George Putnam
Friday, March 28, 2003

It is this reporter's opinion that John F. Kennedy's words "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" are being shamefully distorted by many of our government officials, those previously in government and those well-connected - filling their pockets as lobbyists, working on the inside while earning as though they're on the outside.

Let's start with the vice president and Halliburton. Mr. Cheney continues to draw compensation of up to a million dollars a year from Halliburton - one of five U.S. corporations bidding for contracts for the biggest reconstruction project since WWII.

This company is already profiting from wartime contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and the U.S. Army has just given the main Iraq oil well firefighting contract to a unit of the Halliburton Company. And it was given to Cheney's former firm without any bidding!

Critics say Cheney's conflict of interest is deplorable, that the Bush-Cheney team has turned the United States into a family business. These are the words of Harvey Wasserman, author of "The Last Energy War (The Battle Over Utility Deregulation)" - he says that's why we haven't seen Cheney. "He's cutting deals with his old buddies who gave him a multimillion-dollar golden handshake" and adds, "Why don't they just have Enron run America?"

Lobbying is big, big business. While we speak of peace, apparently those well-connected are getting a piece of the pie. Names like Haig, Kissinger and Perle come to mind. Richard Perle, key adviser to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, is said to be double dipping.

As an example, the U.S. Defense Department has opposed the sale of the fiber optic giant Global Crossing to Hutchison Whampoa/the communist Chinese. (Interestingly, the Chinese army is in business with Hutchison Whampoa, providing military communications for the PRC, and China has provided fiber optic systems to Iraq.)

So what do they do? They hire Perle, the Bush defense adviser, to advise on security to satisfy our government's concerns. What a cozy relationship.

Consider Mr. Perle and his possible conflicts of interest concerning the Global Crossing proposed sale. Perle is quoted as saying, "As chairman of the defense policy board, I have a unique perspective on and intimate knowledge of the national defense and security issues likely to be raised by governmental review of the sale."

Perle added, "That is not and could not be available to the other lobbyists and lawyers trying to get the deal approved." Reporters looking into the deal were told by Perle: first, that he never signed such a statement, and later that none of it mattered anyway since his position on the defense policy board had nothing to do with the Global Crossing deal – so how could he be using it and his public office for private gain?

Recall the appointment of Henry Kissinger, of Kissinger & Associates, to that sensitive committee. Kissinger, realizing his own lobbying would be under fire, almost immediately resigned. His excuse in answer to charges was "My company does not have any representations in the Middle East."

Ah, but Henry didn't speak of his vast representations of governments in communist China.

Five corporations are now submitting bids for tens of billions of dollars in work to rebuild what is left of Iraq. The administration must be keenly aware that the world is watching the scramble over who gets a piece of the pie.

As we watch and speculate on the postwar reconstruction gravy train, let's keep an eye on who's profiting from wartime contracts with hundreds of millions of dollars and who gets them.

Apparently cronyism and rebuilding go hand in hand.

References and Further Reading:

Halliburton Iraq ties more than Cheney said

Global Crossing, Iraqi Defenses and the Chinese Connection

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics
/articles/halliburtonprimer.html

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Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bush Administration
China/Taiwan
Corporate Scandals
Saddam Hussein/Iraq

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