Vice President Deceived Public On Halliburton Contracts

[Robbien]

June 15, 2004

Vice President Dick Cheney stated unequivocally last September that he had no connection to the multi-billion dollar no-bid contracts granted to Halliburton. "I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form of contracts led by the Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the federal government," Cheney stated on national television. As with many things uttered by the vice president, this simply is not true.

* The vice president's office was briefed well in advance of two no-bid contracts awarded to Halliburton. A letter from Rep. Henry Waxman to the vice president reveals that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff, 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 sole-source contract worth up to $7 billion awarded to Halliburton four months later for implementing this plan.
* Cheney lied to the American public about his involvement with secretive Halliburton contracts. The repeated assertion by Cheney that he was not informed about these contracts does not hold up to basic scrutiny. The staff briefings uncovered by Waxman clearly show direct and early involvement of the vice president's office in the vetting and awarding of no-bid contracts for Halliburton. And earlier this month Time Magazine unearthed an e-mail which indicates that the $7 billion contract awarded to Halliburton on was "coordinated" with Cheney's office.
* The Bush administration must come clean about any remaining contacts or involvement with Halliburton. The administration's claim that no political appointees were involved in the awarding of contracts to Halliburton does not pass muster given this new evidence. The public has a right to know the full extent of the vice president's contacts and arrangements with the Pentagon on any matters dealing with Halliburton contracts.

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=90121

[PartyPooper]

1. Is this criminal ever going to face charges?

:grr:

[NJCher]

2. a lot of people know about this

This is one issue that surprises me. So many people know about it and think it's odd/an outrage that it's been allowed to go on for so long.


Cher

[GregW]

3. Help me connect the dots here ...

Cheney said he himself had no knowledge, Waxman said Cheney's office had knowledge. Hypothetically speaking, isn't it possible that Cheney's office worked independent of him, without his knowledge.

A stretch, but possible, eh?

[daleo]

5. I can't imagine working in an office where the staff did this

I mean, work independently of the boss on significant matters, and hide their doings from him, especially when those doings intimately concern the boss (nothing is more intimate than money to Republicans). I would be surprised if many people have worked under the arrangement that you are hypothesizing.

Mind you I don't work in politics, so maybe things are different there. I did work in government once, and hiding things from your director would be a very quick exit route out the door.

[rooboy]

6. Greg, do you know what the meaning of "is" is? n/t

[Zech Marquis]

13. 1 plus 1 =3..?

the former CEO of Halliburton lets his former employers about some no bid contracts coming down the pipe, right in his office, and yet he had nothing to do with any of it/

yeah, and 2 plus 2 =5! :argh:

[Art_from_Ark]

16. Hey, and Bush's father was out of the loop, too!

The Party of Responsibility strikes again!

"Don't ask me what's going on here-- I just run the place!"

[TahitiNut]

15. Cheney's "office" exists for no other purpose than to support Cheney's ...

... activities. They are Cheney. They can take absolutely no other action than those on Cheney's behalf.

These criminals attempt to hide their elephant's asses behind bushes of "plausible deniability" beyond any degree of sanity - abandonment of accountability; abandonment of responsibility. They proclaimed 9/11 as unimaginable. When a proliferation of warnings regarding 9/11 are shown throughout the Executive Branch, they claim "no actionable intelligence." Bullshit. They claim no knowledge of Enron abuses, yet tape recordings in the possession of the Justice department for years demonstrate an extensive conspiracy. They lied again.

What we're seeing here is the rampant evil of partisanship as the highest priority. It's more important to many that a "party" have control than that they be honest. It's more important to many that a "party" have control than that they be acting in America's best interests. It's more important to many that a "party" have control than that they be acting according to the party's own avowed values and principles. This is the same evil that infected the National Socialist Party in Germany. This is the same evil that infected the Communist Party in Russia and Eastern Europe. When people blindly view the Party as an end rather than a means, democracy dies.

[Blue_Roses]

19. Oh come on

this is Cheney we are talking about. The man has his hand planted slap down in all this. He is a very deceptive man. Richard Clarke mentions the "poker" face of Dick Cheney in his book.

