Fortunes of war await Bush's circle after attacks on Iraq
news.independent.co.uk
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
15 September 2002
The last time the United States went to
war against Iraq, Dick Cheney did very
nicely from it.
Having served as Defence Secretary, and
basked in the reflected glory of the US
military's surprisingly rapid advance
across the desert sands to end the Iraqi
occupation of Kuwait, he then managed
to reap benefits of a very different kind
once the war was over and he left
government to become chief executive of
Halliburton, the Texas-based oil services
company.
When the United Nations relaxed its
sanctions regime in 1998 and permitted
Iraq to buy spare parts for its oil fields, it
was Halliburton, under Mr Cheney's
leadership, that cleaned up on the
contract to repair war damage and get
Saddam Hussein's oil pipes flowing at
full capacity again. Two Halliburton
subsidiaries did business worth almost
$24m (£15m) with the man whom these
days Mr Cheney calls a "murderous
dictator" and "the world's worst leader".
Since taking over as George Bush's
vice-president, Mr Cheney has severed
all formal ties with his former employer,
notably when he cashed in $36m in stock options and other benefits at
the height of the market in August 2000. But Halliburton - currently
struggling with a corporate accounting scandal that may or may not
implicate Mr Cheney - could profit all over again if the much-threatened
new war against Iraq comes to pass.
We can certainly expect more air strikes against the oil fields, possibly
combined with a ground invasion. Then, when it is all over, someone is
going to have to mop up the damage once again. Halliburton, with its
previous experience and unparalleled political connections (not limited
to Mr Cheney), would be in pole position for the job.
Nobody could justifiably accuse the Bush administration of wanting to
wage war on Iraq solely as a favour to its friends in the oil business and
the military-industrial complex. But many of the companies that stand to
gain most from a war enjoy remarkably close ties to senior figures in
the administration. And some of the President's closest confidants have
shown extraordinary elasticity down the years in their attitudes to
President Saddam, America's on-again, off-again public enemy number
one.
Mr Cheney, who has gone from warmonger to dealmaker and back to
warmonger, is just one example. Donald Rumsfeld, the current Defence
Secretary, has repeatedly raised the spectre of Iraq's arsenal of
weapons of mass destruction. But in 1983, when Mr Rumsfeld was
President Reagan's special envoy to Iraq, he turned a blind eye to Iraqi
use of nerve and mustard gas in its war with Iran, concentrating instead
on forging a personal relationship with the Iraqi leader, then considered
a valuable US ally.
Mr Rumsfeld was actually in Baghdad on the day the United Nations
first reported Iraqi use of chemical weapons, but chose to remain silent,
as did the rest of the US establishment. Five years later, he cited his
ability to make friends with Saddam Hussein as one of his
qualifications for a possible run at the presidency.
This Bush administration has been much more upfront about the role of
oil in its deliberations on Iraq than the last Bush administration. That is
partly a matter of circumstance: since the 11 September attacks, the
stability of Middle Eastern oil states has been a big policy consideration.
But it also reflects the fact that much of the Bush inner circle, including
the President himself, is made up of former oilmen. The oil and gas
industry has pumped about $50m to political candidates since the 2000
election.
There are also uncomfortably cosy ties between the government and
the defence industry. Mr Rumsfeld's oldest friend, Frank Carlucci, a
former defence secretary himself, now heads the Carlyle Group, an
investment consortium which has a big interest in the contracting firm
United Defense.
Carlyle's board includes George Bush Sr and James Baker, the former
secretary of state. One programme alone - the Crusader artillery
system - has earned Carlyle more than $2bn in advance government
contracts. Carlyle's European chairman is John Major, who may have
played a role in the Ministry of Defence's controversial recent decision to
declare Carlyle the "preferred bidder" for a stake in its scientific
research division.
None of these links is illegal, but that does not mean there is no conflict
of interest. Messrs Bush, Cheney and friends have either sold their
stock holdings or put them in a blind trust, meaning personal gain is off
the agenda. But gain for their friends and family may well be a
by-product of the looming war against Iraq.
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