June 23, 1998: In a speech to the "Collateral Damage Conference" of the Cato Institute, Cheney said, "the good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratically elected regimes friendly to the United States. Occasionally we have to operate in places where, all things considered, one would not normally choose to go. But, we go where the business is."

Well-connected and wealthy: Bechtel wins from Saddam's demise - Few companies represent the corporate face of the Bush administration quite like Bechtel of San Francisco. And few - Vice-President Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton, is the only possible competitor - were quite so identified with the drive to overthrow Saddam Hussein, starting months before the US-led invasion began.

Halliburton deals on Iraq bigger than reported - Halliburton Co. has received more US government contracts in Iraq than earlier reported, including an "obscure but lucrative" deal with 425 million dollars, a US lawmaker says.

More than 30 U.S. corporations are doing business in Iran despite trade sanctions imposed in 1980 - Vice President Cheney's old firm Halliburton (HAL: Research, Estimates) has an office in the Iranian capital, Tehran. A company spokeswoman told CNN that the subsidiary, Halliburton products and services, helps build drilling rigs in Iran's southern oil field.

War Profiteering: Dick Cheney and Halliburton - This recent revelation raises questions about the motives of the Bush Administration in Iraq, especially given Vice President Dick Cheney’s past leadership of Halliburton.

Halliburton Unit Gets Over $800 Million

The World Acording to Halliburton - Financial and industrial breakdown.

Halliburton Iraq contract queried - Halliburton could have years of work in Iraq Halliburton, the oil services and construction group once led by US vice president Dick Cheney, is in the spotlight once again over its role in the reconstruction of Iraq

Rivals Say Halliburton Dominates Iraq Oil Work - Halliburton's role in the rebuilding has been under political scrutiny because the company was formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Halliburton unit preferred for MoD bid - An arm of Halliburton, the controversial group led until 2000 by American vice-president Dick Cheney, yesterday emerged as the preferred bidder for a contract worth £350m over seven years to coordinate logistics support for British troops on overseas missions.

New Iraq Contracts Offer Just `Scraps' - Some of California's biggest engineering companies are submitting bids today to restart the Iraqi oil industry, but the Army Corps of Engineers warned that it might not award a new contract, instead relying on Halliburton Co. to complete the work it already has started.

NO-BID CONTRACTS - (Scroll down on page) - The contractor is Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, Texas-based Halliburton. The watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense says the subsidiary received $1.3 billion in government business last year -- much of it, like this, without having to enter a bid.

Bechtel gets bigger Iraq deal - $350M boost is sign that U.S. has underestimated Iraq costs; Halliburton also getting more. - The U.S. General Accounting Office has told aides to Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, that Halliburton subsidiary Brown and Root is likely to earn "several hundred million more dollars" from the no-bid Corps of Engineers contract to rehabilitate oil fields, The Post said.

Iraq: Halliburton Reaping Huge Profits - One in Three US Military Dollars Spent Goes to Contractors - Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Cheney, has won contracts worth more than $1.7 billion under Operation Iraqi Freedom and stands to make hundreds of millions more dollars under a no-bid contract awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to newly available documents.

Halliburton Makes a Killing on Iraq War - Cheney's Former Company Profits from Supporting Troops - While recent news coverage has speculated on the post-war reconstruction gravy train that corporations like Halliburton stand to gain from, this latest information indicates that Halliburton is already profiting from war time contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

War profiteers Shell, Bechtel, Fluor take record of terror from Africa to Iraq - As Bush creates a corporate protectorate in Iraq, many companies who stand to benefit from reconstruction and oil exploration there are familiar to Africans. Shell, Bechtel and Fluor are all associated with massacres and crimes against humanity in Africa.

US contracts come under scrutiny -  Reconstruction offers rich pickings, but must you be a Bush supporter to benefit?

Bipartisan Call to Expand Inquiry Into Occupation - Senior Republican and Democratic lawmakers asked today that a Congressional investigation into how federal contracts were awarded for the reconstruction of Iraq be expanded to include nearly every aspect of the American occupation.

