Dick Cheney "Halliburton Years"

[Janett_Reno]

Business reporter Dan Briody says that Halliburton did business with both the U.S. government and its enemies.

"Dick Cheney is simply the latest in a succession of politicians that Halliburton has used to secure government contracts.


He (Cheney) says he wasn't aware that Halliburton was doing business with Iraq while he was CEO...if you believe that either he's a very bad CEO for not being aware or he's not telling the truth."

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.

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.


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.

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.


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."

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."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All i can say is the same thing happened with George Bush's dad, W's granddad, as he was selling to Hilter's war regime and making great money untill our government warned him, we are in war and you must stop. Nothing like making a dollar is it? Just ask the one's who's running the white house...

Another very fine man you need to read about is Neil Bush. He is probably the only man that has less of a brain than his brother W. When i get time i will post some things this brother has done. If you didn't know, he is a brother of W.

[Janett_Reno]

Let's stay on Mr Cheney and you draw your own conclusion. Is it faith and values, is it the best for the USA or could it be greed?

----------------------------------------------------

Read Both Pages

MR. VICE-PRESIDENT

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/dickcheney/vice.html

[Janett_Reno]

Then today as this is all tied into the war and who runs the war and who controls the usa now. Not Puppet Bush but Mr Cheney. Even the Repubs are not liking it and are worried. The ones in the house, senate, gov's and more but they all know if they speak bad of Cheney, they are in an up hill battle but now they figure it won't be long before Cheney is out. So alot of them are comming out because Cheney and his war will most likely cost them in the election comming up. This is also why Rumsfield would not leave as he and Chenery was like brothers.

If you read most of the old Republicans was totally against Bully Rumsfield and Cheney. They had many, many run in's with Reagan, Daddy Bush and old time Repubs. Daddy Bush advised his son to stay away from Rums and even Cheney and when he chose Cheney, he was now a puppet. This has been a big part of his downfall.

You can see why Cheney has probs with the Clintons. Daddy Bush doesn't and neither does Clinton with Daddy Bush but it is the radical Repubs that has taken control and Baby Bush is stuck. Cheney could not start his war with Clinton in his way and with Clinton in power. In the end it has been hard for Daddy Bush to contain and handle W and Neil. Around ever corner, they get in trouble and can be swayed by bullies.

This is not to say it isn't good people in both the Repub and Dem party because it is. It is just easy to stray where money is, where sex is and temptation. You also need to read when some of these politicians get on to people like McCain, Kerry and others and question their military career. Kerry and McCain was patriots and like them or not they did not run and fought for every one of us. You need to go look who has dodged the military and bought themself out. On alot of Kerry and McCain's politcal policies i do not agree but i respect them.

Before your neighbor tells you who to vote for, before your preacher tells you who to vote for or before Pat Robertson tells you, i advise you to search your heart and look into their background. It pays to research and it pay's not to be bullied or backed into a corner. Also it is your duty to get out and vote. Republican, Democrat, Independent but just research and vote. This is also why it is hard for these Repubs being asked to vote on issues they know the Dems will question them on the next election. If they stick with Bush or if they abandoned him, they hate to be backed in a corner and made to decide because it could cost them like George Allen and even John Sununu the next election.

One good thing about all this and even when Clinton had his lil affair, it has made the American public more aware of politics and instead of Pat Robertson telling you and the public who to vote for, most Americans are now saying and thinking, wait just a darn minute, i think i will research and vote like i want because it is my freedom to.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Analysis: GOP senators nervous about war

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070721/...3YqNhDldHMWM0F

Yet as the party leader, McConnell is more circumspect than many Republicans in his characterization of the administration's war strategy. Asked earlier in the week whether he agreed that the conflict had been badly mismanaged — as Sen. John McCain has said for months — McConnell declined to respond.


Not so Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo.

"The strategy we had before was not the right strategy," he told reporters at midweek. "We should have had a counterinsurgency strategy."

By his remarks, Bond made it clear he meant the strategy was wrong from the time Saddam Hussein was deposed until this past January, when Gen. David Petraeus was installed as top military commander. That's a span of nearly four years.
Asked who bore responsibility for the error, Bond said, "Ultimately, obviously, the president."

