Yet another example of Bush granting favors to his favorite oil company: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/20030522-15.html It's an emergency executive order that was quietly passed months ago. It grants total immunity from lawsuits to any company involved with Iraqi petroleum.33 responses total.
On the other hand it means that any US corporation dealing with Iraqi oil is not liable for offenses against anyone committed by a prior regime such as Sadaam which is what I think the actual intent. (Blow it out your ear, dustbunny!)
Old story. I posted it earlier. They also got the UN to pass a similar resolution in favour of US companies.
In other news, a Halliburton subsidiary has been awarded a no-bid contract to build a permanent prison facility on Guantanamo. Last year the Bush administration gifted Halliburton with $1.3 billion in government business, most of it on a no-bid basis. But hey, it's only corruption if a Democrat does it, right?
You'd probably want to research it yourself but Halliburton as a corporation did better during the Clinton years.
The whole economy did better during the Clinton years. "A rising sea lifts all boats."
("a blind eye allows rats to prosper.")
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Re: 5 - the whole economy, populated by the likes of Tyco, Enron, Worldcom, Global Crossing, etc, to whom the SEC turned a blind eye under Clinton?
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(re#5: Halliburton received far more under government contracts from the Clinton administration than the current.) It is also interesting to note that when the supposedly no-bid contract that was in fact a bid contract was awarded to Halliburton the media were screaming about the 'billions', now we find out that to date it is several orders of magnitude less. Isn't that interesting.
Re #8: We both know that if the SEC had gone after those companies, Republicans would have accused the Clinton administration of "attacking them for being too successful", just like they did when the Microsoft anti-trust suit was launched. Re #9: All I'm saying is it doesn't pass the smell test. Halliburton gets awarded contract after contract by this administration, and it's hard to believe that that's a coincidence.
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MSNBC article today:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/958312.asp?cp1=1
"Halliburton Scores Big Off Iraq"
"Size, scope of work greater than previously disclosed"
Excerpts:
'...according to Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and other critics, the
Iraq war and occupation have provided a handful of companies with good
political connections, particularly Halliburton, with unprecedented
money-making opportunities. The amount of money [earned by Halliburton]
is quite staggering, far more than we were originally led to believe,
Waxman said. This is clearly a trend under this administration, and it
concerns me because often the privatization of government services ends
up costing the taxpayers more money rather than less. '
...
'Waxman aides said they have been told by the General Accounting Office
that Brown and Root is likely to earn several hundred million more
dollars from the no-bid Army Corps of Engineers contract to
rehabilitate Iraqi oil fields. Waxman, the ranking minority member on
the House Government Reform Committee, had asked the GAO to investigate
the corps decision not to bid out the contract.'
...
'Independent experts said the trend toward outsourcing logistic
operations has resulted in new problems, such as a lack of
accountability and transparency on the part of private military firms
and sometimes questionable billing practices.
A major problem in Iraq, Singer said, has been the phenomenon of
no-shows caused by the inhospitable security environment, and the
killing of contract workers, including a Halliburton mail delivery
employee earlier this month. At the end of the day, neither these
companies nor their employees are bound by military justice, and it is
up to them whether to show up or not, Singer said. The result is that
there have been delays in setting up showers for soldiers, getting them
cooked meals and so on.
A related concern is the rising cost of hiring contract workers
because of skyrocketing insurance premiums. Singer estimates that
premiums have increased by 300 percent to 400 percent this year, costs
that are passed on to the taxpayer under the cost-plus-award fee system
that is the basis for most contracts.'
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Re #7, It is definitely informative. I wish the US Army had posted this earlier and hadn't waited for Waxman's inquiry.
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Explain again under a "cost plus" contract how a company makes *more* money?
Re #17 - The information released to Waxman wasn't classified, I suppose. So if it was fit to be released to the public they should've done that earlier when the media was questioning the deals. My point is that its bad PR management for the US Army. Release information when its relevant. Maybe they could've held a press conference in response to the media reports of wrong-doings in the deal. Now that would've really made an impact.
Yeah, the US Army generally sucks at PR/Political stuff. But they sure kick butt in war-fighting, which is their job... (Personally I'd get really nervious about politically savy military much less even aware...)
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(ain't that the truth. One of the funnier parts to me of the Kennedy Assasination nutty theories is that it would have required a multi-juristicional conspiracy between agencies that can't even normally get their act together when they are supposed to be cooperating with each other.)
But of course that's just what "they" *WANT* you to think..
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Re #17: Their profit margin is protected when insurance costs and the like go up.
re23: isn't that a brand of toothpaste?
'Columbus - The head of a company vying to sell voting machines in Ohio told Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year. "' 'The Aug. 14 letter from Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold Inc. - who has become active in the re-election effort of President Bush - prompted Democrats this week to question the propriety of allowing O 'Dell's company to calculate votes in the 2004 presidential election .' (Source: http://www.ohiocitizen.org/moneypolitics/2003/controversy.htm) This raises a scary thought: What if the lack of paper confirmation and audit trails on electronic voting machines isn't an oversight, but an intentional design choice to allow vote manipulation?
After all the discussion of the matter, it can NOT be called an 'oversight'.
It can't *honestly* be called an "oversight" but I have no doubt that someone will try to make that claim anyway..
Clean voter lists, audit trails and recounts interfere with a political machine's ability to steal elections fair and square. Of course they'll exercise their right to get around those nuisances!
Damned right, the Democrats have been using these machines for that purtpose from day one.
Re #30: Ah, so the endemic abuses of the Democrats in places like Chicago makes it right for the Republicans to one-up them all over the country? Nice to see where you stand on the morality, Bruce.
I didn't say that. I just find it strange that they make more noise when they fear it is they who will get spurned as aoopesed to their opposition.
Well, duh. People tend to complain more about stuff that affects them personally.
You have several choices: