The accounting of the financial cost of the nearly decade-long Iraq War will go on for years, but a recent analysis has shed light on the companies that made money off the war by providing support services as the privatization of what were former U.S. military operations rose to unprecedented levels.
Private or publicly listed firms received at least $138 billion of U.S. taxpayer money for government contracts for services that included providing private security, building infrastructure and feeding the troops.
Ten contractors received 52 percent of the funds, according to an analysis by the Financial Times that was published Tuesday.
The No. 1 recipient?
Houston-based energy-focused engineering and construction firm KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR), which was spun off from its parent, oilfield services provider Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL), in 2007.
The company was given $39.5 billion in Iraq-related contracts over the past decade, with many of the deals given without any bidding from competing firms, such as a $568-million contract renewal in 2010 to provide housing, meals, water and bathroom services to soldiers, a deal that led to a Justice Department lawsuit over alleged kickbacks, as reported by Bloomberg.
Conservatives would argue that Cheney broke ties with Halliburton when he chose himself to be George W. Bush's VP, and before the start of the war, but that is actually false.
The truth is that Cheney received a payout of 34 million dollars when he left the company to become the Vice President, and I don't think it can simply be chalked up to a conspiracy theory that after only three years Cheney helped start a war, and provided no-bid contracts to his old company, as possibly part of a prearranged deal with his old company.
After all records show that there was talk of invading Iraq, WELL before the events of September 11, 2001.
To put it bluntly Dick Cheney is a traitor, and possible domestic terrorist, and his relationship with Halliburton seems riddled with corruption.
A thorough investigation of Dick Cheney, his ties to Halliburton, and how their association led to the start of a completely unnecessary, war is long overdue.
Isn't Cheney dead yet?
ReplyDelete“Yet?" That depends on your understanding of what means “dead."
DeleteI'll get to this sure enough, but looks like Sarah's not gonna be able to shore up her credentials as a foreign policy expert via visiting with the Iron Lady after all.
ReplyDeleteCNN Breaking News - Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died today following a stroke, her spokeswoman confirmed.
RIP Margaret.
DeleteWasn't Margaret's reply to $arah's request, "Not no, but HELL NO?" She was one smart lady.
DeleteRIP Ms. Thatcher.
I'm sorry -- I know all my liberal people care about eight kajillion times more about the illegality of the torture and think that they should be tried for that, but to me, the biggest deal is this, that Cheney's company won so many no-bid contracts. Shame on the media and John Kerry's people for not making hay of this in 2004.
ReplyDeleteCheney, this an example of a so called human that if his exsistence stopped today, I would not be sorry. He is every thing people call him and more.thief,liar,war monger all fit.
ReplyDeleteNo, this (man)has not died yet. reason, we the [people have contributed to his health by our taxes, which have given him life by all the heart surgerys AND MEDICAL HELP HE NEEDS. While we the people have ours cut or stopped.
This bastard is in very poor health, and I for one hope he lives a long, long time! He can not enjoy all that money since he has been warned not to travel overseas because some countries want to arrest him and his cohorts for war crimes.It must gall him to see the warm welcomes other countries bestow on Carter, Clinton and our President, knowing that he has very little respect from anyone.
DeleteGo ahead, wish good health on the worst vice-president in American history, who was a liar, a thief and ultimately a traitor
DeleteI console myself that they can’t take it with them, and if there is some sort of afterlife, they’ll have a very bad existence. I don’t think a last minute “forgive me” will make any difference.
ReplyDeleteLet’s also have a thorough investigation of 911. It’s the only “conspiracy” I mull over, since it’s such a different cat. Inept Bush in school rooms and on planes, while Cheney sits in the oval office?
9/11 was the biggest single crime scene in the USA other than Pearl Harbor, and there was a concerted effort to clear away and dispose most of the debris withing days of the tragedy.
DeleteLaw enforcement 101 dictates that you save every bit of relevant evidence from any crime scene for many years, so that future advances in science might shed light on it.
It was inconceivable that they shipped the steel and much other rubble from 9/11 immediately out of the country to be melted down for scrap.
Still unexplained is how building 7, which was never hit by any plane, and had tiny office fires suddenly collapsed in free fall speed into its own footprint.
http://www.ae911truth.org/en/evidence.html
1600 architects and engineers have spoken out about this for years, and risked their entire careers by lending their name to the investigations in to what happened to building #7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atbrn4k55lA
1600 architects and engineers who say this was controlled demolition.
The building falls with no resistance from the steel frame, which has never happened in the history of modern steel frame construction without the use of demolition explosives.
Read the evidence, make up your own mind
http://www.ae911truth.org/en/evidence.html
Cheney is a war criminal, a murdering thief, and a 5 time draft dodger, and one of the most despicable humans alive on the planet.
DeleteHe deserves to be ostracized and shunned by every thinking rational person alive.
His crimes, deceit, ill gotten riches, and perfidy makes $arah Paylin look insignificant.
President Obama could not have effectively governed if he had immediately gone after Bush/Cheney because the courts would have stonewalled the cases.
In spite of that, Cheney better hope that karma is just a myth because otherwise he'll be reincarnated as a syphilitic 3 legged rat living in the sewers of Cairo.
And it couldn't happen to a more deserving "person"-!!!
DeleteCheering Wild Tortoise
Anybody want to bet me that it will never happen? That he will never be indicted or even investigated?
ReplyDeleteNONE of them will be! Even though the WORLD would respect us more if we DID do it!
