excerpts from an article about Cheyney and Iraq

The following is excerpted from an article that appeared in the SanFrancisco Bay Guardian

 

 

During
> > former defense secretary 
Richard Cheney's five-year tenure as chief
> > executive of 
Halliburton, Inc., his oil services firm raked in big bucks
> > from 
dubious commercial dealings with Iraq. Cheney left Halliburton with a
> 
> $34 million retirement package last July when he became the GOP's
> 
> vice-presidential candidate.
> >
> > Of course, U.S. 
firms aren't generally supposed to do business with Saddam
> > Hussein. 
But thanks to legal loopholes large enough to steer an oil tanker
> > 
through, Halliburton profited big-time from deals with the Iraqi
> > 
dictatorship. Conducted discreetly through several Halliburton
> 
subsidiaries
> > in Europe, these greasy transactions helped Saddam 
Hussein retain his grip
> > on power while lining the pockets of Cheney 
and company.
> >
> > According to the Financial Times of 
London, between September 1988 and
> last
> > winter, Cheney, as 
CEO of Halliburton, oversaw $23.8 million of business
> > contracts for 
the sale of oil-industry equipment and services to Iraq
> > through two 
of its subsidiaries, Dresser Rand and Ingersoll-Dresser Pump,
> > which 
helped rebuild Iraq's war-damaged petroleum-production
> > 
infrastructure. The combined value of these contracts exceeded those of
> 
any
> > other U.S. company doing business with Baghdad.
> 
>
> > Halliburton was among more than a dozen American firms that 
supplied
> Iraq's
> > petroleum industry with spare parts and 
retooled its oil rigs when U.N.
> > sanctions were eased in 1998. 
Cheney's company utilized subsidiaries in
> > France, Italy, Germany, 
and Austria so as not to draw undue attention to
> > controversial 
business arrangements that might embarrass Washington and
> > 
jeopardize lucrative ties to Iraq, which will pump $24 billion of petrol
> 
> under the U.N.-administered oil-for-food program this year. Assisted 
by
> > Halliburton, Hussein's government will earn another $1 billion 
by
> illegally
> > exporting oil through black-market 
channels.
> >
> > With Cheney at the helm since 1995, 
Halliburton quickly grew into
> America's
> > number-one 
oil-services company, the fifth-largest military contractor,
> and
> 
> the biggest nonunion employer in the nation. Although Cheney claimed 
that
> > the U.S. government "had absolutely nothing to do" with his 
firm's
> meteoric
> > financial success, State Department 
documents obtained by the Los Angeles
> > Times indicate that U.S. 
officials helped Halliburton secure major
> > contracts in Asia and 
Africa. Halliburton now does business in 130
> > countries and employs 
more than 100,000 workers worldwide. Its 1999 income
> > was a cool $15 
billion.
> >
> > In addition to Iraq, Halliburton counts among 
its business partners
> several
> > brutal dictatorships that 
have committed egregious human rights abuses,
> > including the hated 
military regime in Burma (Myanmar). EarthRights, a
> > Washington, 
D.C.-based human rights watchdog, condemned Halliburton for
> two
> 
> energy-pipeline projects in Burma that led to the forced relocation 
of
> > villages, rape, murder, indentured labor, and other crimes 
against
> > humanity. A full report (this is a 45 page pdf file 
-
> > http://www.earthrights.org/Halliburton/report.pd - there is also a brief
> > 
http://www.earthrights.org/news/halliburton.html - summary) on the Burma
> > connection, 
"Halliburton's Destructive Engagement," can be accessed on
> > 
EarthRights' Web site, http://www.earthrights.org/news/halliburton.html.
> >
> 
> Human rights activists have also criticized Cheney's company for 
its
> > questionable role in Algeria, Angola, Bosnia, Croatia, Haiti, 
Rwanda,
> > Somalia, Indonesia, and other volatile trouble spots. In 
Russia,
> > Halliburton's partner, Tyumen Oil, has been accused of 
committing massive
> > fraud to gain control of a Siberian oil field. 
And in oil-rich Nigeria,
> > Halliburton worked with Shell and Chevron, 
which were implicated in gross
> > human rights violations and 
environmental calamities in that country.
> > Indeed, Cheney's firm 
