how reliable are fascoid nuts like Larouche and his followers as a source of information??
On 7/17/05, Leon Kuunders <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Will Stolen Iraq Oil Funds and Deals For Cronies Force Cheney Impeachment? > > http://larouchepub.com/other/2005/3228halliburton.html > This article appears in the July 15, 2005 issue of Executive Intelligence > Review. > > by Michele Steinberg > > On June 27, a scandal large enough to lead to the impeachment of Vice > President Richard Cheney, emerged when it was revealed at a hearing called > by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, that the latest figures in > questionable and unsupported charges to the Department of Defense by the > Halliburton Corporation, had reached over $1.4 billion. There are already > two criminal investigations by the Justice Department into Halliburton for > fraudulent billings related to Iraq war contracts-each of them potentially > as explosive as the case of the Valerie Plame CIA leak. > > However, another element was added on June 27: The amount of funds that > Halliburton has looted from the DoD is nearly equivalent to the $1.5 billion > in funds that the Bush Administration had denied the Veterans Administration > for vitally needed medical services to the sick and wounded veterans and > troops. The public anger over the White House shortchanging the VA was so > huge, that the Republicans subsequently signed on to a Democratic amendment > to pass legislation giving an additional $1.5 billion to the VA. > > The $1.4 billion in "questioned and unsupported" monies to Halliburton, was > the second bombshell about Iraq-war-related fraud in less than one week. On > June 21, the Subcommittee on National Security of the House Committee on > Government Reform, released a Minority Staff report, prepared at the request > of ranking Democrat Rep. Henry Waxman of California, which showed that > billions of dollars of money from the "Development Fund for Iraq," was > unaccounted for, or stolen, after the frenzy of cash delivery to the U.S. > occupation authority, run by Amb. Jerry Bremer in June 2004. (See report > excerpts in Documentation). Bremer did not appear at the June 21 hearing to > answer questions about the lack of control over $19.6 billion in Iraqi > funds, noted Rep. Waxman. But the missing money has already had devastating > consequences. > > On July 6, an article in the London Financial Times gave the first major > hint that the U.S. occupation's looting of reconstruction funds belonging to > the Iraqi people is being called "corruption." "Iraq's financial > difficulties, and U.S. concerns over corruption and uncontrolled spending on > reconstruction, are adding to tensions between the two governments," wrote > the Financial Times. Although the economy is seen as a "vital pillar of the > ... strategy to stabilize Iraq," the Iraqi government is already in big > trouble. Under U.S. auspices, the government of Iraq had signed a > "pre-agreed deficit" agreement with the International Monetary Fund, to > limit its budget deficit to $6.7 billion, or 28% of its gross domestic > product, but Iraq cannot come near that goal, and is seeking to go far > beyond that deficit limit. > > The news of Iraq's financial crisis could not come at a worse time for the > Bush Administration-because the responsibility for the "corruption" in > misuse of the funds, leads right to Cheney's office through the Halliburton > corporation. > > According to evidence presented on June 21 at the House Subcommittee on > National Security hearing, and on June 27, by the Senate Democratic Policy > Committee, the following has been established: > > * There is more than $1.4 billion in "questioned" and "unsupported" > charges paid to Halliburton, according to Defense Department audit reports. > > * There are billions of dollars unaccounted for, taken in cash from the > $19.6 billion Development Fund for Iraq account, created by UN Security > Council resolution 1483 in May 2003, and administered solely by the U.S. > occupation authority. According to the 25-page official report by the > Minority Staff of the Committee on Government Reform, these funds are > unaccounted for, have disappeared, or have been misappropriated. > > * Halliburton is documented to be the largest recipient of the > Development Fund for Iraq funds (about $1.2 billion) and of all Defense > Department contracts in Iraq (more than $15 billion). > > * Halliburton's contracts were handled outside of the professional, > competitive bidding process that is standard procedure in the Defense > Department. Instead, according to Ms. Bunatine Greenhouse, the top civilian > contracting official at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Halliburton > contracts were given special handling directly from "the OSD," the Office of > the Secretary of Defense. Greenhouse was forced to step down or face > demotion after objecting, in writing, to the special treatment granted to > Halliburton; instead, she chose to file a whistleblower lawsuit. > > * Two executives from Lloyd-Owen International (LOI), a security and > management firm with contracts from the Iraqi government, which began after > the U.S. occupation handed over power to Iraqis, gave evidence that > Halliburton's overcharges for fuel transportation from Kuwait to Iraq are > even greater than previously believed, and that KBR, a Halliburton > subsidiary, has not completed crucial fuel distribution work, despite its > claim to have done so. In addition, Halliburton "has abused its relationship > with the U.S. Army," by attempting to close the Iraq-Kuwait border so that > LOI (a competitor of KBR) could not efficiently deliver fuel to the Iraq > government. > > The two LOI executives, Alan Waller and Gary Butters, gave