When the Iraq Survey Group released a long-awaited report back in October 2004, it concluded that Iraq had eliminated its weapons programs in the 1990s, but determined that Saddam Hussein had manipulated the United Nation's oil-for-food program by siphoning off billions of dollars from the venture that may have been used to fund assault weapons and luxury goods.
“Through secret government-to-government trade agreements, Saddam Hussein's government earned more than $7.5 billion,” the report says. “At the same time, by demanding kickbacks from foreign companies that received oil or that supplied consumer goods, Iraq received at least $2 billion more to spend on weapons or on Saddam's extravagant palaces.”
The oil-for-food program was supervised by the U.N. and ran from 1996 until the U.S. led invasion in March 2003. The oil-for-food program was designed to alleviate the toll economic sanctions had on Iraqi citizens by allowing limited quantities of oil to be sold to buy food and medicine.
On Tuesday, the Iraqi government announced that it hired a Texas-based law firm to pursue as much as $10 billion in legal remedies against mega corporations such as Chevron Corp, and pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, for defrauding the country of food and medical provisions while Saddam Hussein was in power.
But one company that helped Saddam Hussein exploit the oil-for-food program in the mid-1990s that wasn’t identified as a possible defendant in a lawsuit is Halliburton Corp, and the person at the helm of oil-field services corporation at the time of the oil-for-food scheme was Vice President Dick Cheney.
The Clinton administration blocked one deal Halliburton was trying to push through because it was "not authorized under the oil-for-food deal," according to confidential U.N. documents obtained by the Washington Post in June 2001.
That deal, between Halliburton subsidiary Ingersoll Dresser Pump Co. and Iraq, included agreements by the firm to sell nearly $1 million in spare parts, compressors and firefighting equipment to refurbish an offshore oil terminal, Khor al Amaya. Still, Halliburton used one of foreign subsidiaries to sell Iraq the equipment it needed so the country could pump more oil, the Washington Post in a story published on June 23, 2001.
In an appearance on ABC News' "This Week" in August 2000, Cheney explained that the business transactions were minor.
"We inherited two joint ventures with Ingersoll-Rand that were selling some parts into Iraq," Cheney said, "but we divested ourselves of those interests."
The Washington Post reported that the divestiture, however, "was not immediate."
"The firms traded with Baghdad for more than a year under Cheney, signing nearly $30 million in contracts before he sold Halliburton's 49 percent stake in Ingersoll Dresser Pump Co. in December 1999 and its 51 percent interest in Dresser Rand to Ingersoll-Rand in February 2000, according to U.N. records," the Washington Post's reported in June 2001.
Halliburton was one of several American energy companies that helped Iraq increase its crude exports from $4 billion in 1997 to nearly $18 billion in 2000 by exploiting loopholes in U.S. laws. Under Cheney, Halliburton subsidiaries sold Iraq spare parts to help the country repair its oil fields, according to U.N. documents.
Between 1996 and 2003, Iraq sold more than $40 billion worth of oil under oil-for-food program. The U.N. estimated that Iraq was skimming as much as 10 percent of the proceeds from the oil-for-food program with the help of corporations such as Halliburton and its former chief executive Dick Cheney.
U.N. documents show that Halliburton's affiliates had extensive business dealings with the Iraqi regime during Cheney's tenure at the company and played a part in helping Saddam Hussein illegally pocket billions of dollars under the U.N.’s oil-for-food program.
Halliburton's Dresser-Rand and Ingersoll Dresser Pump Co., sold water and sewage treatment pumps, spare parts for oil facilities and pipeline equipment to Baghdad through French affiliates from the first half of 1997 to the summer of 2000, U.N. records show. Ingersoll Dresser Pump also signed contracts -- later blocked by the United States -- to help repair an Iraqi oil terminal that U.S.-led military forces destroyed in the Gulf War years earlier.
While chief executive of Halliburton, Cheney lobbied Washington lawmakers to lift sanctions against Iraq, Iran, and Libya, saying it unfairly punished U.S. companies from doing business in the Middle East.
"We seem to be sanction-happy as a government," Cheney said at an energy conference in April 1996, reported in the oil industry publication Petroleum Finance Week.
"The problem is that the good Lord didn't see fit to always put oil and gas resources where there are democratic governments," he observed during his conference presentation.
Sanctions make U.S. businesses "the bystander who gets hit when a train wreck occurs," Cheney told Petroleum Finance Week.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, Cheney adamantly denied that under his leadership, Halliburton did business with Iraq. While he acknowledged that his company did business with Libya and Iran through foreign subsidiaries, Cheney said, "Iraq's different." He claimed that he imposed a "firm policy" prohibiting any unit of Halliburton against trading with Iraq.
"I had a firm policy that we wouldn't do anything in Iraq, even arrangements that were supposedly legal," Cheney said on the ABC news program "This Week" on July 30, 2000. "We've not done any business in Iraq since U.N. sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990, and I had a standing policy that I wouldn't do that."
But during President Bush and Cheney's first few months in office in 2001, the vice president lobbied the U.N. Security Council to end an 11-year embargo on sales of civilian goods, including oil related equipment, to Iraq.
