Iraq War Profiteering

[CinnamonGirl]

I mentioned this in another thread but felt it needed it's own.

As perviously mentioned, allegations of profiteering started back in 2004 and are still going on. Why is it we don't hear about this? I think now that the tides have shifted, so to speak, there will be a lot more of it coming out.

Here is a recent article about Robert Greenwald's documentary, "Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers". I am sure no Republican will like any of this or this guy. He also produced a documentary on Fox News, "Outfoxed", about their journalistic ethics...or lack their of.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35360


Here is a PDF from the Institute of Souther Studies on Iraq war profiteering as well. This article really names the companies that are top on the list, such as, Haliburton (former head, Dick Channey), Haliburton subsidary, Kellogg, Brown & Root , Bechtel (their connections to the Bush administration include $1.3 million in campaign contributions and a spot on the Defense Policy Board that is held by Senior Vice President, retired General Jack Sheehan), MCI (formerly WorldCom - and know for the largest fraud in US history) and the Research Triangle Institues (suprising there are no direct ties to the adminstration).

All of these companies attained NO-BID contracts.

http://www.southernstudies.org/reports/findoutmore.pdf

AND here is a link to a site called AskQuestions.org. They have all kinds of info on the subject.

http://www.askquestions.org/details.php?id=26

[Devlin]

Haliburton was in Somalia during Clinton's regin as well..So Seeing how they were in Somolia during Clinton's years in office, they
really don't lean either way on the political scale. They just seem to be the best contract company we have based on the ammount of service
they put out. They also have monopolized the military service industry so they are the only company available. Until some other company can
do what Haliburton can do at the level they do it in at a cheaper level, then they will be around a long time. At least till they are removed from doing business with our government.

[CinnamonGirl]

This is true, they were in Somalia during the Clinton years. Guess who was with Haliburton then??? Why, Mr. Chenny. He made $44 million dollars working for Haliburton, still receives deferred compensation (about $100-150 thousand a year) and has $8 million dollars worth of stock options.

Private companies, like Haliburton, can conceal details of their missions from public scrutiny in the name of protecting trade secrets. They are also largely exempt from salary caps and government ethics rules designed to protect policy from being polluted by politics. The Hatch Act, for example, forbids most government employees from giving money to political campaigns. Haliburton made political contributions of more than seven hundred thousand dollars between 1999 and 2002, almost always to Republican candidates or causes. In 2000, it donated $17,677 to the Bush-Cheney campaign. The seventy or so companies that have Iraq contracts have contributed more money to President Bush than they did to any other candidate during the past twelve years.

Here's a tidbit I found online from The New Yorker magazine:

Halliburton has been accused of exploiting its privileged status. Last year, a division of the company overcharged the government by as much as sixty-one million dollars in the course of buying and transporting fuel from Kuwait into Iraq. Halliburton charged the United States as much as $2.38 per gallon, an amount that a Pentagon audit determined to be about a dollar per gallon too high. Although Halliburton has denied any criminal wrongdoing, the inspector general for the Department of Defense is considering an investigation.

Halliburton blamed the high costs on an obscure Kuwaiti firm, Altanmia Commercial Marketing, which it subcontracted to deliver the fuel. In Kuwait, the oil business is controlled by the state, and Halliburton has claimed that government officials there pressured it into hiring Altanmia, which had no experience in fuel transport. Yet a previously undisclosed letter, dated May 4, 2003, and sent from an American contracting officer to Kuwait’s oil minister, plainly describes the decision to use Altanmia as Halliburton’s own “recommendation.â€

[Devlin]

So you are agreeing that Clinton was in bed with this as well?

[CinnamonGirl]

No...agreeing to a fact that they were in Somalia as well.

That is really the best you can come up with? C'mon now...

I've always said it, Republican will never admit to the facts.

[Devlin]

And a dem dodges the questions.

[Devlin]

IF you claim that Bush had acceess to all info in the most powerfull office in the world and lied about all info leading up to the war in Iraq...then I can think on the conspiracy level of Clinton knew about the Haliburton costs towards the military during Somalia.

You guys act like Haliburton has just recently started.. damn, they have been around for years.

The fact that there are no bid contracts is simply because that Haliburton monopolized the military service industry. No one can match the supply and demand that Haliburton can produce...

Capitalism is a bitch huh?

My suggestion is this...Produce at the level Haliburtin does and do it cheaper and you have the job.

Old news

The fact remains is with the excepton Cheney and Bush your arguments concerning people no longer in office doesn't hold water to those recently elected. Apparantly on a lie as well.

[^_^]

meh, war is always good for the economy.
No matter who's in office, somebody always profits handsomely.

Face it, there really are no do-gooders in politics, they are all bottom feedes that happened to float to the top