Halliburton: reconstruction racket

[maddezmom]

Halliburton: reconstruction racket
by ArabianBusiness.com staff writer on Sunday, 15 April 2007

They're a US company, right?

Not any more. Well, not really. Actually, no one's totally sure. They're relocating to Dubai, but then they'll still be subject to US laws. One thing's for sure - Halliburton will be headquartered in the emirate, and their chairman and CEO David J Lesar will be based in Dubai too.

And what will they be doing once they're here?

Halliburton is one of the largest providers of products and services to the oil and gas and military services industries. The world's second largest energy services provider is also a dab hand at rebuilding war-torn countries.

That's nice of them.

Well... they've done quite well out of it, actually. Halliburton have secured Iraq reconstruction contracts totalling more than US$25bn, making them the greatest such beneficiary of the war.

~snip~

So they've got friends in high places?

Those are the allegations. Mind you, if Halliburton do indeed have an inside man at The White House, then it might be worth taking note of last week's developments. Halliburton announced that they were pulling out of Iran, pronto.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11041


Though "minuscule in comparison to the scope of our worldwide activity," the company left because the Iran business attracted "a disproportionate share of attention," Halliburton CEO Dave Lesar said in a conference call at the time.


Halliburton conducted its Iranian business through a foreign subsidiary known as Halliburton Products & Services Ltd., a Cayman Islands-registered company headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.


Federal law prohibits U.S. companies from trading directly with Iran because of ties to organizations it believes foster terrorism. But foreign units of American firms can operate there, as long as the foreign entity is truly independent of the U.S. business.


But critics of Halliburton claim the firm only used the foreign entities to sidestep the law, and that the company's exit from Iran came only after intense pressure was applied.


"Halliburton had to be dragged kicking and screaming out of Iran," said U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, a long-time critic of the company. "If Halliburton wasn't pressured by Congress, they would still be doing business in Iran."

more:http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18212853&BRD=2288&PAG=461&dept_id=474112&rfi=6

[Parisle]

1. Before the war, Halliburton stock price was in the toilet

--- They did not just "profiteer" on the war -- they helped to create the war in order that they could reap these windfall profits. I'd be goddamned before I'd let them get away with it, too. Every windfall dollar should be confiscated,.. even if it means confiscating assets from boardmembers and principle stockholders. And the same goes for Big Oil, Bechtel, KBR, Blackwater, etc....