Oil, gas industry gets two-year break from storm water permits - A Clinton administration regulation went into effect on Monday, expanding the storm water permitting program to construction sites that disturb 1 to 5 acres. - But the Environmental Protection Agency said it was postponing the requirements for oil and gas construction until March 2005 because it wants more time to evaluate the impacts on the industry. - TVNL comment: As we have said before, all the good that had been done by prior administrations has been undermined by the Bush administration. No where is the more pronounced than with environmental policy.

Bush not waging war on corruption - The single-mindedness that the president exhibited in the war on Iraq doesn't appear evident in the war on corporate scandals

Beware the military-industrial complex - Halliburton, Vinnell and other corporations in the oil bidness signed no-bid, secret contracts before the invasion of Iraq. It was coincidence, the administration said.

Bush, the rainforest and a gas pipeline to enrich his friends - President George Bush is seeking funds for a controversial project to drive gas pipelines from pristine rainforests in the Peruvian Amazon to the coast. - The plan will enrich some of Mr Bush's closest corporate campaign contributors while risking the destruction of rainforest, threatening its indigenous peoples and endangering rare species on the coast.

Connections Helped United Defense Business - Carlyle Group Inc., a private equity firm whose senior executives include former U.S. cabinet members and ex-President George H.W. Bush, has turned a $180-million 1997 investment in United Defense Industries Inc. into $1.2 billion.

Bush Misuses Science, Report Says - Democrats Say Data Are Distorted to Boost Conservative Policies - The Bush administration has repeatedly mischaracterized scientific facts to bolster its political agenda in areas ranging from abstinence education and condom use to missile defense, according to a detailed report - "The Administration's political interference with science has led to misleading statements by the President, inaccurate responses to Congress, altered web sites, suppressed agency reports, erroneous international communications, and the gagging of scientists," according to the report, posted yesterday at www.politicsandscience.org. "The subjects involved span a broad range, but they share a common attribute: the beneficiaries of the scientific distortions are important supporters of the President, including social conservatives and powerful industry groups." - TVNL Comment: This is called outrageous lying. Simple fact.

Bush Team Makes Federal Lands More Open to Oil, Gas Drilling - Oil industry representatives applauded the policy changes, which they say will streamline the bureaucracy involved in energy production on federal lands. - But environmental groups accused the Bush administration of sacrificing environmental quality in its effort to boost energy production in government-managed areas.

Bush blamed for chaos which led to blackouts - "Just two years ago, [President Bush] and his allies in Congress blocked a Democratic proposal to invest $350m in upgrading America's electrical grid system," said the Florida Senator Bob Graham. "The blackout is further evidence that America needs to invest in its infrastructure." - In California, affected by rolling blackouts a couple of years ago, public utility regulators went so far as to accuse private-sector companies of artificially engineering a crisis for financial gain. That charge was directed at the White House, because many of the companies involved had close ties to the Bush administration, and because federal regulators did little to relieve the pressure on Californian consumers. Enron was a key player, both as an energy supplier and as one of the architects of California's ill-conceived energy deregulation.

Bill exempts disputed drilling process - Despite water-pollution fears, technique would not be regulated by feds - Tucked inside an 800-page energy bill winding its way through Congress is a short section that would exempt from federal regulation a lucrative gas-drilling process perfected by the energy company Vice President Dick Cheney once ran. - The exemption, while it likely wouldn't benefit Cheney financially, is testament to the support that the oil and gas industry enjoys in the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress. - Environmentalists say that could put drinking water at risk, and they want federal officials to have regulatory power to prevent problems and step in if water is contaminated. Alabama residents say the technique, called hydraulic fracturing, fouled drinking-water wells and unleashed a stench in homes.

American Family Voices Launches Ad Questioning Halliburton's Sweetheart Deal - American Family Voices will launch a television advertisement asking the government to take care of America's troops and families instead of taking care of Halliburton.

 

Bush, Cheney and Enron

Early 2001: Vice President Cheney held several secret meetings with top Enron officials, including its Chairman Kenneth Lay. These meetings were presumably part of Cheney's non-public Energy Task Force sessions. A number of Enron stockholders, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, became officials in the Bush administration. In addition, Thomas White, a former Vice Chairman of Enron and a multimillionaire in Enron stock, currently serves as the Secretary of the Army.