WANTED: Halliburton
Aliases/Subsidiaries
Kellogg Brown and Root
Cheney’s side gig
Corporate Headquarters
5 Houston Center
1401 McKinney
Houston, TX 77010-4008
Primary Products/Services
Oil, energy, construction and military servicing
CEO
David J. Lesar
Pentagon Contracts 2005
$ 5.8 billion
Campaign contributions 2001-2006
$ 826,702
94% to Republicans
Halliburton is the poster child for waste, fraud, and corporate abuse in Iraq, and for good reason. Allegations levied against Halliburton [and its subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR)] by former employees, soldiers and their families, as well as Pentagon and Congressional investigators, include feces in the soldiers’ water, blood on the mess hall floor, 45 dollar cases of soda, expired and substandard food, and embroidered towels for twice the cost.
Superbowl Sunday in Samarra
In just one indication of the permissive environment for fraud and abuse in Iraq, a whistleblower lawsuit unsealed in September 2006 documents how KBR charged the government millions of dollars for recreational services never provided to U.S. troops in Iraq.
In January 2005 for example, KBR threw a Super Bowl party for the military, shipping giant tubs of chicken wings, tacos, and cheese sticks, and installing a widescreen TV presumably so soldiers could watch the Patriots trounce the Eagles. But according to the suit however, KBR actually used the military’s supplies for its own football party.
Since the beginning of the war in Iraq, Halliburton has been working for the Pentagon under the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program or (LOGCAP)—a multi-billion dollar agreement that guarantees the contractor receives a fixed profit based on the quote the company gives for tasks like food service, provisioning and outfitting of U.S. soldiers. Last year alone, Halliburton brought in $5.4 billion for its work in Iraq.
In addition to its lucrative military logistical work, Halliburton recently checked off their $2.41 billion “Restore Iraqi Oil” contract as complete, even though gas is $3.20 per gallon in Baghdad and the oil infrastructure remains in shambles. Among its other contracts, Halliburton is also working a $30 million project to build more prisons at Guantanamo.
All in all, the company has received roughly half of the contracts awarded for work on logistics and reconstruction in Iraq as of mid-2005, a total of over $12 billion. In fact, before the war in Iraq, Halliburton received $500 million in Pentagon contracts. Three years into the “long war,” the company has seen its Pentagon contracts increase more than 1,000% to $5.8 billion in 2005.
Cozying up to Congress
Why has no one thrown the book at Halliburton for its overcharging, shoddy goods, and poor accounting? Part of the answer lies in the weight the company throws around Washington, doling out hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions and accumulating more than $1 million in lobbying bills in the past few years. Since 2001, the company has contributed more than $826,000 to congressional campaign coffers, with more than 90 percent going to Republicans.
Vice President Dick Cheney’s relationship to the company is widely known: Despite almost no corporate experience, Cheney was hired to head the oil services company in 1995, just a few years after completing his tenure as Secretary of Defense under President George H.W. Bush. When Cheney took the helm, the company was 73rd on the list of the Pentagon’s top contractors, bringing in about $1 billion in defense contracts a year. In part because of the contacts Cheney brought to the company, Halliburton now stands at number six.
Sliver of Progress?
In July, the Army announced it was discontinuing the controversial LOGCAP contract, and will re-open bidding on a new logistics contract to be split between four companies, one of which will perform oversight functions. Despite its track record, Halliburton is still free to make a bid.
Some members of Congress like Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) are pushing hard for corporate accountability. Their work to reinvigorate Congress’ role as corporate watchdog might have a better chance in the 110th Congress if Democratic candidates like Tammy Duckworth, a disabled Iraq war veteran, win.
Duckworth, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot who lost both her legs, wants to fill the House seat vacated by the retiring Illinois Representative Henry Hyde. As a soldier in Iraq, Duckworth saw “numerous examples of questionable spending on military operations and reconstruction projects” while “troops were facing shortages in the field.” At a September news conference organized after the Super Bowl scandal was exposed, Duckworth said: “While the executives at Dick Cheney’s old company might tell you that they were trying to provide entertainment for their employees and the troops in Iraq, I can tell you that my colleagues and I who fought in the war would have preferred armor for our vehicles and properly fitting body armor to a big-screen television, chicken wings, or tacos.”
