Jan 26, 2004

Sometimes It Really Is All About Oil

by Liberty and Power

Leslie Stahl reports on 60 Minutes tonight that as CEO of Halliburton in the mid to late 1990s, now Vice President Cheney oversaw the construction of a Cayman Islands-based subsidiary that was created for the sole purpose helping Iran extract and process oil -- an effort to get around U.S. State Department rules forbidding U.S. companies from doing business with countries that sponsor terrorism.

To this day, that Halliburton subsidiary does business with Iran to the tune of $40 million per year, despite Cheney's current boss designating the country as a charter member of the"Axis of Evil." That $40 million helps Iran extract oil, which funds the Iranian government, which, if you believe the State Department, then funds the gamut of anti-American, anti-Israel international terrorism organizations.

All of this was uncovered by William Thompson, the current comptroller for New York City. Thompson discovered the Halliburton subsidiary while investigating where the 401(k) plans of New York City's cops and firefighters are being invested, to be sure none of that money is going to corporations that do business with states that sponsor terrorism.

Incidentally, while CEO of Halliburton, Cheney also furiously lobbied the State Department to lift its ban on doing business with Libya. The Buzzflash website reports a 1997 article from Oil and Gas Journal which said:

"Cheney said oil and gas companies must explore where the reserves are, and that means doing business in countries that may have policies that the U.S. does not like." Cheney said,"The long-term horizon of the oil industry is at odds with the short term nature of politics."

That of course was before 9/11. But you have to wonder why Cheney -- who oversaw the creation of the subsidiary still doing business with Iran -- continues to allow that subsidiary to operate.

The really twisted part is, should the U.S. ever go to war with Iran for its terrorism-sponsoring habit, guess which company will likely get a slew of multimillion dollar contracts?