U.N. says Halliburton stole millions from Iraq

[Balta1701]

Vote Democrat in 2006 for Congress. Why? Subpoena power. All we want is 1 house. They can have the other 2. Just give us subpoena power so we can find out who the f*** stole our money and try to get it back.

 

An auditing board sponsored by the United Nations recommended yesterday that the United States repay as much as $208 million to the Iraqi government for contracting work in 2003 and 2004 assigned to Kellogg, Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary.

 

The work was paid for with Iraqi oil proceeds, but the board said it was either carried out at inflated prices or done poorly. The board did not, however, give examples of poor work.

 

Some of the work involved postwar fuel imports carried out by K.B.R. that previous audits had criticized as grossly overpriced. But this is the first time that an international auditing group has suggested that the United States repay some of that money to Iraq. The group, known as the International Advisory and Monitoring Board of the Development Fund for Iraq, compiled reports from an array of Pentagon, United States government and private auditors to carry out its analysis...

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are billions of dollars missing from the CPA, most of which will never be found or repayed.

 

Just remember this...the lack of power, the lack of utilities, the lack of funds to reconstruct those utilities...they have all helped the insurgency grow. People are dying because of this sort of theft.

[WilliamTell]

Vote Republican in 2006.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

Vote Republican in 2006.

 

 

I will be.

[whitesoxjr27]

Vote Republican in 2006.

me too.

[Balta1701]

Well, I guess you guys like having your money stolen.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

Well, I guess you guys like having your money stolen.

 

 

First of all it was not our money.

 

 

Second of all, there is no evidence included in their report, just accusations.

 

 

Third. Halliburton was punished by Congress and forced to pay fines when they got caught overcharging. This report is total nonsense.

[WilliamTell]

It'll be a tall order for the Democrats to regain control in either. For Senators the Republicans have 55, the Democrats have 44, basically 45. For Congress the Republicans have 229 and the Democrats have 204 I think.

Edited November 5, 2005 by WilliamTell

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

It'll be a tall order for the Democrats to regain control in either. For Senators the Republicans have 55, the Democrats have 44, basically 45. For Congress the Republicans have 229 and the Democrats have 204 I think.

 

 

Not to mention that Republicans have a massive edge in money. Democrats are going to be the minority party for a long long time and rightfully so.

[whitesoxjr27]

First of all it was not our money.

Second of all, there is no evidence included in their report,  just accusations.

Third.  Halliburton was punished by Congress and forced to pay fines when they got caught overcharging.  This report is total nonsense.

well put nuke.

[KipWellsFan]

[EvilMonkey]

Maybe Kofi's son and the others should repay their money first, as a sign of good will. Any other companies they care to name, or just the ones that can somehow be used to try and hurt our efforts over there?

But Louay Bahry, a former Iraqi academic who is now at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said the board's findings would stoke suspicions on the street in Iraq, where there had always been fears that the United States invaded the country to control its oil resources.

 

"Something like this will be caught in the Iraqi press and be discussed by the Iraqi general public and will leave a very bad taste in the mouth of the Iraqis," Mr. Bahry said. "It will increase the hostility towards the United States."

 

Sure, anything to undermine the effort.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Both parties are corrupt as s*** -- the Republicans just much more brazenly.

 

Until we get more Congressmen like Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, the late Paul Wellstone etc. that aren't whores for corporate donations we're stuck with a system of candidates that will be enacting policies that are the systematic destruction of everything this country claims to stand for, except the right of the rich to put saddles on the backs of the poor and use public funds to build jails for anybody who complains about it.

[Balta1701]

Maybe Kofi's son and the others should repay their money first, as a sign of good will.  Any other companies they care to name, or just the ones that can somehow be used to try and hurt our efforts over there? 

While it's certainly not a great looking story, and Kojo Annan did use his father's name in inappropriate ways, based on the Volcker report, there's no reason to say that Kojo Annan got any money out of the Oil For Food program itself.

 

WaPo.