Should any blame fall on Congress — under Republican control the entire time?

"Congress was not running the war," Bond replied.

It is not only the mood that is changing among Republicans. So, too, the rhetoric.

"Cut and run," has largely come and gone as an insult to hurl at Democrats, as Republicans themselves contemplate a change in course.

It also is the mission they envision changing as they try to salvage what they can from a war that has taken the lives of more than 3,600 U.S. troops and cost more than $400 billion.

Their once-clear vision of Iraq as a stable, self-sustaining democracy is faded.

According to several officials, Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and McCain engaged in a brief, impromptu debate touching on that point recently at a private meeting of the rank and file.

Voinovich said the Sunni and Shiites in Iraq would together drive al-Qaida from their country if the U.S. were not there. McCain took the opposite view. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, noting that the meeting was private.

If Republicans struggling to regroup — with or without the president they have followed through four years of war — Democrats are on the march.

"In May, Republicans were dismissing even tough questions about the escalation. Now, they're falling all over themselves to distance themselves from the president."

[dude1394]

Yadda yadda yadda...Save it for the Daily Kos.

[Folterkammer]

that`s why no one in germany trusts that man

[Janett_Reno]

Not only Germany, he is not trusted in the USA either.

[George Gervin]

No he's trusted..by the dead enders of the republican party..

[dalmations202]

Originally Posted by Folterkammer

that`s why no one in germany trusts that man

coming from a people that trusted Hitler......Sorry if I don't trust the views of the Germans either.

As far as the bleeding heart liberals in this country, I fully expect them to DEMAND - and to get their way, and then cry because of the outcome. They never learn from history.

Just a FYI -- I don't trust Cheney either -- nor any other man or woman.

[alexamenos]

Originally Posted by dalmations202

coming from a people that trusted Hitler......Sorry if I don't trust the views of the Germans either.....

kind of a cheapshot at the Germans, IMO.....really good article here (link) on why the Germans supported Hitler.

(hint: Germans supported Hitler for the same reasons FDR was incredibly popular in the US in some circles)

[dalmations202]

Originally Posted by alexamenos

kind of a cheapshot at the Germans, IMO.....really good article here (link) on why the Germans supported Hitler.

(hint: Germans supported Hitler for the same reasons FDR was incredibly popular in the US in some circles)

Don't really need the link because I had family there. I know what and why. I also know that many Americans had a great love for JFK -- even though he had many issues that cost American greatly. I also know that many Americans loved Clinton, even though he did things that many Americans will never believe, even after it comes out.

It is kind of like the OJ trial-some will never believe he is guilty, and some will never believe he is innocent.

I'd personally rather slam them all than just pick out Cheney or pick out one political person or another. I used Hitler as an example of people following someone, sometimes for the wrong reason. It wasn't meant to be any type of personal attack, just a comment about "the masses making decisions on whom to follow or dislike."

[alexamenos]

cool -- the question "why did the germans follow hitler?" just happened to be a pet subject of mine. I can imagine that a lot of people like to think that the germans were uniquely stupid or gullible, but I think instead it would have been quite easy for any of us to have gone goosestepping behind.

cheers

[bobatundi]

Originally Posted by dalmations202

coming from a people that trusted Hitler......Sorry if I don't trust the views of the Germans either.

As far as the bleeding heart liberals in this country, I fully expect them to DEMAND - and to get their way, and then cry because of the outcome. They never learn from history.

Just a FYI -- I don't trust Cheney either -- nor any other man or woman.

Wow, that's some pretty broad stereotyping you're doing there. But I guess you make it ok by telling us you don't trust anyone.

[dalmations202]

Originally Posted by bobatundi

Wow, that's some pretty broad stereotyping you're doing there. But I guess you make it ok by telling us you don't trust anyone.

The point being is that the masses are closer to SHEEP than to individuals.

They are always willing to follow, or to be scared and run from.

If the masses like a person (popular with media) -- man they will follow him, and anything he says is truth.
If they dislike (unpopular with media), the masses will decide that everything he says is faulty.

Almost NEVER do people take the time to find out the real truth -- they just read a newspaper or watch some TV.

Call me cynical, but it has been this way all my life.