AS long as we have hawks and assholes (there's a difference?) like Graham and McCain in office (with far too many people afraid of them!) it will never be allowed. Can you imagine how loud they would scream if it was even brought up? Even with the Benghazi thing they screamed about, which had no serious implications as they were yelling about?
We can HOPE, but DON'T hold your breath!
Cheney and his vile daughter Elizabeth are earth dwelling scum. And they laugh at all of us.
ReplyDeleteWhy isn't this asshole in jail? He looks so evil in that photo! And, we spent tax money to keep his ticker going - should have let him die!
ReplyDeleteI made my son join a branch that could never go because I was terrified that Dick was going to push through a way to kill my kid. Lovecraftian demons those.
ReplyDeleteThe disgust we all feel towards this evil man just goes on and on, the more we see in print is actually no surprise. Congress was in bed with all these thieves and our media was silent, it was a perfect storm. Halliburton hired low wage bodies from mid eastern countries to do professional grade work....such as we were billed for electricians to wire buildings and how many of our troops were electrocuted in the shower? The lines for meals were huge and only offered in strict regimented time tables. I remember reading about the horrible laundry services....and the list goes on and on. Our government will live with this shame forever, the only hope for any kind of "justice" is if Bush or Cheney leave the country. The Hague would love to get their hands on those 2....a public hanging?
ReplyDeleteObama should be impeached because of Benghazi
ReplyDeleteDuring the Bush administration . . . .
Delete2002 Embassy in Karachi, Pakistan, was attacked and 10 killed.
2004 US embassy in Uzbekistan was attacked and two were killed and another nine injured?
2004, the US Consulate in Saudi Arabia was stormed and 8 lost their lives?
2006, armed men attacked the US Embassy in Syria and one was murdered.
2007 a grenade was thrown at the US Embassy in Athens.
2008, the US Embassy in Serbia was set on fire.
2008, bombings in the US Embassy in Yemen killed 10.
Notice the dates, all before the Obama administration.
And . . . .what about all the noise to impeach George Bush and blame him for the attacks? Huh? Crickets. . . . . So STFU.
Two random pieces of gossip:
ReplyDeleteHad a friend who worked at a place where Dick Cheney was scheduled to give a speech; this was a few years after the Big Dick was no longer VP. His heart stopped on the way there, as it apparently FREQUENTLY did/does. He had an entire separate medical team that traveled with him and they just resuscitated him and he went on to give the speech the next day.
My friend talked with one of the medical techs; he said that this happened all the time, that Cheney had constant serious heart episodes, and that the money spent on his medical team was enormous became they constantly traveled with him wherever he went. This tech was making great money.
I just don't know how someone (someTHING as he appears to be some type of fucking robot or zombie) survives all the constant heart episodes. Certainly, the average person would in no way be given such help or be able to afford private medical help like that. They would have been kicked off insurance or would have had to deal with insurance companies disputing their treatment for years.
(I know someone who presented classic chest pains last year and went into the hospital, he had a congential heart problem so he took it very seriously. They did a battery of tests because it turned out not to be heart-related, and it took a while to get a proper diagnosis. His heart doctor and the excellent and careful team of other doctors
admitted him for 24 hours so they could get a proper diagnosis and then sent him home. Now the insurance company, Aetna, --he pays about $1700 a month for private policy with them-- is disputing the "need" for him to have been admitted to the hospital -- because, you know, chest pains aren't important!
I swear the conspiracy stories are true and Cheney's feasting on the entrails of innocent babies or something; it's completely supernatural and doesn't add up.
Second: a distant family member drives trucks and his company was one of many hired to remove debris after 9/11. He was very freaked out, not just by the incident, but at how the people hiring the trucking companies were insisting on such a rush job with all the stuff being dumped without any examination. He had nightmares about ashes from people's bodies being in the back of his truck, which was probably true.
And yeah, WHY THE RUSH? Major coverup.
Jennifer Shepherd aka Media Insider aka Lipstick Mystic
More proof that Cheney was the worst President ever. ;P
ReplyDeleteOff topic.
ReplyDeleteNew Palin Book on the way. Details on the author's blog.
malialitman.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/letter-to-todd-palin-inviting-a-denial-of-the-allegations-of-shailey-tripp/
"I am sure you are aware of a book published over one year ago by Shailey Tripp by the title Boys Will Be Boys. To date I am unaware of any denial of Mr. Palin, or ANYONE, of the allegations in that book.
I am in the process of writing a book about the allegations of Ms. Tripp regarding both her meeting with David Chaney and Todd Paliln, and the assertions she has made in her book Boys Will Be Boys.
I would like to make the offer to you that I will publish on my blog and in the book any statement you would like to make regarding these assertions. I am interested in publishing only the truth, so if your version of the truth is different than Shailey Tripp’s please advise me and I will publish both sides of the story. If I don’t receive any response from you I will only have Shailey Tripp’s side of the story.
Please respond in the next 30 days.
Sincerely,
Malia Litman"
Our Tax Dollars at work! How did a war criminal get to the head of the line for a heart transplant? I just wish he'd do one thing before he leaves this big blue marble. Go hunting with Wayne La Pierre.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, you pick the best photos for your posts! He's either doing an imitation of Popeye the Sailor man or Greta Van Sustern.
Or he's trying to take a Palin but he's a little constipated. Once she gets that big bobble-head up your ass, it's hard to get rid of her.
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, the reason given for the disappearance overnight of the steel beams was that the Mafia stole them.
ReplyDelete