Halliburton essentially laundering US payola to Kuwait

BaliBabyDoc

Lifer
Jan 20, 2001
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CNN/Money
Thomas Crum, chief operating officer for Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown & Root unit's Middle East government operations, was quoted in the newspaper as saying, "There's been considerable pressure here on our people from the embassy encouraging us to buy as much fuel as we can from Kuwait, telling us it's a political issue."
Read the article . . . but I'm not sure what's more disconcerting; the administration's attempt to hide the costs of buying allies or the notion that foreign governments are controling how US funds are spent. It seems like spending extra millions on building schools, hospitals, etc in Iraq will provide a greater benefit in the long run than funneling money to regional oligarchs.
 

BaliBabyDoc

Lifer
Jan 20, 2001
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Iran yes. Saudi Arabia no. Syria yes. Turkey yes. Kuwait no.

Since our government has decided buying gasoline abroad and then selling it domestically (Iraq) for less than 10% of the acquisition cost makes sense . . . I prefer a cheap supplier and at least a non-aggressive government. With the exception of Kuwait, all of the above have relatively cheap gasoline. And with the exception of Saudi Arabia, all of the above could be considered non-aggressive towards the US. Yeah, Iran has terrorists and Syria has terrorists . . . but Saudi Arabia essentially sponsored 9/11 . . . and is arguably the single most dangerous place in the region for Americans . . . aside from Iraq of course.
 

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
Staff member
Oct 30, 2000
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There should be documented proof/memo meeting notes to back up those statements.
 

SuperTool

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
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Aggressive or not aggressive, it doesn't matter. It's a liquid market. If you buy from one country, that takes supply off the market, helping the other countries. Are you willing to pay $3 per gallon to drive on Kuwaity oil based gas? If you don't care for yourself, why do you care what gas Iraqis drive on.
 

CaptnKirk

Lifer
Jul 25, 2002
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I read a report last week that was making reference to the same 'Special Deals' for fuel
from Kuwait to be purchased from a specific designated family that had special political
interest with both the Bush family and the Cheney family 'friendship'.
Also mentioned that the work being performed by Haliburton personel for the schools,'
buildings, infastructure, etc. were shoddy and substandard, but they got full price for
the contract reguardless of how much they had skimmed off 'administrationally' by
reasigning the work to sub-contractors, usually another branch of Halliburton - like the
Brown, Root, & Kellog group which in turn would hire foriegn labor to do the 'hands-on'.
The oproblem with this is that Halliburton has collected once as an administrator and
taken a first cut, awarded it to themselves as a Sub-contractor to take a second cut,
and then the subcontractor puts it out to a third party subcontractor to perform outside the
oversight of either the Prime Contractor or the Secondary Contractor, so they can not be
responsible for the actual finished product - only that they have collected upwards of 40%
of the finances allocated without actually doing any value added work.
 

BaliBabyDoc

Lifer
Jan 20, 2001
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Which statements? Don't you think there's a reason we are spreading around extremely expensive manure? French and German companies would be quite helpful in Iraq but they are being barred from bidding on major contracts . . . pure politics. Do you really believe that influence peddling does not happen on a global scale? If there was not an ocean of oil under the Arabian peninsula . . . do you think we wouldn't have dropped a bomb on them by now?! Obviously, I cannot prove it but I would be surprised if Kuwait wasn't drilling the crap out of oilfields close to the Iraqi border. Kuwait allowed the US to stage their invasion from Kuwaiti territory b/c Saddam is a bad man AND they expected to get paid.
 

CaptnKirk

Lifer
Jul 25, 2002
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BBD - SLANT DRILLING

Clipped from the article:


<FONT size=+1>Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990 after accusing the emirate of stealing oil from the Rumeila field and nibbling away at its territory.</FONT>
 

GrGr

Diamond Member
Sep 25, 2003
3,204
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Earning Big Bucks on the conservative lecture tour?

Nah, I think she promptly retired from public life after that little "mishap" with Saddam.