[Mavdog]

Originally Posted by alexamenos

cool -- the question "why did the germans follow hitler?" just happened to be a pet subject of mine. I can imagine that a lot of people like to think that the germans were uniquely stupid or gullible, but I think instead it would have been quite easy for any of us to have gone goosestepping behind.

cheers

"quite easy"???

those of us who belong to the group of victims of hitler's deep rooted anti-semitism would find it very difficult if not impossible to "have gone goosestepping behind" him or his party.

and no, the germans were not uniquely stupid or gullible.

it could happen anywhere, including here.

[Janett_Reno]

Originally Posted by dalmations202

coming from a people that trusted Hitler......Sorry if I don't trust the views of the Germans either.

As far as the bleeding heart liberals in this country, I fully expect them to DEMAND - and to get their way, and then cry because of the outcome. They never learn from history.

Just a FYI -- I don't trust Cheney either -- nor any other man or woman.

This is very sad to talk of the German people like this. Guess who many in lot's of countries are comparring W Bush/Cheney/Rumsfield to? It is many in this country that is comparring them to the same. Read between the lines and before you talk of how bad the German people are, take a look at yourself and who you are following.

If Clinton does wrong, let's bring it out and admit it, same with Nixon, same with all in the history of politics. W Bush thinks he makes no mistakes, never has made a mistake and never will make a mistake. The same with Scooter Libby as i know you will defend him, defend Vitter, defend Ted Haggard, defend Pat Robertson, but Richard Nixon was much more of a man than this administration. He atleast finally admitted he made mistakes. Clinton finally admitted his sin and his mistake. This administration, in their eyes has never done anything wrong and never will because they are "the faith and value men" just ask there preacher how faithful they are, Ted Haggard.

Any German people reading this forum or thread please forgive some in our country that compares you(the German people) to one person or one man.

[Janett_Reno]

Cheney
----------

MR. VICE-PRESIDENT
------------------------

2000

OCTOBER 24: Halliburton announces layoffs and assets sales because of weakness in its construction and engineering businesses. Analysts reduce Halliburton’s earning forecast.

OCTOBER 25: Halliburton announces it is under a grand jury investigation for over-billing the government of California.

NOVEMBER: Cheney suffers his fourth heart-attack.

NOVEMBER 13: It is reported that Halliburton stock has lost between $3 and $4 billion of its total market value.

Dressers Industries asbestos problem and weak engineering portfolio is blamed. Democrats question if Cheney had insider information when he sold his stock two months earlier for $30 million.

During the election campaign Cheney tells ABC News. “I had a firm policy that we wouldn’t do anything in Iraq, even arrangements that were supposedly legal.”

However, during his time as CEO, Halliburton was selling millions of dollars to Iraq in supplies for its oil industry. The deals were done through old subsidiaries of Dresser Industries. It was done under the auspices of the corrupt UN Oil for Food Program.

Halliburton worked with Iran and Libya as well, using its own subsidiaries.

2001
JANUARY 19: Dick Cheney is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.

JANUARY 29: President Bush announces the formation of the National Energy Policy Development Group in Cheney’s office. He announces that Cheney will chair the group.

FEBRUARY 2: Wall Street Journal publishes expose on Halliburton’s Tehran office.

Abdulamir Mahdi writes a letter to Cheney complaining that he is in jail for violating the Iranian embargo while the Vice President, who did the same thing, is free.

MARCH 5: Cheney has balloon angioplasty performed at George Washington University Hospital after suffering chest pains.

APRIL 19: Representatives John Dingell and Henry Waxman, Ranking Members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, send a letter to the General Accounting Office, seeking to obtain information about National Energy Policy Development Group. They wanted to find out who had participated in the report.

MAY 16: Cheney presents to President Bush a report entitled National Energy Policy, which recommended the adoption of the national energy policy that had been developed by the NEPDG.

JUNE 21: Cheney’s office sends 77 pages of miscellaneous documents supposedly as a responsive reply to GAO’s request for documents. The package of documents contain pages with dollar amounts but no indication of the nature of purpose of the expenditure. Also included was the executive director’s credit card receipt for a pizza. Requests by the GAO for additional information was denied.