 

Wednesday's report said the panel found no evidence that Kofi Annan had interceded on behalf of Cotecna and no conclusive proof that he knew of his son's activities. But it provided fresh details suggesting that Kojo Annan, 31, may have obtained privileged information about U.N. business deals from his father's personal assistant and from contacts in the U.N. procurement office. It also asserted that Kojo Annan abused his father's diplomatic status to secure more than $20,000 in breaks on taxes and customs fees for a Mercedes-Benz he bought in Geneva in 1998.

 

"We have found no corruption by the secretary general," said Volcker, but "his behavior has not been exonerated by any stretch of the imagination."

 

Annan told reporters after the report's release that he accepted its "criticism," but he dismissed calls for his resignation by U.N. critics, saying: "I don't anticipate anyone to resign. We are carrying on with our work."

 

He also underscored Volcker's conclusion that blame should be shared by the broader U.N. membership. In a statement released by his lawyer, Kojo Annan denied that he played any role in promoting Cotecna's case for oil-for-food business and said he had never discussed the company's plans with his contacts in the U.N. procurement office. "As to using my father's name to get a discount on a car, I was young and I just didn't think it through," he said.

[kapkomet]

While it's certainly not a great looking story, and Kojo Annan did use his father's name in inappropriate ways, based on the Volcker report, there's no reason to say that Kojo Annan got any money out of the Oil For Food program itself.

 

WaPo.

It amazes me how you find a story about every f***ing thing on here that's posted refuting anything we say.

 

It's almost like *GASP* there's a story for EVERYTHING, key word, STORY.

[WilliamTell]

Not to mention that Republicans have a massive edge in money.  Democrats are going to be the minority party for a long long time and rightfully so.

 

 

:headbang

[Balta1701]

First of all it was not our money.

Second of all, there is no evidence included in their report,  just accusations.

Third.  Halliburton was punished by Congress and forced to pay fines when they got caught overcharging.  This report is total nonsense.

Just going to respond to the first point, since the first point is the most blatantly wrong.

 

When we took over that country, we grabbed all of the funds Iraq had. The oil-for-food accounts, the money we could find that Hussein had looted, etc. We took that money and supposedly were going to put it towards the reconstruction.

 

Billions upon billions of those dollars have disappeared. This is 1 of the black holes that they've disappeared into. Roughly $10 billion is unaccounted for under just the CPA...probably more overall.

 

Now, every cent that Iraq had when we went in is long past gone. But...the reconstruction isn't complete. We still need more funds to pay for that reconstruction. Where are those funds coming from? They're not coming from taxing the Iraqi people, I can tell you that much.

 

The funds that disappeared from the Iraqi accounts are being made up for in those repeated supplemental appropriations that we keep seeing. Every Iraqi dollar that disappeared instead of going to reconstruciton is being replaced by the U.S. Treasury department.

 

And that doesn't even take into account the fact that these sort of "disappeared funds" created dramatic delays in reconstruction due to the facts that things weren't getting done, and those delays helped fuel the insurgency.

 

So yeah, it is your tax dollars that are going to replace the stolen funds. So you should care. Because right now, the only funds the Iraqis have left are your tax dollars.

[Balta1701]

It amazes me how you find a story about every f***ing thing on here that's posted refuting anything we say.

 

It's almost like *GASP* there's a story for EVERYTHING, key word, STORY.

Either that...or the facts are currently lining up supporting one side, and those on the other side are left having to disagree with the facts and call them "Stories" without good reason to disbelieve them other than ideology.

[kapkomet]

Either that...or the facts are currently lining up supporting one side, and those on the other side are left having to disagree with the facts and call them "Stories" without good reason to disbelieve them other than ideology.

So which one's true? BOTH SIDES are lining up equally as hard to throw s*** on the other. Usually somewhere in the middle is the truth.

[EvilMonkey]

If the UN really cared about things over in Iraq, wouldn't they have approached Halliburton quietly and tried to resolve the matter instead of supplying more 'ammunition' to the bad guys? WHat good does releasing this info do except make Bush look bad and help the terrorists? And do we really trust what the UN has to say about the US after all the crap we have (rightly!) been giving them?

[Texsox]

First of all it was not our money.

Second of all, there is no evidence included in their report,  just accusations.

