Halliburton scandal investigated

The Bush administration and Halliburton have been included in 
an expanded US Congressional investigation into the United 
Nations' oil-for-food scandal. The subcommittee, chaired by 
Connecticut Republican Christopher Shays, will subpoena documents 
on the management of oil revenues by the now-disbanded US 
Coalition Provisional Authority, which governed Iraq from May 
2003 through June 2004.

Shays' subcommittee will also subpoena Pentagon audits on Iraqi 
reconstruction contracts, including the audits on Halliburton's 
no-bid oil contracts that were financed through revenues obtained 
by the UN's oil-for-food program during the period when Saddam 
Hussein governed Iraq.

Some of the funds obtained by Saddam Hussein via the UN's oil-
for-food program were used to finance Halliburton's no-bid 
contracts after the US-led invasion toppled the Iraqi government 
in March 2003.

Former Halliburton employees have described multiple abuses of US 
taxpayers' money in Iraq, but a congressional investigation of 
Iraqi oil funds paid to US contractors had not been proposed 
until now.

The subcommittee intends to subpoena the Federal Reserve Bank of 
New York for information on the management of Iraq's oil revenues 
and to request that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld provide 
audits on non-competitive contracts.

So far, the Bush administration has admitted that US companies 
bribed Saddam Hussein's government in order to win business from 
the dictator. The US ambassador to the United Nations, John 
Negroponte, told Congress last April that US companies had paid 
the bribes in exchange for government contracts during the 1990s. 
Senators Richard Lugar (Republican, Indiaana) and Joseph Biden 
(Democrat, Delaware) urged Negroponte to disclose the names of US 
companies involved in the bribes, but he refused.

The congressional General Accounting Office estimated that 
Saddam's regime acquired US$10.1 billion illegally through the 
sale of US$5.7 billion in oil smuggled to Syria, Turkey and 
Jordan, and $4.4 billion through kickbacks paid by firms selling 
food, medicine and other goods to Iraq. The illegal sales 
occurred between 1997 and 2002.

Ironically, some of that money ultimately was paid to Halliburton 
to finance Iraq's reconstruction after Saddam's downfall.

Meanwhile, Halliburton is going to great lengths to ensure its 
influence on the White House is maintained.

According to filings with the US Senate Office of Public Records 
Halliburton spent $770,000 lobbying Washington in first half of 
2004, a 400 percent increase from the $150,000 spent during the 
first six months of 2003.

Halliburton's in-house lobbyists include retired Army Lt Gen 
Charles E Dominy; Donald A Deline, a former counsel to the Senate 
Armed Services Committee; and George P Sigalos, a former press 
aide to Republican Congressman Philip M Crane.

These people pushed for favourable (to Halliburton of course) 
legislation on asbestos, tort reform, the World Trade 
Organisation, energy policy, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas 
Private Investment Corp., government procurement, military 
contracting, immigration and homeland security.

Earlier this year, Halliburton hired an outside lobbying firm, 
Covington & Burling, to lobby Washington on behalf of its KBR 
Government Operations division, the same division being pummeled 
by the media, the Pentagon and Congress for its handling of Iraq 
contracts. Covington & Burling was paid $520,000 to handle 
"inquiries concerning company's construction and service 
contracts in Iraq", the firm said in a filing. 

According to the filing, Covington & Burling listed the following 
people as lobbyists for Halliburton/KBR: Roderick A DeArment, who 
was chief of staff to now-retired Republican Senator Bob Dole; 
Martin B Gold, former counsel to Republican Senate Majority 
Leader Bill Frist; Stuart E Eizenstat, US ambassador to the 
European Union during the Clinton administration; and David M 
Marchick, who served in various posts in the Clinton 
administration.

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http://www.haliburtonwatch.org