AUGUST 2: Cheney sends a letter to the Senate and House of Representatives, stating “actions undertaken by an agent of the Congress, the Comptroller General, which exceeded his lawful authority and which, if given effect, would unconstitutionally interfere with the functioning of the executive branch.”

Cheney says the GAO’s demand for documents compromise “the confidentiality of communications among a President, a Vice-President, the President’s other senior advisors and others.”

Cheney also states that he had provided "documents responsive to the Comptroller General's inquiry concerning the costs associated with the (Energy task force's work.)" Cheney was apparently writing about the 77 pages.

SEPTEMBER 11: Al Qaeda attacks in New York and Washington. In the wake of the attacks, Dick Cheney reportedly is taken to Raven Rock, a top-secret military base. He orders U.S. military fighters to shoot down any civilian planes that may have been hijacked.

2002
JANUARY: Sierra Club sues Cheney, et al, to get documents related to the National Energy Development Group. (read a report from the Sierra Club )
FEBRUARY: Ambassador Joe Wilson is told by the CIA that Cheney is interested in an allegation that Iraq had tried to purchase Yellow Cake uranium from Niger. Wilson goes to Niger to investigate and concludes the rumour is false.

FEBRUARY 22: David Walker, the Comptroller of the General Accounting Office, files a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to get access to records relating to the activities of the National Energy Development Group. (see the document .pdf file)

JUNE 22: A memo written by INC (Iraqi National Council) lobbyist Entifadh Qunbar to a U.S. Senate committee lists John Hannah, a senior national-security aide on Cheney's staff, as one of two "U.S. governmental recipients" for reports generated by an intelligence program being run by the INC and which was then being funded by the State Department. The letter shows Cheney's office was getting intelligence from a highly suspect source.


AUGUST 26: Cheney tells an audience of veterans "There’s no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction [and that he will use them] against our friends, against our allies and against us.”

Selling the nuclear threat became key to convincing Americans to support the war.

DECEMBER 9: U.S. District Court Judge John Bates dismisses the high profile lawsuit filed by David Walker, the Comptroller of the General Accounting Office, against Vice President Dick Cheney.

[Janett_Reno]

Part 2
Mr Vice-President

2003
JANUARY 28, 2003: President Bush gives his State of the Union Address where he presents a case against Saddam Hussein and states that "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa".

FEBRUARY 7: The General Accounting Office abandons its efforts to obtain records about the operation of the Vice President's Task Force on Energy Policy.

The Comptroller says while he believes the decision of the Judge Bates was incorrect, to pursue it would take too much time and resources. He also points out that private litigants were still pursuing the Cheney documents.


MARCH: Cheney declares "we believe that he [Saddam Hussein] has in fact reconstituted nuclear weapons."

Cheney publicly states mid-March that U.S. troops would be "greeted as liberators” in Iraq.

MARCH 5: Army Corps of Engineers writes in an e-mail that a contract for restoring Iraqi oil fields is being coordinated with Cheney’s office. Three days later a Halliburton subsidiary was awarded the $7 billion contract.

MARCH 19: U.S. begins Operation Iraqi Freedom. Baghdad is bombed.

APRIL 7: Newsweek reveals that Cheney is still receiving annual compensation from Halliburton for his tenure as the company CEO. This while the U.S. military was giving contracts worth potentially billions of dollars to Halliburton.

APRIL 8: California Democratic representative Henry Waxman, joined by Democratic representative John Dingell, request a General Accounting Office investigation, writing that 'ties' between Cheney and Halliburton 'have raised concerns about whether the company has received favorable treatment from the administration. This is their second request concerning Cheney.

JULY 6: Ambassador Joe Wilson writes an article for the New York Times criticizing the Bush’s state of the the Union address for including the allegation that Iraq had tried to obtain yellow cake uranium from Niger. (read the article )
JULY 14: Syndicated columnist Robert Novak reveals that Ambassador Joe Wilson’s wife is a CIA operative. That information, he writes, came from two senior administration officials. This leak violates U.S. law.

AUGUST 25: The GAO releases a report called Energy Task Force: Process Used to Develop the National Energy Policy.” (read the report .pdf file)

SEPTEMBER 14: Cheney repeats widely discredited report that 9/11 hijacker Muhammad Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001.

Bush publicly admits there is no evidence linking Iraq to September 11 terrorist attacks.

