Cheney, Halliburton and Your Tax Dollars At Work
thedailyenron.com
The London Sunday Observer reported over the weekend that during Cheney's tenure as CEO at Halliburton, the company reaped massive rewards in government contracts and bank loans for foreign deals, including one with a Russian firm currently under investigation for Russian Mafia connections.
The paper reported that Halliburton's government contracts were won by Halliburton's construction subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown and Root. Documents obtained by the Observer show that government banks either loaned or guaranteed loans worth $1.5 billion during the five years that Cheney was chief executive - compared with only $100 million during the previous five years.
Under Cheney, Halliburton benefited from $3.8 billion in government contracts or insured loans. Although Democrat Bill Clinton was in the White House, the House Appropriations Committee - which handles government contracts - was controlled by Republicans, to which Halliburton doubled its contributions to $1,212,000 after Cheney's arrival.
One of those federal loans involved work for a Siberian oil company Tyumen. Halliburton received $489 million from the US Export-Import Bank after aggressive lobbying.
The Clinton White House and State Department tried to veto the Russian deal. The Clinton administration was concerned over intelligence reports that Tyumen was controlled by a holding conglomerate, the Alfa Group, which had been investigated by Russian authorities for alleged Mafia connections. But, after intense lobbying by Halliburton, the objections were ignored by House Republicans. One of Halliburton's top lobbyists at the time was David Gribben, who had been Cheney's chief of staff during Cheney's days at the Pentagon.
Halliburton continues to garner government contracts, including a current agreement to build the cells for al-Qaeda detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. |
