
The Telltale Signs of Empire
David Krieger
Before You Become Too Flushed with Victory, Think of Ali Ismaeel
Abbas
Jeremy
Brecher
What Can the World Do Now That Tanks Prowl Baghdad?
Robert
Jensen
The Unseen War
Geoffrey
Neale
Ashcroft's War on the Constitution:
A Patriot Attack on America
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Last Tango in Baghdad
Hammond
Guthrie
Rumors of War
Joseph
Heller
Nately's Old Man
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/10
Website
of the Day
The
Third Page
April
9, 2003
David
Lindorff
Secret Bechtel Docs Reveal: Yes,
the War Is About Oil
Doug
Lummis
Saving Private Lynch: Hollywood and
War
Susan
Davis
The New York Times and the Peace Movement
David Vest
Smoking Gun? You're Watching It
John
Chuckman
America's Sovereign Right to Do
as It Damn Well Pleases
Akiva
Eldar
Gary Bauer and AIPAC: an Unholy Alliance
with the Christian Right
Ray
Hanania
Suicide Bombers without the Suicide:
Racism, Hypocrisy and the War on Iraq
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/9
April
8, 2003
David
Lindorff
Killing the Messengers: It Doesn't
Matter If It's Deliberate or Accidental
Richard
Lichtman
Dr. Phil in the Trenches
John
Brown
Why Uncle Ben Hasn't Sold Uncle Sam:
a Former Foreign Service Staffer on Bush's Policy Failures
Ben
Terrall
Report from the Oakland Docks: "The
Cops Had No Reason to Open Up on Them"
Jason Leopold
FERC and Wall Street: Conversations
May Have Violated Federal Law
Anthony
Gancarski
Conyers Heeds the Call on Perle
Linda Heard
Journalists Die, the Networks Lie, Iraqis Ask "Why?"
Ahmad
Faruqui
Wallowing in Hypocrisy
Wallace
Gagne
Baghdad Babble
Harry
Browne
Report from the Protests at the Bush/Blair
Summit
Larry Kearney
I Understand There's a Boy in
a Baghdad Hospital
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/8
M. Shahid
Alam
The Israelization of America
April
7, 2003
Todd
Chretien
Wooden Bullets & Grenades: Oakland
Cops Attack Peace Protesters and Dock Workers
David
N. Gibbs
Spying, Secrecy and the University:
The CIA is Back on Campus
Harry Browne
War and Peace Summit a Royal Farce
Gideon
Levy
America is Not a Role Model
Diane
Christian
A Scene from an Obscene War
Jules
Rabin
Remembering Deir Yassin
James Davis
Oddsmaking in Dublin: Will Bush
Shake Gerry's Hand?
Robert
Fisk
The Twisted Language of War
Patrick
Cockburn
Slaughter on the Road to Dibagah
John
Mackay
War and Art
Seth Sandronsky
Wars and the Color Line
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/7
April
5, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
The Iraqi Humanitarian Relief is
in Shambles
Anne
Gwynne
A Drowning in Salem
Uri
Avnery
Roadmap to Nowhere
Chris
Floyd
Hell for Leather: Bombs, Bullets, Bibles and Bush
William
Cook
Would You Have Sent Your Son (or Daughter) Off to War If...
Gila
Svirsky
A Busy Day for Bulldozers
Mike Ferner
Back from Baghdad: What Next for the Peace Movement?
Joanne
Mariner
Civilian Deaths and Official Apologies
John Stanton
Bush Takes His Killing Orders
from the Lord
Romi
Mahajan
Learning to Count the Dead
Aluf Benn
After Iraq, US Vows to Deal with
Other Mideast Regimes
Mary
Ellen Peterson
Gay Marine Refuses to Fight
William
MacDougall
Country Music and the Crimes of Patriotism
Ron
Jacobs
War and Occupation
Bernie
Pattison
Aborigines and the Different God
Mark
Engler
Iraq War as Arms Expo
Adam Engel
Li'l Box of Love: a Novelini
Poets'
Basement
Tripp, Albert, Katz
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Flesh and Its Discontents: the Paintings of Lucian Freud
Norman
Madarasz
Canada and the War
April
4, 2003
Anthony
Gancarski
Colin Powell's Shame
John
Chuckman
Was Einstein Right About Israel?
David
Krieger
The Meaning of Victory
Tom
Gorman
The Mantra of the Troops: Support
or Treason?
Adam
Federman
The Absence of War
Vijay
Prashad
There Are No More Arguments
Tom
Stephens
The End of the Innocence
Mickey
Z.
Makes Me Sic (Sic): Copy Editing
Bush Speak
Pierre
Tristam
War Coverage: a Dishonest Reality
Show
Hammond
Guthrie
The Deadly Mihrab
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 04/04
April
3, 2003
Uri
Avnery
A Crooked Mirror: Presstitution and
the Theater of Operations
David
Vest
Can You Hear the Silence?
Anthony
Gancarski
Colin Powell Telemarketer
David
Lindorff
Takoma: the Dolphin Who Refused
to Fight
Michael
Roberts
War, Debts and Deficits
Ramzy
Baroud
Now That Iraqis Are Being Killed Is Israel Any More Secure?
Jo Wilding
From Baghdad with Tears
Anton
Antonowicz
Cluster Bombs on Babylon
Alison
Weir
Israel, We Won't Forget Rachel Corrie
Bruce
Jackson
Hating Wolf Blitzer's Voice
Eliot Katz
War's First Week
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 04/03
Hot Stories
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
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April 16,
2003
Halliburton
and the Dictators
The Bloody History of Cheney's Firm
by
JASON LEOPOLD
Kellogg Brown & Root, the company chosen last
month by the Pentagon to extinguish oil well fires in Iraq, has
a long history of supporting the same terrorist regimes vilified
by the Bush administration and on at least one occasion defrauded
the United States government to the tune of $2 million, according
to public documents.
