Recently, in this space, I commented about the Bush administration's conflicts-of-interest with respect to the "war on terror."
I spoke of W. Bush's insider trading scam (Harken Energy) that he engaged in during the early 90's, when his daddy was president. I also reminded the reader of the fact that Cheney is the former CEO of the Halliburton company.
During Cheney's tenure there, he was accused of helping Halliburton achieve huge government contracts, since Cheney, himself, has ties to government. Hence, there are many conflicts-of-interest that are not being questioned. At least not to the point that they ought to be.
I want to share with you a piece that I read in the Arab News, that was apparently originally published originally in the LA Times:
Size of Halliburton Reconstruction Deal Fuels Criticism
Mark Fineman, LA Times
WASHINGTON, 12 April 2003 — The Pentagon’s exclusive no-bid contract with a Halliburton Co. subsidiary for emergency oil-field services in Iraq could be worth as much as $7 billion over the next two years, according to a document made public Thursday.
The disclosure gave more fuel to critics of the deal, who said a contract that large should have been put out to open, competitive bidding.
“I was surprised about the size of the contract and the fact that they’re not going to have competitive bidding,’’ Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said late Thursday. “I didn’t know we were talking about a contract of this magnitude.’’
The $7 billion ceiling was revealed in a letter to Waxman from Lt. Gen. Robert B. Flowers, the commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers. Flowers called the amount a “worst-case damage’’ estimate from oil and gas fires in the war-torn country.
Flowers added in the April 8 letter that the Houston-based energy giant and its subcontractors were authorized to spend $50.3 million in the first month alone.
In a March 26 letter seeking more information on the deal from Flowers, Waxman expressed concern that the contract was awarded in secret and could range into the “tens of millions’’ of dollars. In public statements, the Army Corps has downplayed the size of the deal.
“This is not going to be a huge dollar contract — if nothing changes from today,’’ Lt. Gen. Gene Pawlik, an Army Corps spokesman, said last week.
In fact, only eight oil and gas wells and pipelines have been set ablaze to date. All but one fire have been extinguished either by subcontractors or by Kuwaiti Oil Co. firefighters.
But in a written response to Flowers on Thursday, Waxman questioned the decision to set the ceiling so high before officials had an idea of what the scope of the work would be.
I'll tell you the reason to set the ceiling so high: The higher the ceiling, the more money in the pockets of Cheney and other administration profiteers.
Let's not forget! We cannot question a president in war time. That's unpatriotic, we're told. If you dare question the motives of your commander-in-chief during a tumultous time such as this, then you, my friend, are an evil villain! You are un-American, and do not support the soldiers overseas! Right?
Wrong! My fellow Americans, you had better reject this lie from hell and begin to ask the questions that need to be asked.
Back to the article:
“Why did the Army Corps issue a two-year, $7 billion contract to perform work that is intended to be short-term and limited in nature?’’ he asked. “It may be the case that the administration had valid reasons for granting a sole-source contract for emergency work during armed hostilities. It is harder to understand, however, what the rationale would be for a sole-source contract that has a multi-year duration and a multibillion-dollar price tag. Yet this appears to be the type of contract that was awarded.’’
The answer, again, to the question of why should the contract for rebuilding Iraq be so high is, Why not? If they can get away with it, then why wouldn't they?
We have phony conservatives (controlled opposition) in the media telling the public that it's unpatriotic to question or criticize the president at a time of war. The congressional leaders at the federal level have been bribed and/or threatened not to say too much. The few who do, are generally ridiculed into silence, or charactorized by the media as playing politics.
The few celebrities that dare speak out, are also often shamed into offering apologies. Some have been further punished by having their movie roles yanked from them.
The prevailing attitude of "rolling with the punches," is dangerous at best! Submitting to the prevailing notion that we must be silent on matters that affect our freedom and the well-being of our nation, just because there is a crisis brewing, gives way too much power to those in charge.
If this attitude is allowed to be the defining component in determining what speech is acceptable, then count on the fact, Americans, that those in power will always see to it that there is a crisis brewing!
Back to the article:
Flowers’ office did not return calls for comment.
Separately, Waxman and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., have called for an investigation into whether Halliburton and its subsidiary received favored treatment in the awarding of the contract.
Far be it from me to allow the writer of this article to hold these two up as heroes.
This call for an investigation, as well as the loudmouth criticisms by these two democrats, are nothing more than a dog and pony show. It's window-dressing from a pair of socialist Democrats, who are completely on board with the plan. Don't be fooled! These two are controlled opposition.
There will be no investigation. Even if there were one, it would be nothing more than a whitewash. Or, better stated, "hogwash!"
Vice President Dick Cheney was Halliburton’s chief executive for five years before he resigned in August 2000 to be George W. Bush’s running mate. Halliburton and the Army Corps have both repeatedly denied any favoritism stemming from Cheney’s former role in the company.
The contract was awarded to Halliburton’s Kellogg Brown & Root subsidiary March 8 and disclosed publicly March 24. Kellogg Brown & Root was selected because, under a separate Army logistics contract, it already had developed contingency plans for repairing and operating Iraq’s oil infrastructure, Flowers said in the letter. (Emphasis mine)
How convenient that the Halliburton subsidiary had already drawn up the plan for rebuilding Iraq's oil infrastructure! That, of course, in light of the fact that we a secret document of Bush and company, that lays out the entire agenda for the war with Iraq, Syria and other countries. You can read it for yourself. It is called, Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces, and Resources for a New Century. This document is in .pdf format, so you will need Acrobat Reader, if you don't already have it.
Among other things, the report establishes missions for U.S. forces which include:
These points — including the second one — were taken directly from their report, which was written in 2000, before George W. Bush became president.
