>From: Jabou Joh <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Halliburton Makes a Killing on Iraq War >Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2003 23:21:00 EST > >Halliburton Makes a Killing on Iraq War > > >March 23, 2003 > >As the first bombs rain down on Baghdad, thousands of employees of >Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, are working >alongside US troops in Kuwait and Turkey under a package deal worth close to >a billion dollars. According to US Army sources, they are building tent >cities and providing logistical support for the war in Iraq in addition to >other hot spots in the "war on terrorism." > >While recent news coverage has speculated on the post-war reconstruction >gravy train that corporations like Halliburton stand to gain from, this >latest information indicates that Halliburton is already profiting from war >time contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. > >Cheney served as chief executive of Halliburton until he stepped down to >become George W. Bush's running mate in the 2000 presidential race. Today he >still draws compensation of up to a million dollars a year from the company, >although his spokesperson denies that the White House helped the company win >the contract. > >In December 2001, Kellogg, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, >secured a 10-year deal known as the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program >(LOGCAP), from the Pentagon. The contract is a "cost-plus-award-fee, >indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity service" which basically means that >the federal government has an open-ended mandate and budget to send Brown and >Root anywhere in the world to run military operations for a profit. > >Linda Theis, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Field Support Command >in Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, confirmed that Brown and Root is also >supporting operations in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Georgia, Jordan and >Uzbekistan. > >"Specific locations along with military units, number of personnel assigned, >and dates of duration are considered classified," she said. "The overall >anticipated cost of task orders awarded since contract award in December 2001 >is approximately $830 million." > >Local Labor in Kuwait > >The current contract in Kuwait began in September 2002 when Joyce Taylor of >the U.S. Army Materiel Command's Program Management Office, arrived to >supervise approximately 1,800 Brown and Root employees to set up tent cities >that would provide accommodation for tens of thousands of soldiers and >officials. Army officials working with Brown and Root say the collaboration >is helping cut costs by hiring local labor at a fraction of regular Army >salaries. > >"We can quickly purchase building materials and hire third-country nationals >to perform the work. This means a small number of combat-service-support >soldiers are needed to support this logistic aspect of building up an area," >says Lt. Col. Rod Cutright, the senior LOGCAP planner for all of Southwest >Asia. > >During the past few weeks, these Brown and Root employees have helped >transform Kuwait into an armed camp, to support some 80,000 foreign troops, >roughly the equivalent of 10 percent of Kuwait's native-born population. > >Most of these troops are now living in the tent cities in the rugged desert >north of Kuwait City, poised to invade Iraq. Some of the encampments are >named after the states associated with the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 – Camp >New York, Camp Virginia and Camp Pennsylvania. > >The headquarters for this effort is Camp Arifjan, where civilian and military >employees have built a gravel terrace with plastic picnic tables and chairs, >surrounded by a gymnasium in a tent, a PX and newly arrived fast food outlets >such as Burger King, Subway and Baskin-Robbins, set up in trailers or >shipping containers. Basketball hoops and volleyball nets are set up outside >the mess hall. > >Meanwhile, In Turkey ... > >North of Iraq approximately 1,500 civilians are working for Brown and Root >and the United States military near the city of Adana, about an hour's drive >inland from the Mediterranean coast of central Turkey, where they support >approximately 1,400 US soldiers staffing Operation Northern Watch's Air Force >F-15 Strike Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons monitoring the no-fly zone above >the 36th parallel in Iraq. > >The jet pilots are catered and housed at the Incirlik military base seven >miles outside the city by a company named Vinnell, Brown and Root (VBR), a >joint venture between Brown and Root and Vinnell corporation of Fairfax, >Virginia, under a contract that was signed on Oct. 1, 1988, which also >includes two more minor military sites in Turkey: Ankara and Izmir. > >The joint venture's latest contract, which started July 1, 1999 and will >expire in September 2003, was initially valued at $118 million. US Army >officials confirm that Brown and Root has been awarded new and additional >contracts in Turkey in the last year to support the "war on terrorism" >although they refused to give any details. > >"We provide support services for the United States Air Force in areas of >civil engineering, motor vehicles transportation, in the services arena here – > that includes food service operations, lodging, and maintenance of a golf >course. We also do US customs inspection," explained VBR site manager Alex >Daniels, who has worked at Incirlik for almost 15 years. > >Cheap labor is also the primary reason for outsourcing services, says Major >Toni Kemper, head of public affairs at the base. "The reason that the >military goes to contracting is largely because it's more cost effective in >certain areas. I mean there was a lot of studies years ago as to what >services can be provided via contractor versus military personnel. Because >when we go contract, we don't have to pay health care and all the another >things for the employees, that's up to the employer." > >Soon after the contract was signed, Incirlik provided a major staging post >for thousands of sorties flown against Iraq and occupied Kuwait during the >Gulf war in January 1991 dropping over 3,000 tons of bombs on military and >civilian targets. > >Still ongoing is the first LOGCAP contract in the "war on terrorism," which >began in June 2002, when Brown and Root was awarded a $22 million deal to run >support services at Camp Stronghold Freedom, located at the Khanabad air base >in central Uzbekistan. Khanabade is one of the main US bases in the >Afghanistan war that houses some 1,000 US soldiers from the Green Berets and >the 10th Mountain Division. > >In November 2002 Brown and Root began a one-year contract, estimated at $42.5 >million, to cover services for troops at bases in both Bagram and Khandahar. >Brown and Root employees were first set to work running laundry services, >showers, mess halls and installing heaters in soldiers' tents. > >Future Contracts in Iraq > >Halliburton is also one of five large US corporations invited to bid for >contracts in what may turn out to be the biggest reconstruction project since >the Second World War. The others are the Bechtel Group, Fluor Corp, Parsons >Corp and the Louis Berger Group. > >The Iraq reconstruction plan will require contractors to fulfill various >tasks, including reopening at least half of the "economically important roads >and bridges" – about 1,500 miles of roadway within 18 months, according to >the Wall Street Journal. > >The contractors will also be asked to repair 15 percejnt of high-voltage >electricity grid, renovate several thousand schools and deliver 550 emergency >generators within two months. The contract is estimated to be worth up to >$900 million for the preliminary work alone. > >The Pentagon has also awarded a contract to Brown and Root to control oil >fires if Saddam Hussein sets the well heads ablaze. Iraq has oil reserves >second only to those of Saudi Arabia. This makes Brown and Root a leading >candidate to win the role of top contractor in any petroleum field >rehabilitation effort in Iraq that industry analysts say could be as much as >$1.5 billion in contracts to jump start Iraq's petroleum sector following a >war. > >Wartime Profiteering > >Meanwhile Dick Cheney's 2001 financial disclosure statement, states that >Halliburton is paying him a "deferred compensation" of up to $1million a year >following his resignation as chief executive in 2000. At the time Cheney >opted not to receive his severance package in a lump sum, but instead to have >it paid to him over five years, possibly for tax reasons. > >The company would not say how much the payments are. The obligatory >disclosure statement filed by all top government officials says only that >they are in the range of $100,000 and $1 million. Nor is it clear how they >are calculated. > >Critics say that the apparent conflict of interest is deplorable. > >"The Bush-Cheney team have turned the United States into a family business," >says Harvey Wasserman, author of "The Last Energy War" (Seven Stories Press, >2000). "That's why we haven't seen Cheney – he's cutting deals with his old >buddies who gave him a multimillion-dollar golden handshake. Have they no >grace, no shame, no common sense? Why don't they just have Enron run America? >Or have Zapata Petroleum (George W. Bush's failed oil-exploration venture) >build a pipeline across Afghanistan?" > >Army officials disagree. Major Bill Bigelow, public relations officer for the >US Army in Western Europe, says: "If you're going to ask a specific question – > like, do you think it's right that contractors profit in wartime – I would >think that they might be better [asked] at a higher level, to people who set >the policy. We don't set the policy, we work within the framework that's been >established. > >"Those questions have been asked forever, because they go back to World War >Two when Chrysler and Ford and Chevy stopped making cars and started making >guns and tanks," he added. "Obviously it's a question that's been around for >quite some time. But it's true that nowadays there are very few defense >contractors, but go back 60 years to the World War Two era, almost everybody >was manufacturing something that either directly or indirectly had something >to do with defense." > >Sasha Lilley and Aaron Glantz helped conduct interviews for this article. > >Pratap Chatterjee is an investigative journalist based in Berkeley, Calif. He >traveled to Afghanistan and Uzbekistan in January 2002 and to Incirlik, >Turkey, in January 2003 to research this article. > > > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~