DECEMBER 15: U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Cheney appeal a lower court order that Cheney turn over documents related to the Bush administration’s Energy Task Force. Cheney had been fighting efforts to disclose the documents for three years.

2004
JANUARY: Dick Cheney goes duck hunting with US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Halliburton states in an SEC filing "Since [Cheney's] nomination as vice president, Halliburton has been and continues to be the focus of allegations, some of which appear to be made for political reasons by political adversaries of the vice president and the current Bush administration.

We expect that this focus and these allegations will continue and possibly intensify as the 2004 elections draw nearer.”

U.S. Treasury department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control begins investigation into allegations that Halliburton may have violated the U.S. embargo against Iran through a subsidiary based in Dubai.

FEBRUARY 3: Halliburton is accused of overcharging the U.S. military $36 million for meals at a U.S. base in Kuwait.

FEBRUARY: Justice Department investigation into allegations that Halliburton paid $180 million in bribes to Nigerian officials to get contract to build a natural gas plant in the late 1990s, when Cheney was still CEO.

Halliburton, in its annual report, says U.S. government contracts accounted for 26 percent of its revenues in 2003. That is up from 10 percent the year before.

MARCH: The Pentagon asks the justice department to help investigate allegations that Halliburton overcharged for fuel in Iraq by more than $80 million.

MARCH 18: Scalia releases a 21 page memo refusing to recuse himself from the Cheney appeal on the Energy Task Force lawsuit. Scalia had been asked to recuse himself because of a duck-hunting trip he took with Cheney in January.

[Janett_Reno]

The Last Page On Mr-Vice President

APRIL 8: Two congressmen, Henry Waxman and John Dingell, ask the General Accounting Office to investigate ties between Cheney and Halliburton and whether the company has received favourable treatment from the Administration.
JUNE: U.S. media reports that Dick Cheney had been questioned about the leak of the identity of Valerie Plame, the CIA-officer married to Joe Wilson.

JULY: A federal grand jury in Houston subpoenas documents for Halliburton as it investigates allegations that the company may have violated the US embargo against dealing with Iran.
AUGUST: Halliburton settles with the Security and Exchange Commission, agreeing to pay $7.5 million for not disclosing a change in its accounting practices that allowed it to report higher earnings in 1998 and 1999. The SEC accused Halliburton of hindering its investigation.

OCTOBER 5: Cheney meets Democratic Vice-Presidential challenger John Edwards in a televised debate.

The U.S. Attorney investigating the Valerie Plame leak says his investigation is completed, except for the testimony of two reporters who refused to reveal their sources of information.

OCTOBER 13: Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry causes an uproar when he refers to Cheney's daughter Mary as a lesbian. Lynn Cheney tells reporters, "the only thing I can conclude is that (Kerry) is not a good man."

NOVEMBER 2: Cheney is re-elected Vice President.

2005
MARCH 23: Halliburton tells New York City Comptroller that none of its subsidiaries will bid for work in Iran, however, the company will complete work already started in that country.

MARCH 31: The Presidential Commission looking into intelligence capabilities in Iraq regarding weapons of mass destruction writes that the documents purporting to show Iraq had purchased uranium for Niger had been forged.

APRIL 14: Nine Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee send a letter to U.S. Attorney General expressing grave concerns that no one has been arrested for leaking the name of CIA officer Valerie Plame to the press.

APRIL 5: Army announces it will withhold $55 million out of $200 million in payments it made to Halliburton in 2003 for providing dining services for troops in Iraq. Despite the allegations of overcharging by Halliburton, the army also announced it will pay the company $1.18 billion to feed troops in Iraq and Kuwait.

APRIL 12: A report released by Pentagon auditors reveals that Halliburton, may have overcharged the US government by $212 million for work in Iraq.

APRIL 15: Cheney releases his tax returns. His filings show that he earned $194,852 in deferred compensation from Halliburton in 2004.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh says that Cheney was insistent on invading Iraq from the beginning.

"Saddam is ousted. You get a moderate Baathist regime and a democracy flows out - like water out of a fountain. And not only will democracy flow in Iraq. It will flow into Syria. The Iranians will also see the light.

