Eye on Halliburton

from Common Cause...

"We are now asking CEO David Lesar, to pledge to the American people that Halliburton will improve its stewardship of the $1.2 billion contract to rebuild Iraq. We are also asking that Halliburton close its offshore subsidiaries that allow it to skirt paying its fair share of taxes and to trade with nations under U.S. sanctions.

Eye on Halliburton

When Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, the company enjoyed lucrative business relationships with countries under U.S. and international sanctions, including Iraq, Iran and Libya – the first two later dubbed part of the “Axis of Evil” by President Bush.

Iraq

Halliburton was a key partner in building Iraq’s oil industry during the reign of Saddam Hussein in the 1990s. After the Persian Gulf War in 1991, then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney helped devise the economic embargo against Iraq. Four years later, Cheney became CEO of Halliburton and promised to maintain a hard line against Baghdad. But in 1998, Halliburton acquired Dresser Industries, which was exporting equipment to Iraq through two subsidiary companies. Dresser continued to export to Iraq for nearly a year under Cheney, and former executives said they never heard any objections – from Cheney or any other Halliburton official – to trading with Baghdad.

Libya

In 1984 Halliburton began work in Libya on a maze of underground pipes named the Great Man-Made River Project, which Libya said was an irrigation system. When Congress imposed sanctions on Libya in the mid-1990’s, Halliburton sidestepped the sanctions by transferring the work being done to its British office. In 1997, The New York Times reported that three engineers working on the project said Libya’s official explanation for the tunnels was improbable. They noted that the size of the pipes and their proximity to Libya’s borders made it more useful as a way to move troops underground and undetected by neighboring nations.

Iran

Halliburton began supplying oil equipment to Tehran in the mid-1990’s despite continued sanctions against Iran. Halliburton, with Cheney as top executive, again evaded the sanctions by using a foreign subsidiary to conduct business with Iran."