Democrats See Smoking Gun in E-Mail on Halliburton

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[esryle]

WASHINGTON — Democrats on Tuesday called for a full investigation of one of the most politicized issues in the reconstruction of Iraq: whether Vice President Dick Cheney was involved in a decision to award Halliburton Corp. a multibillion-dollar contract to rebuild the country's oil infrastructure.

Democrats charged that a recently released U.S. Army e-mail showed that Cheney, president of Halliburton between 1995 and 2000, had coordinated action relating to the contract, awarded without bidding and worth up to $7 billion.

The nonprofit Judicial Watch obtained the one-page e-mail earlier this year as part of a Freedom of Information Act request to the Army Corps of Engineers, which awarded the contract in March 2003.

"Every single aspect of this is so out of the ordinary," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) at a teleconference organized by the Kerry campaign. "It raises the real question: Can the American people trust their government to do the right thing?"

[gunner03]

Compare this e-mail story to the one involving the juditial committee. As was pointed out, the RNC will not get a dime until they grow a pair. Semper Fi

[ozdragon]

The owners of Brown & Root, Now the Hallibuton subsidiary Kellog Brown & Root, were Lyndon Johnson's best supporters and fund raisers going back to his first run for office.
They have been winning government contracts for over 50 years.

[ozdragon]

The owners of Brown & Root, Now the Hallibuton subsidiary Kellog Brown & Root, were Lyndon Johnson's best supporters and fund raisers going back to his first run for office.
They have been winning government contracts for over 50 years.

[hermgem]

Democrats relentlessly attack Haliburton, which under difficult and deadly dangers took on the job to get infrastructure and oil going, including operating transports that got blown up.
No comments by Democrats however about Schlumberger the French oil exploration company when this company reported a 90% quarterly profit increase. Should such profits have been declared by Haliburton, a company that did expose themselves to deadly risks, all hell from a united anti business media to a John Kerry, a concerned Tom Daschle and a shrill Nancy Pelosi would still be reverberating.
Needless to say, Haliburton stayed while Siemens packed it in, including the French who were already busy building a wireless network in Iraq.
Yet these same people want to decide, and will do so should J. Kerry make it, as to who stays and who governs.
The French just turned into more outspokenness after
J. Kerry revealed his plan to put the U.N. in charge, including the military.
Where will the U.N. military General come from?

[TomGuy]

Good grief...are the Dems so desperate that they are rehashing old news that has already been refuted?

Of course. That's what you do when you are that desperate.

How many weeks of the Iraqi prison story? Even some dem frontpeople on the talk circuit admit nothing new has come in the last 10 or 15 days, yet it is still front page in some lib media.

What about GWB's National Guard service? We vetted that for the 2000 election cycle. Yet, it showed up again--not once, but twice, in the current cycle--each time getting about a week of air time.

It is still 5 months until the election. Look for more digging up of dead horses to beat again and again.

After all, the Dems got Kerry. To quote dem consultant, David Corn, "Now, they are 'stuck' with him."

[Camachee]

"Every single aspect of this is so out of the ordinary," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) at a teleconference organized by the Kerry campaign.

Well, at least there is no political agenda associated with this "scandal".

"It raises the real question: Can the American people trust their government to do the right thing?"

No. Go away and leave us alone.

[Sangria]

There aren't that many companies in the business, and Halliburton is the best and has the best reputation. Why don't those damn Democrats quit trying to make something of it this?

[Jaded]

Shhhh, that's a secret.

[Mogollon]

Right. The last time the dims thought they had pulled a fast one they took John Ashcroft's senate seat due to a sympathy vote. They've been apoplectic about AG Ashcroft ever since.

[Soliton]

HALLIBURTON AWARDED SERVICES CONTRACT TO SUPPORT TROOPS IN BALKANS

Halliburton Company Web site
February 18, 1999 Company News Release


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 18, 1999 DALLAS, Texas—(Feb. 19, 1999) - Brown & Root Services (BRS), a business unit of Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL), has been selected to continue its services as the premier logistics support provider to U.S. forces deployed in the Balkans region. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Transatlantic Programs Center announced today that it awarded the logistics support services contract, which becomes effective on May 28, 1999, to Brown & Root Services for a period of up to five years. Contract value is estimated up to $180 million per year, with a maximum value of $900 million if all four option periods are exercised. The one-year contract has four one-year options that can be awarded at the government's discretion. (bold my emphasis)

I guess Cheney was VP under the Clinton's too.