They (Cheney and others) believed this. Utopian, idealist, crazy."

--------------------------------------------------

Intelligence specialist Greg Thielman says his State Department Office was receiving information that was different from what the White House was saying.

"Their starting point was not 'let's try to figure out what is going on' but 'let's see what kind of information we can come up with to justify the policy line we want to pursue'.

Cheney was the driving force behind an orchestrated presentation to the American public of a different version of reality than the reality we saw."
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski worked at the Pentagon along side the 'Office of Special Plans' a group that worked with Cheney on intelligence matters.

"When I heard those (President Bush's) speeches I recognized many of the anecdotes. Having seen the intelligence I knew this was a manipulation of the information. It was cherry picked information, out of context information.

It bothered me a great deal because I saw it to be conscious manipulation. Not an oversight but consciously done.

If you don't tell Dick Cheney what he wants to hear, you're out of a job."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In The State of the Union Address President Bush repeated a rumour that Iraq had recently purchased uranium from Africa. Joe Wilson, a former ambassador to Africa knew that it wasn't true.

"It become clear to me that there's been a deliberate attempt on the part of some of the members of government to deceive the U.S. Congress and deceive the American people ... deceive the world as to the nature of the threat posed by Saddam's nuclear program."
------------------------------------

[purplefrog]

The fact that Cheney, Rumsfeld, Perle, and other neo-cons had a desire to invade Iraq pre-9/11 is well documented. If you go to the web site for "The Project for the New American Century" you will see that this group (of which Cheney was part of) was lobbying President Clinton to invade Iraq as early as 1997/98. I'm not making a judgement one way or the other as to whether it was the right move or not, just stating the fact that this group believed Saddam had to be overthrown before 9/11. This group also suggested that it was good for America to be involved in mulitple-theater wars continously in order to show our strength. I believe much of our present foreign policy can be found in their writings. Check it out, it makes for interesting reading.

[Janett_Reno]

Thanks purplefrog i will read. It is so sad to sell the American public on false wmd's and the whole list of things Cheney, Bush & Rumsfield sold the public on, just to get to go to war.

All this is heating up now and it is on all over tv. People are seeing it and not liking it and asking for answers and why?

What Cheney did not count on is the muslim people would refuse us to stay. They thought this move would put more pressure on Iram and Syria "i think" to behave and be more like us or if not, wtach out because i am Dick Cheney. It has backfired and big time.

In a nutshell this is what you have. A powder keg in the middle east and Iraq now. If we stay, it is going to get worse. If we leave, it is going to get worse. Many countries are not going to stop comming across that border to try to impose their will and idea's on Iraq. Most all of them are muslim but they have differ views they live by, from country to country. Syria doesn't want to give up their grip on Lebanon, Iran and Syria does not want to give up their grip on Iraq. Iran could not defeat Sudam and over run him.

They was at a stale mate. Both countered the other and both didn't like the other. What all this has done, is to make Syria, Iran more powerful. Now this is sick and this is sad. Maybe Cheney & Bush want to go into those countries next, who knows.

It is no way we can police those muslim countries to live like us, nor can we police the middle east. We can give suggestions and talk to them. We can't change their beliefs. Now i do agree, it is some very fundamentalist and the way Bin Laden and others are trying to teach the children to hate us is bad. Alot of this are in some schools in Pakistan but is spreading to other places.

Why would they want to invade, these neo cons? What good would they get out of it besides money? I know some oil and gas companies have made huge profits but i wonder how they thought this would benefit us and the American people? I could say then and i can say now, Iraq and Iran and many places over in the middle east is not a good vacation spot for us then or now. It won't be if we stay or if we leave.

I just hope the new people that come in, Dems or Repubs can help our nation and other countries respect us and like us again across the world. Most hate us now.

I agree with you purplefrog and i have read that where they wanted to invade before pre 9/11 but i wish i knew what the real thinking was on the neo cons part, how it would help us as a people, a nation, or how it would just help them? We will probably never know the real truth why the neo cons wanted to do this. Sadam was mean and an evil man but it was no car bombs and it was no countries sending suicide bombers and killing thousands and thousands of people. It was bad the awful things he done but it was many things we could have done "in secret" and we never know about than what we did. Maybe the neocons thoght, we can stick in power who we want and make this a nice vacation spot. I don't see it happening now or later.

