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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jackhach who wrote (401899)	5/2/2003 11:34:52 AM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

and the Crooks in the White House continue to make money FROM the TERRORIST nations!!!!!!! Oil Firm's Work for Terrorist Sponsors Challenged David R. Baker San Francisco Chronicle Thursday 1 May 2003 Giving contracts to Halliburton questioned Oil giant Halliburton's work in countries considered sponsors of terrorism came under fire Wednesday from California Rep. Henry Waxman, who questioned whether the company should receive lucrative government contracts. In a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Waxman said Halliburton Co. subsidiaries and joint ventures had done business in Iran, Iraq and Libya, in spite of U.S. sanctions against those countries. "It appears that a company that has performed -- and apparently is continuing to perform -- work for state sponsors of terrorism is being given a prominent role in the administration's war on terrorism," Waxman wrote. Waxman's letter did not directly accuse Halliburton of breaking the law. Instead, Waxman, D-Los Angeles, asked Rumsfeld whether the White House had examined the legality of Halliburton's work in Iraq, Iran and Libya. He also asked whether the administration plans to do so before awarding Halliburton more contracts. SUBSIDIARY HIRED Halliburton won a prominent role this spring in American efforts to rebuild Iraq when the Pentagon hired one of its subsidiaries to put out oil well fires set during the war. The company now will compete with other firms, possibly including San Francisco's Bechtel Corp., to repair Iraq's dilapidated oil facilities. A Halliburton spokeswoman said Wednesday that her company had done no prewar business in Iraq since pulling out of two joint ventures in 1999. Overseas subsidiaries of the Texas company work in Iran and Libya, she said. "The company believes that the operations of its subsidiaries are in compliance with U.S. laws," spokeswoman Wendy Hall said. "These activities and entities are staffed and managed by non-U.S. personnel. We do not always agree with policies or actions of governments in every place that we do business and make no excuses for their behaviors." A Defense Department spokesman said Wednesday that he did not know whether Rumsfeld, still traveling in the Middle East, had yet seen Waxman's letter. PREVIOUS REQUEST Waxman has targeted Halliburton before. Last month, he asked the General Accounting Office to investigate whether the company, once run by Vice President Dick Cheney, received favorable treatment in winning government contracts. Halliburton's work in Iraq came through two joint ventures that sold equipment to the country's oil industry. Although much trade with Iraq was banned after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the United Nations oil-for-food program allowed the sale of spare parts to keep Iraq's oil fields operating. Halliburton sold off its share in the joint ventures in 1999. One of Halliburton's overseas subsidiaries opened an office in Iran's capital, Tehran, in 2000 and has worked on two offshore Iranian drilling contracts, according to Waxman's letter. In Libya, another Halliburton subsidiary worked on a large-scale, underground water pipeline project, Waxman wrote. CC