Bush, Cheney and Halliburton
As we all know, Dick Cheney was Secretary of Defense under Bush the Elder. When he lost his job thanks to the American Electorate in 1992, he became the CEO of Halliburton. Halliburton also owns Brown, Root and Kellog - lets just call it Halliburton and Friends.
As it turns out, Halliburton and Friends just happen to be awarded major contracts for the Department of Defense thoughout the 1990s. Whatever they earned when Dick was CEO cannot compare with the billions of taxpayer dollars that Halliburton and Friends have earned since Dick became Vice President of the United States.
While Dick claims he has no ties with the company he use to run, he receives about $150,000 per year from Halliburton. Of course the fact that Halliburton and Friends have the Vice President on the payroll has nothing to do with the billions of American tax dollars that Haliburton has made since we invaded Iraq to liberate the Iraqi people. Here are a few fun facts that will help you understand how Halliburton has earned those billions of taxpayers dollars fair and square!
FUN FACT 1 - On October 29,2003, the Associated Press reported that "the U.S. government hired the company in Iraq without a competitive bid, after the company recommended itself in a study. Halliburton's Iraq oil services contract, worth $1.59 billion so far, will be extended until December or January."
FUN FACT 2 - The Associated Press on October 29, 2003 also reported that "Iraq contractors DynCorp, Bechtel and Halliburton donated more than $2.2 million mainly to Republican causes like the 2000 Bush presidential campaign between 1999 and 2002, according to the Center for Responsive Politics."
FUN FACT 3 - The Associate Press further reported on October 29, 2003 that we taxpayers paid Halliburton's subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root $3 million to build a mess tent in Bagdad for our troops.
FUN FACT 4 - The U.S. government and its taxpayers are paying Vice President Dick Cheney 's former firm Halliburton $2.65 a gallon for gasoline imported into Iraq from Kuwait and then reselling it to Iraqis for 4 to 15 cents. When is the last time you paid 4cents for a gallon of gas?
FUN FACT 5 - The Army Corps of Engineers announced in March 2003 that Halliburton had been awarded a no-bid contract, with a $7 billion limit, for putting out fires at Iraqi oil wells. Corps spokesmen justified the lack of competition on the grounds that the operation was part of a classified war plan and the Army did not have time to secure competitive bids for the work.
FUN FACT 6 - Bush himself was "shocked" at the overcharges and vowed that Halliburton would pay back any money they stole from the American people. Of course, this was another ploy by the Bush Administration to get the story out of the papers. One week later, the Pentagon determined that Halliburton had not been stealing from the taxpayers! Guess that W decided to let them off the hook!
FUN FACT 7 - The Pentagon acknowledged in 2004 that Haliburton was under investigation for charging the United States Taxpayers for meals it never served to our soldiers in Iraq! Apparently, the Bush/Cheney Adminstration has been paying Haliburton and Friends for three meals for every one meal Haliburton actually served. Makes you wonder how much that Turkey Bush was holding up in Iraq on Thanksgiving Day 2003 cost the U.S. Taxpayer!
The Blue View of this raw corruption was summed up best by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who has stated that, "Halliburton is looting the U.S. Treasury and this administration seems to be happy to help them."
http://bringiton22205.tripod.com/id6.html