I will go over and read and thanks.

[alexamenos]

Originally Posted by Mavdog

....no, the germans were not uniquely stupid or gullible.

it could happen anywhere, including here.

yes, that was precisely my point.

cheers

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by George Gervin

No he's trusted..by the dead enders of the republican party..

Just like Hillary is trusted by the Khmer Rouge members of the democrat party.

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by Janett_Reno

Not only Germany, he is not trusted in the USA either.

Probably more than congress is. And per rasumssen.
http://rasmussenreports.com/public_c...les_fall_to_19

Favorable's
Cheny - 38%
Harry Reid - 19%

Save it for kos kids.

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by Janett_Reno

This is very sad to talk of the German people like this. Guess who many in lot's of countries are comparring W Bush/Cheney/Rumsfield to? It is many in this country that is comparring them to the same.

That's because they are idiots. All of this gnashing of teeth about the "regime" is a bunch of crap, promoted by morons. There isn't one single instance where dubya hasn't followed the rule of law when a judge says to. He may contest it in court but once settled, it's done.

There isn't one foreign policy action that wasn't agreed to (overwhelmingly) by the duly elected representatives of this country.

Dubya has been re-elected once and the republicans increased representation in two out of three elections since dubya's been in office.

It's quite pathetic to see "supposedly" intelligent people throwing out this crap about regime this, hitler that, when they have absolutely nothing to base it on, other than their political desires.

The left is absolutely pathetic and paranoid. they shouldn't be allowed anywhere close to political power.

You want to see some regime change, just get 9 liberal supreme court judges in there, you'll see some fairness doctrine and speech legislation that you won't believe.

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by Janett_Reno

Thanks purplefrog i will read. It is so sad to sell the American public on false wmd's and the whole list of things Cheney, Bush & Rumsfield sold the public on, just to get to go to war..

what idiocy. For about the zillionth time go read, AlGore, Bill Clinton and a host of other politicians opinions on Sadam Hussein before dubya was even ELECTED.

Good grief that kos kool aid is potent, it must give the readers alzheimers or something.

[Janett_Reno]

Dick Cheney

THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

1989
MARCH: Cheney becomes Secretary of Defense when President George H.W. Bush’s first choice, John Tower, is rejected by the Senate for personal misconduct.

Cheney, when asked why he sought draft deferments during the Vietnam war said "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service."

1990
AUGUST 1: Cheney gets briefing from General Norman Schwarzkopf about Iraqi threats against Kuwait.


AUGUST 2: Iraq invades Kuwait.

AUGUST: Cheney flies to Saudi Arabia to convince King Fahd to allow US troops into his country.

SEPTEMBER: The Pentagon says that 250,000 Iraqi troops with 1500 tanks are massed on the Saudi border. The photos are never made public.

Soviet satellite imagery taken that day shows no troops near the border. (see the photos)

1991
Journalist Jean Heller learns about the Soviet satellite imagery and presents them to Dick Cheney's office at the Pentagon. They ignore the story.

JANUARY: Operation Desert Storm begins.

In the wake of Desert Storm, Cheney hires Halliburton to put out 320 well-head fires and engage Halliburton subsidiary Brown and Root to rebuild courthouses, schools, utilities, police stations, and computer systems in Kuwait.

JUNE 10: Cheney and the troops who fought in Desert Storm are honored with a ticker tape parade up Broadway in New York.

JULY 3: Secretary Cheney is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H.W. Bush for his work on the Gulf War.

1992
Cheney pays Halliburton, Brown and Root $8.9 million for two studies on how to downsize the military.

AUGUST: Halliburton is selected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to do all the work needed to support the military for five years. This is the same plan it had itself drawn up.

NOVEMBER: Bill Clinton elected president. Cheney's term as Secretary of Defense is over.

[alexamenos]

JR....

I concur that Darth Cheney isn't a terribly sympathetic character. I imagine that he has no soul, and is quite capable of unspeakable things.

Nonetheless....I think you're at least 6 years behind the times on all this stuff, and it's all rather besides the point.

cheers

[Mavdog]

yeah, but isn't the repeated use of colored fonts impressive?