dramatic > testimony to the Senate that KBR managers had ordered their staff to deny > assistance to LOI personnel, who had been attacked by insurgents en route to > a base managed by KBR, near Fallujah. Four contract employees of LOI had > been killed in the attack, and several others were wounded, but a KBR e-mail > message presented to the Senators, showed that LOI was not to be helped. > Fortunately, the U.S. Marines at the base came to the assistance of LOI. > > * KBR threatened personnel in Iraq, who were working under its food > service contract, if they talked to U.S. government auditors who had been > sent to look into KBR's practice of overcharging for dining hall services. > Rory Mayberry, Food Production Manager at Camp Anaconda in Iraq, testified > that he was warned, and then transferred to a much more dangerous base near > Fallujah in order to keep him from talking further to auditors. > > Obstruction of Justice? > > There is no question that Cheney's office was directly involved in the > special treatment given to Halliburton. A further question is whether > Cheney's pressure to prevent the Senate and House committees from > investigating constitutes obstruction of justice. > > More than a year ago, on June 8, 2004, a DoD political appointee, > neo-conservative insider Michael Mobbs, who worked directly at the Office of > the Secretary of Defense, briefed the House Government Reform Committee that > Cheney's Chief of Staff and National Security advisor, I. Lewis "Scooter" > Libby, had been consulted and informed by Mobbs about a secret Iraq war > contract being awarded to Halliburton, on March 8, 2002, before the contract > had been awarded, and before the Iraq war had begun. > > Mobbs acknowledged that the decision to award the contract to Halliburton, > by extending a previous contract, was not made by career civil servants, but > by political appointees, in particular by himself and an "Energy > Infrastructure Planning Group," in the DoD which he headed. Mobbs determined > that other longstanding DoD contractors-Bechtel and Fluor-were not qualified > for the job, and were not even allowed to submit bids for the oil > infrastructure contract. Mobbs, who was also acting as a special assistant > to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy, Doug Feith, had been a member > of Feith's law firm. Other special operations set up by Feith in 2002, such > as the Office of Special Policy, functioned as a secret, parallel > intelligence service, reporting to Cheney's office. Like the Iran-Contra > operation of the 1980s, the Cheney-OSD-Feith network was a "government > within a government." > > A year later, the evidence presented at the June 27, 2005 hearing shows that > the Halliburton disease has just grown larger and larger through the special > relationship with the Vice President, The reason is simple: The appropriate > Senate and House committees-under Republican control-have refused to fulfill > the Senate's Constitutional responsibility to look into the evidence of > massive fraud and "bilking" of the American taxpayers, in the Iraq war. By > this, Congress has also jeopardized the well-being of the troops in Iraq. > > The four Democratic Senators at the podium June 27 were Byron Dorgan of > North Dakota (who chaired the hearing), Harry Reid of Nevada, Frank > Lautenberg of New Jersey, and Mark Dayton of Minnesota; they were joined by > Rep. Henry Waxman of California, who has led a relentless battle to unearth > Pentagon documents about Halliburton's activities since Spring 2003. They > made clear they want official, bipartisan hearings. > > Dorgan, the head of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee investigative > committee, used strong language about the American taxpayers being "bilked," > "cheated," and "defrauded" in order "to let a few special big companies > wallow like hogs in a trough." Dorgan pointed to the Senate hearings in > 1941, when the U.S. was about to enter World War II, and Harry Truman began > investigations into reports of waste, and he also referenced the manner in > which Donald Rumsfeld, as a Congressman in 1966, demanded a "vigorous > investigation" into a Vietnam War contractor-Brown & Root! (The same > Rumsfeld today who won't allow hearings.) > > Lautenberg put the emphasis on Cheney: "[T]he bottom line is that the > Republican leadership in the Congress is giving Halliburton a free pass. And > I don't know whether that's because Vice President Cheney still receives a > paycheck from Halliburton. That goes on through 2007. On that payroll was > stock options." > > But the Cheney/Halliburton relationship is much deeper. In 1991, when Cheney > was Secretary of Defense, he rescued the faltering Halliburton from > disaster, by putting it on the gravy train of the Defense Department, at the > very outset of the process of replacing in-house logistics capabilities with > outsourcing. > > The DoD contracts breathed new life into Halliburton, which then took on > Cheney as its Chief Executive Officer in 1995. In 2000, after he had > selected himself to be George W. Bush's Vice Presidential candidate (the > Bush family had put Cheney in charge of the search committee), Cheney > resigned from Halliburton, with a $20 million retirement package, including > six-figure salaries through 2007, and 433,333 shares of unexercised stock > options. > > Nobody knows the full extent of the Cheney relationship to Halliburton after > 2001, since the records of the discussions that Cheney held with Halliburton > while heading the "Energy Task Force," are still top secret. Only a series > of Congressional investigations, backed by mass public support can answer > those questions. > -- Jim Devine "Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" -- Richard Feynman