increased its involvement in the Niger Delta after
> > the military 
government executed several ecology activists and crushed
> > popular 
protests against the oil industry.
> >
> > Halliburton also 
had business dealings in Iran and Libya, which remain on
> > the State 
Department's list of terrorist states. Brown and Root, a
> > 
Halliburton subsidiary, was fined $3.8 million for reexporting U.S. 
goods
> > to Libya in violation of U.S. sanctions.
> >
> 
> But in terms of sheer hypocrisy, Halliburton's relationship with 
Saddam
> > Hussein is hard to top. What's more, Cheney lied about his 
company's
> > activities in Iraq when journalists fleetingly raised the 
issue during the
> > campaign.
> >
> > Questioned by 
Sam Donaldson on ABC's This Week program in August, Cheney
> > bluntly 
asserted that Halliburton had no dealings with the Iraqi regime
> > 
while he was on board.
> >
> > Donaldson: I'm told, and 
correct me if I'm wrong, that Halliburton,
> through
> > 
subsidiaries, was actually trying to do business in Iraq?
> >
> 
> Cheney: No. No. I had a firm policy that I wouldn't do anything in Iraq 
-
> > even arrangements that were supposedly legal.
> 
>
> > And that was it! ABC News and the other U.S. networks dropped 
the issue
> > like a hot potato. As damning information about 
Halliburton surfaced in
> the
> > European press, American 
reporters stuck to old routines and took their
> > cues on how to cover 
the campaign from the two main political parties,
> both
> > of 
which had very little to say about official U.S. support for abusive
> 
> corporate policies at home and abroad.
> >
> > But why, 
in this instance, didn't the Democrats stomp and scream about
> > 
Cheney's Iraq connection? The Gore campaign undoubtedly knew of
> > 
Halliburton's smarmy business dealings from the get-go. Gore and 
Lieberman
> > could have made hay about how the wannabe GOP veep had 
been in cahoots
> with
> > Saddam. Such explosive revelations may 
well have swayed voters and boosted
> > Gore's chances in what was 
shaping up to be a close electoral contest.
> >
> > The 
Democratic standard-bearers dropped the ball in part because
> > 
Halliburton's conduct was generally in accordance with the foreign 
policy
> > of the Clinton administration. Cheney is certainly not the 
only Washington
> > mover and shaker to have been affiliated with a 
company trading in Iraq.
> > Former CIA Director John Deutsch, who 
served in a Democratic
> > administration, is a member of the board of 
directors of Schlumberger, the
> > second-largest U.S. oil-services 
company, which also does business through
> > subsidiaries in Iraq. 
Despite occasional rhetorical skirmishes, a
> > bipartisan 
foreign-policy consensus prevails on Capital Hill, where the
> > 
commitment to human rights, with a few notable exceptions, is about as
> 
deep
> > as an oil slick.
> >
> > Truth be told, 
trading with the enemy is a time-honored American corporate
> > 
practice - or perhaps "malpractice" would be a more appropriate
> 
description
> > of big-business ties to repressive regimes. Given that 
Saddam Hussein, the
> > pariah du jour, has often been compared to 
Hitler, it's worth pointing out
> > that several blue-chip U.S. firms 
profited from extensive commercial
> > dealings with Nazi Germany. 
Shockingly, some American companies -
> including
> > Standard 
Oil, Ford, ITT, GM, and General Electric - secretly kept trading
> > 
with the Nazi enemy while American soldiers fought and died during World
> 
> War II.
> >
> > Today General Electric is among the 
companies that are back in business
> > with Saddam Hussein, even as 
American jets and battleships attack Iraq on
> a
> > weekly basis 
using weapons made by G.E. But the United Nations sanctions
> > 
committee, dominated by U.S. officials, has routinely blocked medicines
> 
and
> > other essential items from being delivered to Iraq through 
the
> oil-for-food
> > program, claiming they have a potential 
military "dual use." These
> > sanctions have taken a terrible toll on 
ordinary Iraqis, and on children
> in
> > particular, while the 
likes of Halliburton and G.E. continue to lubricate
> > their 
coffers.
> >
>