Thursday, November 11, 2004
Fat Kats in Kuwait
Reuters via Yahoo!News is reporting that Rep. Henry Waxman has obtained State Dept. memos detailing that both the U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait and Jerry Bremer pressured Halliburton's Kellog, Brown, & Root (KBR) to award a sub-contract to Altanmia Commerical Marketing Company of Kuwait. Altanmia is the sub-contractor at the center of the investigation into whether or not (most likely whether) KBR overcharged the U.S. government some $61 million for fuel deliveries to Iraq.
Reuters quotes emails that implicate the Ambassador and Bremer,
We, of course, can't expect the Republican-controlled Congress to launch investigations anytime soon, but we can write letters demanding that they do and keep reminding ourselves and the rest of America of the total bankrupty of the Bush Adminstration. It seems that we invaded Iraq not to spread democracy and freedom but to line the pockets of oil executives from Texas, including Dick Cheney, and friends in Kuwait. It's good to know that Iraqis were waiting in line for hours to get gasoline so that the wife of a KBR executive could get a new Cartier watch after "losing" hers at the Kuwaiti Hilton. It's good to know that Dick Cheney, who is one pretzel incident away from the Presidency, headed up a corporation with such a strong sense of morals, character, and decency. One has to wonder why these documents weren't made available to Rep. Waxman before the election.
Reuters via Yahoo!News is reporting that Rep. Henry Waxman has obtained State Dept. memos detailing that both the U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait and Jerry Bremer pressured Halliburton's Kellog, Brown, & Root (KBR) to award a sub-contract to Altanmia Commerical Marketing Company of Kuwait. Altanmia is the sub-contractor at the center of the investigation into whether or not (most likely whether) KBR overcharged the U.S. government some $61 million for fuel deliveries to Iraq.
Reuters quotes emails that implicate the Ambassador and Bremer,
According to the documents, on Dec. 2, 2003, Richard Jones, the U.S. ambassador to Kuwait, sent an e-mail directing unidentified officials: "Tell KBR to get off their butts and conclude deals with Kuwait NOW! Tell them we want a deal done with Altanmia within 24 hours and don't take any excuses." [. . .] "If Amb. Bremer hears that KBR is still dragging its feet, he will be livid," referring to the U.S. civilian administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer.More troubling is that the documents contain emails that point to Halliburton's penchent for accepting bribes. According to one email quoted by Reuters, State Dept. officials reported that KBR executives,
"are on the take; that they solicit bribes openly; that anyone visiting their seaside villas at the Kuwaiti Hilton who offers to provide services will be asked for a bribe."Waxman is quoted as saying that these documents highlight the extent to which adminstration claims that Haliburton's contracts were "awarded without political interference" are false.
We, of course, can't expect the Republican-controlled Congress to launch investigations anytime soon, but we can write letters demanding that they do and keep reminding ourselves and the rest of America of the total bankrupty of the Bush Adminstration. It seems that we invaded Iraq not to spread democracy and freedom but to line the pockets of oil executives from Texas, including Dick Cheney, and friends in Kuwait. It's good to know that Iraqis were waiting in line for hours to get gasoline so that the wife of a KBR executive could get a new Cartier watch after "losing" hers at the Kuwaiti Hilton. It's good to know that Dick Cheney, who is one pretzel incident away from the Presidency, headed up a corporation with such a strong sense of morals, character, and decency. One has to wonder why these documents weren't made available to Rep. Waxman before the election.
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