Halliburton wins contract on Iraq oil firefighting

[Anonymous]

Reuters, 03.06.03, 8:31 PM ET
HOUSTON, March 6 (Reuters) - A Halliburton Co. (nyse: HAL - news - people) subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) has won the contract to oversee any firefighting operations at Iraqi oilfields after any U.S.-led invasion, a Defense Department source said on Thursday.

KBR was widely viewed by many in the oilfield services industry as the likely candidate to oversee firefighting in Iraq's oilfields. Halliburton does extensive logistic support work for the U.S. military.

Vice President Dick Cheney served as Halliburton's chief executive officer from 1995 to 2000,

A possible beneficiary of Thursday's deal is oilwell firefighting company Boots & Coots International Well Control Inc., with which Halliburton has had an alliance since 1995.

A Halliburton spokeswoman declined comment and referred all questions to the Defense Department.

Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service

[FartinMowler]

I get to watch another documentary on putting out the fires again. Beautiful but sad....

[Protoclown]

You do not belong in this forum.

OUT!! OUT, DAMN SPOT!!

[FartinMowler]

Whatever. Living canada I can smell the shit your country keeps stepping in but I don't use a stick to poke at it and try to figure it out.

[BombsBurstingInAir]

They are a fine outfit. They'll do a good job. Cheney may have pushed a little, but he didn't have to push much. This outfit is highly regarded.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Yeah, for making money off the "butcher of Baghdad."

[Zero Signal]

Doesn't surprise me.

Iraq invaded Kuwait because their bitching about Kuwait slant-drilling into Iraqi oilfields went unanswered. A lot of American companies control much of Kuwait's oil, so there is a pretext for war that is obvious now.

Then, American companies come in a cap the oil fires that the UN fucking had set in the first place! Several special forces members have come forward with the information that the UN ordered the oil fires set in the first place, and that it was NOT Iraq that did it.

The rabbit hole is very deep. >:

[ranxer]

yea, no doubt, very deep.

boy does it suck that speaking out against our corporate governments lies we get branded as unpatriotic >: i'm sick of it.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4623333,00.html

Cheney is still paid by Pentagon contractor
Bush deputy gets up to $1m from firm with Iraq oil deal

Robert Bryce in Austin, Texas and Julian Borger in Washington
Wednesday March 12, 2003
The Guardian

Halliburton, the Texas company which has been awarded the Pentagon's contract to put out potential oil-field fires in Iraq and which is bidding for postwar construction contracts, is still making annual payments to its former chief executive, the vice-president Dick Cheney.

The payments, which appear on Mr Cheney's 2001 financial disclosure statement, are in the form of "deferred compensation" of up to $1m (£600,000) a year.

When he left Halliburton in 2000 to become George Bush's running mate, he opted not to receive his leaving payment in a lump sum but instead have it paid to him over five years, possibly for tax reasons.

An aide to the vice president said yesterday: "This is money that Mr Cheney was owed by the corporation as part of his salary for the time he was employed by Halliburton and which was a fixed amount paid to him over time."

The aide said the payment was even insured so that it would not be affected even if Halliburton went bankrupt, to ensure there was no conflict of interest.

"Also, the vice president has nothing whatsoever to do with the Pentagon bidding process," the aide added.

The company would not say how much the payments are. The obligatory disclosure statement filled by all top government officials says only that they are in the range of $100,000 and $1m. Nor is it clear how they are calculated.

Halliburton is one of five large US corporations - the others are the Bechtel Group, Fluor Corp, Parsons Corp, and the Louis Berger Group - invited to bid for contracts in what may turn out to be the biggest reconstruction project since the second world war.

It is estimated to be worth up to $900m for the preliminary work alone, such as rebuilding Iraq's hospitals, ports, airports and schools.

The contract winners will be able to establish a presence in post-Saddam Iraq that should give them an invaluable edge in winning future contracts.

The defence department contract awarded to the Halliburton subsidiary, Kellog, Brown & Root (KBR), to control oil fires if Saddam Hussein sets the well heads alight, will put the company in an excellent position to bid for huge contracts when Iraq's oil industry is rehabilitated.

KBR has already benefited considerably from the "war on terror". It has so far been awarded contracts worth nearly $33m to build the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for al-Qaida suspects.

Asked whether the payments to Mr Cheney represented a conflict of interest, Halliburton's spokeswoman, Wendy Hall, said: "We have been working as a government contractor since the 1940s. Since this time, KBR has become the premier provider of logistics and support services to all branches of the military."

In the five years Mr Cheney was at the helm, Halliburton nearly doubled the amount of business it did with the government to $2.3bn. The company also more than doubled its political contributions to $1.2m, overwhelmingly to Republican candidates.

Mr Cheney sold most of his Halliburton shares when he left the company, but retained stock options worth about $8m. He arranged to pay any profits to charity.

· Robert Bryce is the author of Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, Jealousy and the Death of Enron


Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

[mburbank]

More disturbing than the fact of Haliburton's contracts with the military, and in the case of Kellog this may well be the actual best group to go with, is that several of these contracts are 'open ended', ie. they have no budget restraints or even estimates and are essentially blank checks.

[The_Rorschach]

Great articles Kevin. I owe you one.

By the way, the required text for AmSt 602 here is pretty fucking awesome. Called "Barbarian Virtues." Not a college publication, private author, but our professor insisted we get it.

Anyway, covers the shift in economic trends in America (stress 1890's) and why buisnesses are run the way they are now. Rather fascinating. Might appeal to you or Burbie.

[mburbank]

Is it the sort of thing I should get a bloodpresure screening before tackling?

[The_Rorschach]

Possibly. I got a tad upset over some of what I was seeing. It forces you to come to terms with some of the imperialistic trends in our history, and how politicians have a history of being corporate lapdogs.

Especially Taft. But then, I've always hated Taft.

[Miss Modular]

Especially Taft. But then, I've always hated Taft.

<offtopic>
I don't think Taft would elected today.
</offtopic>

[The_Rorschach]

Taft wasn't elected then. He recieved the Electoral confirmation, but didn't have anywhere near the majority of the popular vote. His entire term was riddled with corruption from conception to termination.

[Miss Modular]

Thank you.

(No sarcasm intended.)

[Miss Modular]

D'oh! Double post.

[mburbank]

He was our most obese President. Nothing can take that away from him.