This is the same report that the Sunday Herald, a newspaper in the United Kingdom called a "secret blueprint for U.S. global domination." You can read their comments about the report here.
I am reminded of the statement of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., one of their spooks at the Council on Foreign Relations. In the July/August 1993 edition of Foreign Affairs, he said,
"In defense of the World Order, U.S. Soldiers would have to kill and die... We are not going to achieve a new world order, without paying for it in blood, as well as in words and money."
The blood won't be theirs. It will be your sons' and daughters'. The money won't be their's. It will be the money of the already over-burdened American taxpayer. The words and the brainwashing will be theirs.
The war on terror was planned before Bush was elected president. September 11th was the orchestrated springboard for it, and will ultimately lead to world war three.
Don't think so? Read the above linked report. It also outlines plans to "democratize" China and Russia. They will be brought into the war, if the plan is brought into fruition. And unfortunately, it seems to be humming right along.
Continuing with the article:
The military wanted firefighters and disaster specialists in Kuwait “in advance of possibly imminent hostilities,’’ Flowers said. “Under the circumstances, no other contractor could satisfy mission requirements in the time available.’’
No other contractor had the advance knowledge that such a "mission requirement" would exist. Therefore, how could another contractor be better prepared to meet the needs than those who have foreknowledge of the planning of the events?
In addition to fighting oil and gas well fires, the contract specifies that KBR would respond to oil spills and provide life-support facilities and services to contractors and government employees on the project, among other tasks.
Although the full contract remains classified,
Now, hold it right there! Let me interrupt.
Why do you suppose the full contract remains classified? What's with all of the secrecy here? The war in Iraq is supposedly over. What possible national secrets are going to be violated by releasing the details of this contract?
Folks, do you see what's wrong with this picture? This is a SEVEN BILLION (that's $7,000,000,000) government contract and we are not being allowed to know where this money is going! And no one appears to be outraged about this except for me and a few democrats who are putting on a look-good show.
Where are all of the phonies like Limbaugh who were such harsh critics of Clinton when he did this type of stuff? They cannot sing enough praises for Bush.
I going to venture a guess about the reasoning behind the secrecy. I don't know if I'm close here, but I'll ask the question that's running through my mind right now: Could it be that this contract also includes provisions for rebuilding the other countries that the administration and their handlers plan on attacking next? Or are there going to be additional contracts of around $7 billion for each country?
If the latter is true, then from whence is the money going to come? Because we already have a national debt of $6.4 trillion (that's $6,460,828,617,061.12 as of April 10th to be exact). And it's growing fast! And the Democrats are the ones who get blamed for spending.
Folks, I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it: There is no difference between the Democrats and the Republicans! They are two heads of the same beast. Both play their fair role in the demise of this once-great nation.
...Flowers said in his letter that KBR could earn a profit of as much as 7 percent greater than the costs reimbursed by the army — a profit of $490 million, if the contract ran to its maximum.
And you can count on the fact that it will.
In disclosing the $7 billion “ceiling cost,’’ Flowers stated: “The actual value of the contract will depend on the cost of the orders placed under it. It is impossible to predict how much damage there will be and what work will be required in the near term.’’ The figure was derived from “an estimate of worst-case damage,’’ he said.
Flowers stressed that the contract was strictly for emergency oil-field services.
How do we know what the contract is for, when most of it is classified? So we're supposed to take this Lt. Gen. Robert Flowers' word for it?
“There will be ample opportunity for competition of the overall requirements to support the restoration of Iraq’s oil infrastructure,’’ he added.
More than two weeks before the war began, Kellogg Brown & Root sent to Kuwait teams of firefighters from Houston-based Boots & Coots International Well Control Inc. That company has a strategic alliance with Halliburton, giving it the inside track on such work when Kellogg Brown & Root is the prime contractor.
I wonder how many shares of Boots & Coots that Bush and Cheney own.
Also under scrutiny is the bidding process for the civilian contracts being issued by the Agency for International Development for the reconstruction of Iraq’s infrastructure. It, too, was done in secret during the run-up to war, and the agency invited only American companies with security clearances and a track record of working with the AID to bid on eight contracts that total $1.7 billion.
On Thursday, three senators introduced a bill that would require the AID and other federal agencies to publicly justify any closed bidding process for Iraqi reconstruction work.
Count on the fact that this bill will go nowhere!
“The pattern of closed-door bargaining for massive contracts is a distinct departure from the way that government contracts have traditionally been awarded,’’ said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who sponsored the bill with Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
Added Clinton: “It would be unfortunate if, in our effort to set an example of open government and democratic principles abroad, we undermined those principles here at home.’’
How disingenuous!
Hillary Clinton talking about principles? Hillary Clinton talking about setting an example? I can think of at least a dozen similar conflicts-of-interest that her and her husband, President Wandering Weenie, were engaged in, at taxpayers' expense. And those are just the ones about which we know.
Hey, Hillary, save your self-righteous, hypocritical baloney for someone who believes it!
AID Administrator Andrew Natsios and other agency officials have said they resorted to the streamlined, classified bidding process because of national security and time constraints.
Under the agency’s normal “full and open’’ competitive bidding process, it can take up to six months to award a contract. The expedited process takes as little as two months.
Of course, since the war was planned well over two years ago, a couple of months is an easy period with which to deal.
Conflicts of interest are fine if the president is doing so at a time of war. Never mind the fact that this war was planned before he ever took office. Never mind the fact, that several thousand people were murdered in New York city on September 11, 1991 as a pretense for the war.
I hope the spooks in the Bush administration and their handlers all enjoy their riches, while living on this earth.
But to all of them, I would like to quote a passage of scripture from Isaiah 14:9 which I believe is directed at such diabolical individuals:
"Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming."
It is a homecoming that will be well earned by George, and his handlers.