Halliburton, headed by Dick Cheney before
he became vice president, and it's KBR subsidiary did business
with some of the world's most notorious governments and dictators
- in countries such as Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya
and Nigeria. The company has routinely skirted U.S. sanctions
placed on these countries and lobbied the U.S. government to
lift sanctions so it could set up new partnerships and create
new business opportunities in these countries.
Still, the Pentagon awarded the Iraqi
oil well contract to KBR without competitive bidding; a move
that some Democratic lawmakers in Congress said was based on
favoritism because of Cheney's ties to the company.
Charges of cronyism led the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers on Monday to open the job of putting out Iraqi
oil well fires to other firms that will now bid for the multibillion
-dollar contract and KBR would have to compete with other companies
for the right to finish the job. The Army Corps of Engineers
said it would seek new bidders to rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure,
considered the key to reviving that country's economy.
KBR and Halliburton have broken U.S.
laws on numerous occasions while Cheney was chief executive and
as far back as 1978. Moreover, the company inflated the price
of some of its military contracts and defrauded the government.
Last year, KBR agreed to pay the U.S.
government $2 million to settle allegations it defrauded the
military while Cheney was chief executive of parent company Halliburton.
KBR was accused of inflating contract prices for maintenance
and repairs at Fort Ord, a now-shuttered military installation
near Monterey, Calif. The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento, alleged
KBR submitted false claims and made false statements in connection
with 224 delivery orders between April 1994 and September 1998.
KBR and Halliburton has also paid out
settlements to end investigations and lawsuits on half-a-dozen
other occasions.
In 1978, a grand jury indicted KBR on
charges that it colluded with a competitor on marine construction
work. KBR paid a $1 million fine to settle the charges. In 1995,
the U.S. fined Halliburton $3.8 million for violating a ban on
exports to Libya. Four years later, a Halliburton subsidiary
opens an office in Iran, despite a U.S. ban on
doing business in that country. In 2001,
Halliburton shareholders lash out at company executives for its
pipeline project in Burma, citing that country's human-rights
abuses.
Also in 2001, watchdog groups blast Cheney
for placing 44 Halliburton subsidiaries in foreign tax havens.
Halliburton's dealings in six countries
- Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Nigeria - show
that the company's willingness to do business where human rights
are not respected is a pattern that goes beyond its involvement
in Burma. A May 2001 report in the Multinational Monitor identified
the following countries in which Halliburton and its KBR unit
did business with, despite U.S. sanctions and charges of human
rights abuses.
Azerbaijan. Dick Cheney lobbied to remove
Congressional sanctions against aid to Azerbaijan, sanctions
imposed because of concerns about ethnic cleansing. Cheney said
the sanctions were the result only of groundless campaigning
by the Armenian-American lobby. In 1997, Halliburton subsidiary
Brown & Root bid on a major Caspian project from the Azerbaijan
International Operating Company.
Indonesia. Halliburton had extensive
investments and contracts in Suharto's Indonesia. The post-Suharto
government during a purging of corruptly awarded contracts canceled
one of its contracts. Indonesia Corruption Watch named Kellogg
Brown & Root (Halliburton's engineering division) among 59
companies using collusive, corruptive and nepotistic practices
in deals involving former President Suharto's family.
Iran. Dick Cheney has lobbied against
the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. Even with the Act in place, Halliburton
has continued to operate in Iran. It settled with the Department
of Commerce in 1997, before Cheney became CEO, over allegations
relating to Iran for $15,000, without admitting any wrongdoing.
Iraq. Dick Cheney cites multilateral
sanctions against Iraq as an example of sanctions he supports.
Yet since the war, Halliburton-related companies helped to reconstruct
Iraq's oil industry. In July 2000, the International Herald Tribune
reported, "Dresser-Rand and Ingersoll-Dresser Pump Co.,
joint ventures that Halliburton has sold within the past year,
have done work in Iraq on contracts for the reconstruction of
Iraq's oil industry, under the United Nations' Oil for Food Program."
A Halliburton spokesman acknowledged to the Tribune that the
Dresser subsidiaries did sell oil-pumping equipment to Iraq via
European agents.
Libya. Before Cheney's arrival, Halliburton
was deeply involved in Libya, earning $44.7 million there in
1993. After sanctions on Libya were imposed, earnings dropped
to $12.4 million in 1994. Halliburton continued doing business
in Libya throughout Cheney's tenure. One Member of Congress accused
the company "of undermining American foreign policy to the
full extent allowed by law."
Nigeria. Local villagers have accused
Halliburton of complicity in the shooting of a protester by Nigeria's
Mobile Police Unit, playing a similar role to Shell and Chevron
in the mobilization of this 'kill and go" unit to protect
company property. Dick Cheney has been a strong advocate for
preventing or eliminating federal laws that place limits on Halliburton's
ability to do business in these countries.
Before it awards the contract this time
around, the Pentagon ought to consider that KBR, which the Army
Corps of Engineers says is most qualified to extinguish Iraq's
oil well fires, supports the same terrorist regimes we're at
war with.
Jason Leopold
can be reached at: jasonleopold@hotmail.com
Today's
Features
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Robert
Jensen
Self-Determination in Iraq? Then the
US Must Leave
Dr.
Susan Block
The Rape of Iraq
Ron Jacobs
Aiming at Syria: Stop Them Before They Kill Again
Robert
Fisk
The Final Sacking of Baghdad
Col. Dan
Smith
Post-War Iraq: Asking the Right Questions
Ali
Abunimah and Hussein Ibish
A Cycle of Chaos and Confrontation: Misadventures of the NeoCons
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/15
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