[Rebelbase]

I know this is going to show up on another site I frequent.

Could someone here solve for X the following:

Cheney was given x amount of money when he left Haliburton to be paid over x years?

Is there an insurance policy to pay out in case Haliburton can't pay Cheney?

[ravingnutter]

Look for more digging up of dead horses to beat again and again.

They are shooting themselves in the foot when they should be shooting the horse...they better hope the gun doesn't backfire and blow up in their faces, I have a feeling it will.

[F16Fighter]

If the Democats are really desperate to find a "smoking gun," they'd be advised to hire a proctogist.

[GSWarrior]

Yawn! Halliburton was the ONLY COMPANY THAT COULD DO THE JOB!

Bingo. Who are we supposed to award the contracts to? Tony's Roofing Repair?

[hobbes1]

Tony's Roofing Repair

Can we get them a contract to repair Leaky Leahy?

[Puddleglum]

And I guarantee you there will be a racial story/incident within a few months of the election. Black voters must be given their red meat so they will vote in droves to prevent their own kids from getting school vouchers.

I hadn't thought about this but you are so right. It's gonna take a whopper to get the minority turnout up for old Thurston Howell III (no offense to the late, great Jim Baccus intended).

[xzins]

Halliburton has been the government's civilian contractor right arm for years. Clinton used them to rebuild Bosnia and Kosovo.

That is proof that Clinton and Bush had a secret deal to swap the presidency. The deal was made by Dick Cheney.

For financial considerations, Clinton received promises of pardon and the retention of Tenet as head of the CIA to protect his information interests.

(/sarcasm)

[ravingnutter]

Here's what I found:

In August, Richard Cheney left oil-services company Halliburton to focus on his vice presidential bid with Texas Gov. George W. Bush. His resignation triggered a retirement package with stock options worth more than $13.6 million, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cheney's annual salary was $1.3 million, and he earned $3 million when he sold Halliburton in May.

Source

In December 1998, the Vice President elected to defer compensation earned in calendar year 1999 for his services as chief executive officer of Halliburton. This amount is to be paid in fixed annual installments (with interest) in the five years after the Vice President's retirement from Halliburton. That election to defer income became final and unalterable before Mr. Cheney left Halliburton. The amount of deferred compensation received by the Vice President is fixed and is not affected by Halliburton's current economic performance or earnings in any way. In addition, the Vice President purchased, with his personal funds, an insurance policy that guarantees that he will receive the amount that is owed to him even if Halliburton is unable to make the deferred compensation payments.

Source

The money is insured in case the company goes under and Lautenberg acknowledged that the compensation received so far has been donated to charity.

Source

[Rebelbase]

Thanks for finding that. Now, in the first link there is the following sentance:

"His resignation triggered a retirement package with stock options worth more than $13.6 million"

Wouldn't stock options be considered a "link" to the company with a conflict of interest? (or is the stock options BS?)

[ravingnutter]

According to this story:

He sold his stock back in August 2000, after both the Gore campaign and the media insisted that Cheney had an ethical duty to make a total financial break with Halliburton, even insisting that he forfeit millions of dollars in future stock options that he had rightfully earned.

As far as the stock options are concerned:

The president and vice president are exempt from recent government ethics rules, but Cheney's personal lawyer, Terry O'Donnell, said that before Cheney took office in January 2001, he directed O'Donnell to handle his Halliburton affairs as if he were covered by the laws. O'Donnell said Cheney told him to do everything possible to sever all ties to the firm and avoid conflicts of interest. O'Donnell said one step was giving an outside administrator control over 433,333 Halliburton stock options that Cheney owns and designating three charities to receive any profits from exercising those options.

Source (Original is Modesto Bee, link is there)