I have no doubt that not only did he know about this he orchestrated the deals. He was the CEO and he still gets money. When will this crook face charges. He already thinks he is above the law

[Eye and Monkey]

4. Well, of course he did. When will it be mainstream LBN?

[ochazuke]

7. Democrats too wishy-washy

They should have impeached Reagan in 1987.

Now, after being removed from office, all the crimes of Shrubco should be pursued to the fullest extent of the law, even though they will be out of power and there will be calls to 'put it behind us' and 'elevate the tone' in Washington.

NO.

The legal proceedings against them should be carried out in excruciating detail so that they are completely un-rehabilitatable. Then let their rotting carcases be put on display on Pennsylvania Avenue as a warning to all future usurpers.

Kinda went overboard there on that last sentence. But, hey, people forget!

[jeff5]

8. Nope

If we are allowed to vote this cabal out (which I doubt) they will cut down, by my calculations, 13% of our National Forests just to print the pardons. Bastards will have an auto-pen signing them 24/7 for weeks.

[Stephanie]

10. They must be tried for their crimes

Not overboard at all. But what will it take? Their crimes already are beyond all imagination, and they haven't even been investigated yet. Every day I pray for a frog march.

[Donkeyboy75]

9. I HATE that fucker.

Actually, I hate a lot of these guys. Democratic leadership is too weak to prosecute these assholes, so they know they face no retribution.

[SmokingJacket]

17. maybe I'm too optimistic

but I think the Republicans are going to start turning on Shrubco soon. They're going to have to begin distancing themselves from this criminal cabal before everything goes to complete hell (Plame, abu ghraib (more to come on this, I hear), etc.)

Once the republicans turn, the dems will grow a set of cojones.

I hope, I hope, I hope.

[Donkeyboy75]

23. I think both are equally likely,

which is not likely at all. But I'm a glass half-empty kinda guy when it comes to politics

[testing123]

11. When will the impeachment hearings start?

[UpInArms]

12. Welcome to DU testing123

:hi:

It is not so much that *Co is teflonic, it is that the media loves the fact that it can control the psychological agenda of the public by never actually and fully reporting the misdeeds of this maladministration.

It can make gawd an issue and ignore the fact that all of it is in direct conflict with separation of church and state.

Without being a complete wet rag, I do have to say that there will not be any real investigations or hearings because the House is responsible for those proceedings and in truly in the pubs hands.

[gratuitous]

14. Hey, just because Halliburton paid Cheney $175,000 last year

There's no reason to think that Cheney had anything to do with securing no-bid, cost-plus government contracts for Halliburton for services it can't provide and goods it can't deliver. And just because Halliburton was on the brink of bankruptcy near the end of 2002, and reported record profits last year, that's not evidence of corruption.

And if you clap real hard, and really believe in fairies, Tinkerbell will live. So clap, you bastards! Or do you want Tink to go tits up?

[Cocoa]

18. what happened to all the moralizers from the 90's/

I remember very thoughtful, in depth discussions on how bad it is for leaders to lie. Bad lessons for the kids, etc.

Where did they go?

[blindpig]

20. Cheney will be the scapegoat for all admin wrongdoing

HS Thompson said a month or so ago that he wouldn't be on the ticket this fall. And the good doctor is a betting man.....

[goforit]

21. Nothing like highway robbery at noon, Dick!!!!!

The US deficit is sitting in his wallet!!!!

Enjoy your stash bucko!!!

[dArKeR]

22. Inquiry links Cheney aide to Halliburton deal

Fresh concern has been raised that the United States vice-president, Dick Cheney, may have played a role in the decision to award his former company Halliburton a $7-billion contract for work in postwar Iraq.

According to a congressional investigation, Cheney's top aide, Lewis Libby, was involved in high-level talks in October 2002 which led to the firm securing the contract.

Although there is no evidence that Cheney wielded any influence, the inquiry's findings appear to undermine claims that he had no prior knowledge of the contract.

Halliburton was handed the work for emergency repairs on Iraq's oilfields without a competitive tender.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=117301

[struggle4progress]

24. kick

:kick: