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Mon 20 Jun, 2005 10:12 am
Halliburton given $30m to expand Guantanamo Bay
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
independent UK
18 June 2005
A subsidiary of Halliburton, the oil services group once led by the US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, has won a $30m (£16m) contract to help build a new permanent prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Pentagon announcement, giving further details of the planned two-storey jail, complete with air conditioning and exercise and medical facilities, is a further sign that the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, is determined to keep the jail in operation.
There are some 520 inmates from 40 countries at Guantanamo, some of them held there for more than three years. The new jail will be capable of holding 220 people. Under the contract with the US Naval Engineering Command, the work is to be finished by the end of July 2006. The final deal could be worth as much as $500m.
The work will be carried out by Halliburton's contracting subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR). It will include site work, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, plumbing and electrical work.
Announcement of the deal comes when the whole future of Guantanamo, recently described by Amnesty International as "the gulag of our times," is under fierce debate in the US. There have been repeated allegations of mistreatment of inmates, bordering on torture.
A recent Pentagon report acknowledged incidents in which the Koran had been desecrated (though not flushed down a toilet, as claimed in a report by Newsweek magazine last month, which detonated deadly riots in Pakistan).
Not only Democrats but also several prominent Republicans - among them Mel Martinez, Florida Senator and former Bush cabinet member - have publicly argued that the damage to America's image caused by the prison now outweighs any practical benefits it might have. Joe Biden, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has described the prison's image as a "recruiting agent" for al-Qa'ida.
The administration itself seems divided on the issue. The White House has hinted at a possible closure, with a spokesman declaring that "all options" were under review. But Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld have indicated that the prison will continue to operate. Both insist that there is no practical alternative, and that detainees are decently treated and still providing valuable information in the "war on terror".
The most recent suggestion came this week from a Democratic think-tank, the Centre for American Progress, which urges that long-term inmates be transferred to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas and tried before military courts-martial. Low value and low security risk detainees should be transferred back to their home countries.
Like Guantanamo Bay, Halliburton has become something of an image problem for the US, a focus for criticism that Iraq reconstruction contracts have been handed out on a no-bid basis to a small group of US companies, and then subsequently suffered massive cost over-runs.
Mr Cheney headed Halliburton for five years, before resigning to become President Bush's running mate in the 2000 election
Some people are just too stupid to see the connection.
connection
1992
DECEMBER: Halliburton provides assistance to U.S. troops in Somalia.
1993
Cheney sets up Political Action Committee and ponders run for presidency. The CEO of Halliburton contributes to his PAC. Halliburton will later be awarded contracts after the invasion of Iraq.
1994
On a fishing trip with Halliburton CEO Thomas H. Cruikshank, and other captains of industry in New Brunswick, Cheney is asked if he would be willing to become Halliburton's CEO.
1995
MARCH: President Clinton signs an order prohibiting "new investments [in Iran] by U.S. persons, including commitment of funds or other assets."
U.S. companies are prohibited from performing services "that would benefit the Iranian oil industry." Companies face fines of up to $500,000 and individuals may receive 10 years in jail for breaking the embargo.
MAY 6: President Clinton imposes a near total U.S. economic embargo on Iran.
OCTOBER: Cheney becomes CEO and Chairman of Halliburton.
During his five year stint at Halliburton, the company wins $2.3 billion in federal contracts, almost double the total of the previous five years, and another $1.5 billion in taxpayer-insured loans.
Halliburton is fined almost 4 million for selling products to Libya that could be used to trigger a nuclear program.
1996
Cheney, acting as head of Halliburton, says in a video for auditing company Arthur Andersen, "I get good advice, if you will, from their people based upon how we're doing business and how we're operating, over and above just sort of the normal by-the-books auditing arrangement, They've got the traditional role to fill as our auditors...They do that extraordinarily well." Arthur Andersen will collapse in the fallout of the Enron scandal five years later.
Cheney tests the waters for a presidential run, but manages to raise only $1 million.
Lyndon Berzowsky
Lyndon Berzowsky was the U.S. export enforcement officer who supervised the case against Mahdi.
"Once these acts became illegal and he (Mahdi) knew it was illegal to do it, then he continued to do it. He was charged with violating a U.S. law.
Let me assure you that had we had the evidence to go after, whether it was Halliburton or any other company we certainly would."
1997
JULY 22: Abdulamir Mahdi, an Iraqi who'd come to Canada in his 20's owned a business that supplied oil fields in Iran with North American parts. His Toronto office places an order for $41,000 worth of Halliburton spare parts for a cementing unit in Iran.
He says before before the deals, he consulted with lawyers and Canada Customs who told him that the US embargo didn't apply to Canadians.
SEPTEMBER 25: Halliburton Energy Services prepares an invoice for spare parts that have been sold to Abdulamir Mahdi. The invoice puts Kuwait as the final destination for the parts. In fact, the equipment is headed for Kala Naft in Iran.
OCTOBER 7: In a purchase separate from the Mahdi transaction, Kala Naft's London office, the purchasing arm for the National Iranian Oil Company asks Halliburton subsidiary in Dubai to send a price quote for purchases for the Iranian oil industry.
OCTOBER 16: Mahdi's office receives a statement of compliance from Halliburton Energy Services in Texas saying the parts he ordered has been inspected and meet Halliburton and industry standards.
OCTOBER 30: Spare parts purchased by Mahdi are shipped to Canada for a Halliburton cement unit in Iran.
Halliburton is opposed to the U.S. embargo and lobbies congress against the Iran/Libya sanctions bill.
Abdulamir Mahdi
Abdulamir Mahdi sold Halliburton's and other parts to Iran. He was arrested and spent four years in U.S. custody for evading export laws. He wrote a letter to Dick Cheney.
"If I'm guilty, you're guilty. If you're innocent, I'm innocent. You did business with the same country that I did."
1998
Cheney negotiates the purchase of Dresser Industries for $7.7 billion.
After the purchase, numerous asbestos related lawsuits hit the hybrid company. The claims forced several Halliburton divisions into bankruptcy. Halliburton's stock falls 80 percent in one year.
1999
MARCH: Abdulamir Mahdi is arrested in Florida during a sting operation. At the same time his office in Toronto and his home are searched by the RCMP.
NOVEMBER 22: Abdulamir Mahdi receives a 51-month sentence on one count of conspiracy to evade export regulations for sending equipment to Iran and Iraq. (read about the case )
2000
FEBRUARY: Halliburton opens an office in Tehran while Cheney is still CEO. At the same time, Halliburton ends its presence in Iraq.
SPRING: George Bush asks Cheney to help him find a vice-presidential running mate.
Frank Lautenberg
Democratic senator Frank Lautenberg says that Halliburton's business with Iran is unethical and possibly illegal.
"To be looking for breaks in the law that permit them (Halliburton) to profit while this hostility (with Iran) is in front of us is unacceptable under any condition."
JUNE 13: Cheney tells the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary "we're kept out of there primarily by our own government, which has made a decision that U.S. firms should not be allowed to invest significantly in Iran and I think that's a mistake.
JULY: Cheney says he never voted against releasing Mandela from jail. He says he was only voting against imposing sanctions, even though sanctions were never mentioned in the House vote.
JULY 25: Bush tells the press that he has chosen Cheney to be his running mate.
JULY 30: Cheney says he actually wanted Mandela out of prison"Well, certainly I would have loved to have Nelson Mandela released. I don't know anybody who was for keeping him in prison. Again, this was a resolution of the U.S. Congress, so it wasn't as though if we passed it, he was going to be let out of prison."
AUGUST 16: Cheney quits Halliburton to run as Bush's vice-president. He exits Halliburton with a stock payoff worth $30 million.
Re: Haliburton's Gulag
stevewonder wrote:Halliburton given $30m to expand Guantanamo Bay
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
independent UK
18 June 2005
A subsidiary of Halliburton, the oil services group once led by the US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, has won a $30m (£16m) contract to help build a new permanent prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Pentagon announcement, giving further details of the planned two-storey jail, complete with air conditioning and exercise and medical facilities, is a further sign that the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, is determined to keep the jail in operation.
There are some 520 inmates from 40 countries at Guantanamo, some of them held there for more than three years. The new jail will be capable of holding 220 people. Under the contract with the US Naval Engineering Command, the work is to be finished by the end of July 2006. The final deal could be worth as much as $500m.
The work will be carried out by Halliburton's contracting subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR). It will include site work, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, plumbing and electrical work.
Announcement of the deal comes when the whole future of Guantanamo, recently described by Amnesty International as "the gulag of our times," is under fierce debate in the US. There have been repeated allegations of mistreatment of inmates, bordering on torture.
A recent Pentagon report acknowledged incidents in which the Koran had been desecrated (though not flushed down a toilet, as claimed in a report by Newsweek magazine last month, which detonated deadly riots in Pakistan).
Not only Democrats but also several prominent Republicans - among them Mel Martinez, Florida Senator and former Bush cabinet member - have publicly argued that the damage to America's image caused by the prison now outweighs any practical benefits it might have. Joe Biden, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has described the prison's image as a "recruiting agent" for al-Qa'ida.
The administration itself seems divided on the issue. The White House has hinted at a possible closure, with a spokesman declaring that "all options" were under review. But Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld have indicated that the prison will continue to operate. Both insist that there is no practical alternative, and that detainees are decently treated and still providing valuable information in the "war on terror".
The most recent suggestion came this week from a Democratic think-tank, the Centre for American Progress, which urges that long-term inmates be transferred to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas and tried before military courts-martial. Low value and low security risk detainees should be transferred back to their home countries.
Like Guantanamo Bay, Halliburton has become something of an image problem for the US, a focus for criticism that Iraq reconstruction contracts have been handed out on a no-bid basis to a small group of US companies, and then subsequently suffered massive cost over-runs.
Mr Cheney headed Halliburton for five years, before resigning to become President Bush's running mate in the 2000 election
So what? They're keeping a prison they believe in and Halliburton got the contract. What are you alleging this proves?
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