This has been a massive undertaking with one individual putting up a King's purse to get this newspaper off the ground and into the hands of the general population. I'll be writing more about this venture soon. It truly is an incredible undertaking. It came about, in part, because of my column. Now we take the next step.
At the same time, the US~Observer, a successful newspaper for more than 16 years, has been working with USA Tomorrow's publisher to come up with, by far and away, the best plan I've seen that will be successful. This is now underway and it truly is exciting. These two newspapers will complement each other in different ways. Both will bring writers and their columns to millions of Americans in all 50 states. It is imperative that we reach "the guy next door" with hard-hitting, factual information, instead of the slanted, biased, spin carried by MSM newspapers.
The two papers, being different from one another, are ultimately complementary. Whereas the US Observer brings investigations and court cases to the reader, as well as commentary, in a totally professional presentation; the USA Tomorrow brings common-interest stories that are ignored or grossly edited by the “good ol’ boys”. Both papers print what the “good ol’ boys” don't or won't print.
Did you read Alan Stang's column last week on what happened at the Republican State Convention in Texas? That column should have been covered by any newspaper worthy of truth and fairness. Of course, it wasn't. I guarantee you, millions of Republicans would have fired a backlash at their leadership if they knew what has been happening at their state conventions. It isn't right.
What about my column on the FLDS raid being a mighty strange coincidence regarding the NAFTA Super highway? Do you think Americans all over the country would be interested in reading about that? Think Americans all around the country would be interested in hearing about falsely-accused individuals being vindicated by the US~Observer, and the true criminals in the justice system exposed.
What Americans get from corporate newspapers is spun in favor of the government and corrupt political machines operating in their little fiefdoms. Corporate newspapers make it standard operating procedure to omit pesky legal and constitutional issues, unless it's an issue the powers want exposed.
Can people appreciate how powerful a regional newspaper can be in fighting corruption and holding elected public servants accountable? Without a local newspaper blowing the whistle and stirring up the people, the outcomes would have been very different.
Can you imagine this happening all over this country? It can and it will. The US~Observer has put together a plan so you can become part of the solution, and on a grand scale! They are providing distributorships that are being set up around the country. As a Distributor of their publications, you will be able go into a Constitutionally-based newspaper business on a snap. They already have a 16-year successful business model to use, so you can be up and running within a matter of weeks.
To help with immediate coverage, the USA Tomorrow will also include 50,000 copies hand-distributed to a Distributor’s local area. This will jump-start your business immediately. Everything is set and structured in such a way that if you've ever had a dream of being a major force in getting the truth to our fellow countrymen and women, now it's possible. Without 100 million dollars, it would be impossible to instantly hit America like a USA TODAY. Besides, who needs another fluff paper?
The US~Observer and USA Tomorrow have established a marketing plan that will provide only 67 Distributorships throughout the different regions of the country. With so few to sell, they will go very fast.
With 67 Distributors all across America, we can saturate this country with millions of newspapers on a monthly basis. These are hard copies, placed right into the hands of busy Americans who don't have time to surf the Internet, if they are even online at all. Remember: It's estimated that only 52% of all households have a personal computer. A hard newspaper is what people read on the commuter train, at lunch, over coffee and they pass it around when they're finished.
The Distributorships that are being offered are not tied to government agencies or regulations. We need a free press, not more controlled press. A Distributorship for your region is a business enterprise. It's foolish and naive to think anyone can run a newspaper for "free." Are you someone who wants to be part of making history, because between USA Tomorrow and this plan for regional, saturation coverage by The US~Observer, make no mistake: We are looking at the dawning of the "new media" taken directly to millions of homes across America.
I'm going to do everything I can to assist these ventures because I believe in them. Those magnificent, brilliant men who birthed this constitutional republic, the Founding Fathers, knew the hearts and minds of the colonials would be changed at the local (grassroots) level. Newspapers were used to bring the message of freedom and liberty. While the newspapers then were only a few pages, the colonials read them voraciously. They were hungry for the message. Despite the apathy we see by millions of Americans, the primary season did tell us two important things: (1) Americans are fed up and (2) they are looking for leadership and the truth. Let's give it to them, and by the millions!
The number of Distributorships is going to be limited to 67, because there are only a certain number of regions throughout the country. However, most of the regions have several sub-regions. These sub-regions can also be profit-centers for Distributors who join with us early. With only 67 Distributorships available, it will be a first come, first serve rule.
Don't miss this opportunity to build your dreams and become part of setting America back on the right track. The citizens of this country need to have their own country given back to them. However, most have no idea how to do that. The US~Observer does! By giving the people of this country truth, knowledge and the sense that there are people in this country who do care about what's right and are willing to fight for it. America needs this type of leadership and it can be brought to their door in real time. I know the American spirit of entrepreneurial endeavor is alive and well. Here is your opportunity for the real thing instead of more wishful thinking.
To find out about the US~Observer Distributorship program, call the US~Observer at: 1-800–418-6465.
Nation's oil-for-food program by siphoning off billions of dollars from the venture that may have been used to fund assault weapons and luxury goods.