The Mute Button Truth about Halliburton

Last week reports confirmed, once again, that the Bush administration has not been telling us the truth about how Halliburton has spent our tax dollars. A House Committee found that Halliburton has wasted at least $1 billion in tax payer money on military contracts in Iraq, due to poor planning and oversight. [Detroit Free Press, 6/16/04]

Cheney's History of Employment at Halliburton
Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton from 1995-2000.
Halliburton's board of directors voted to give Cheney a $20 million retirement package when he resigned, in addition to providing him with a massive salary and a bonus for just eight months of work in 2000.
Following his departure from Halliburton, Cheney retained possession of 433,333 options of Halliburton stock.
Although Cheney insisted that he severed his financial ties to Halliburton, the Congressional Research Service recently released a report saying that federal ethics laws consider both Cheney's deferred compensation and his stock options as lingering financial interest in the company.
Halliburton's Contract with the Federal Government
The Pentagon knew it would need help after the war rebuilding Iraqi oil fields and putting out oil field fires. Rather than following normal procedure and asking companies to bid on the job, the Pentagon turned the entire project over to Cheney's former firm, Halliburton. The Army Corps of Engineers said that Halliburton's compensation for rejuvenating Iraq's oil industry could be up to $7 billion. In postwar Iraq, Halliburton is the largest private contractor, with potential deals totaling over $11 billion.
Last September, Cheney said that he did not influence the decision to award Halliburton a no-bid contract: "I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form of contracts led by the [Army] Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the federal government." Since then, we have learned that:
Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, received a Pentagon briefing in October 2002, one month prior to directing Halliburton to develop a secret plan for restoring and operating Iraq's oil infrastructure. The vice president's office was also made aware of a second contract worth up to $7 billion awarded to Halliburton four months later for implementing this plan.
Time Magazine uncovered an e-mail indicating that the $7 billion contract awarded to Halliburton was "coordinated" with Cheney's office.
Halliburton's Waste

Waste Due to Bush Administration's Lack of Oversight. David M. Walker, head of the General Accounting Office, testified that Defense Department planners had failed to adequately determine the needs of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and to effectively oversee the billions of dollars' worth of contracts issued. [Los Angeles Times, 6/16/04]
Halliburton Wasted $186 Million on Meals Never Delivered. Halliburton billed the government for 36 percent more meals than were served, overcharging $186 million. [Detroit Free Press, 6/16/04]
Lavish Hotels, Abandoned Trucks, Inflated Gas Prices. A Halliburton's subsidiary was also criticized for abandoning $85,000 trucks with flat tires, housing company officials in a five-star Kuwaiti hotel, overcharging for gas it imported into Iraq from Kuwait, and ordering empty trucks to crisscross the country. [Detroit Free Press, 6/16/04]
Halliburton Reaped Profits While Forcing Troops To Eat In Filthy Conditions. According to NBC News, "Pentagon inspections of mess halls run by KBR are finding a mess in some of them... In the main Baghdad dining facility where President Bush surprised the troops on Thanksgiving, inspectors found filthy kitchen conditions in each of the three previous months. Complaints filed in August, September and again October report problems. Blood all over the floor of the refrigerators, dirty pans, dirty grills, dirty salad bars, rotting meats and vegetables. In October, the inspector writes that Halliburton's previous promises to fix the problems have not been followed through and warns the company serious repercussions may result, due to improper handling and serving of food." [NBC News, 12/12/03]