Third.  Halliburton was punished by Congress and forced to pay fines when they got caught overcharging.  This report is total nonsense.

 

LOL. First off I vote for individuals, but you all play ditto heads and vote for any GOP who happens to be on the ticket.

 

First the GOP gets you to denouce one third of the governement, the Judicial branch.

Then they get you to ignore any media that criticizes them.

Then they get you to defend anything they do because it's your guys.

Now you'll defend any GOP led business??? :headshake

 

The dumbing down of America is almost complete.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

LOL. First off I vote for individuals, but you all play ditto heads and vote for any GOP who happens to be on the ticket.

 

First the GOP gets you to denouce one third of the governement, the Judicial branch.

Then they get you to ignore any media that criticizes them.

Then they get you to defend anything they do because it's your guys.

Now you'll defend any GOP led business???  :headshake

 

The dumbing down of America is almost complete.

 

 

Funny how leftists like you are so quick to believe reports of American corruption stealing money from Iraq which are written and dissiminated by an organization ( The U.N. itself ) which wrote the book on corruption and stealing money from Iraq and did so for about 8 years.

 

Never mind that the source is 10 times as corrupt as the corporation which is supposedly doing all this theft.

 

Never mind that there is no evidence in their report, just accusations.

 

 

I do agree with 1 of your points though. The dumbing down of America IS nearly complete. It is YOU and those who think like you who are leading the charge.

Edited November 6, 2005 by NUKE_CLEVELAND

[Texsox]

Funny how leftists like you are so quick to believe reports of American corruption  stealing money from Iraq which are written and dissiminated by an organization ( The U.N. itself ) which wrote the book on corruption and stealing money from Iraq and did so for about 8 years. 

 

Never mind that the source is 10 times as corrupt as the corporation which is supposedly doing all this theft.

 

Never mind that there is no evidence in their report, just accusations.

I do agree with 1 of your points though.  The dumbing down of America IS nearly complete.  It is YOU and those who think like you who are leading the charge.

 

You wrote it's not our money, what did you mean?

 

Which is better quick to believe, investigate, and determine what is correct or quick to ignore and make excuses? The GOP has their ditto heads defending anything and everything. How did Republicans think before the GOP Radio Network? Now Rush tells it on his show, and all the GOPerheads shout ditto Rush, bow, and say it must be true.

 

Nice to see you are keeping score and as long as Halliburton isn't as corrupt as other companies, they must be OK.

 

The GOP doesn't want you to believe any media sources that criticizes it, and you take their party line hook line and sinker.

 

The GOP wants the Judicial branch to not use it's Constitutionally given rights and has been mounting a activist judge campaign for years. Talk about rewriting the Constitution!

 

Let's say Halliburton did steal millions from the UN. Who can make the claim and have you believe an investigation is necessary? The UN is 10X more corrupt, so they can't. The media has a liberal bias so they can't. I guess Chaney's old company just gets a pass.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

You wrote it's not our money, what did you mean?

 

Which is better quick to believe, investigate, and determine what is correct or quick to ignore and make excuses? The GOP has their ditto heads defending anything and everything. How did Republicans think before the GOP Radio Network? Now Rush tells it on his show, and all the GOPerheads shout ditto Rush, bow, and say it must be true.

 

Nice to see you are keeping score and as long as Halliburton isn't as corrupt as other companies, they must be OK.

 

The GOP doesn't want you to believe any media sources that criticizes it, and you take their party line hook line and sinker.

 

The GOP wants the Judicial branch to not use it's Constitutionally given rights and has been mounting a activist judge campaign for years. Talk about rewriting the Constitution!

 

Let's say Halliburton did steal millions from the UN. Who can make the claim and have you believe an investigation is necessary? The UN is 10X more corrupt, so they can't. The media has a liberal bias so they can't. I guess Chaney's old company just gets a pass.

 

 

 

I stand corrected Tex. Since the U.N. has proven to be extremely adept at plundering Iraq ( they did it for 8 years so they at least have experience on their side ) they should know theft when they see it, evidence be damned.

 

The only thing Haliburton has been caught doing wrong is overcharging on fuel and the Congress made them pay for it. Until they come up with some concrete evidence the U.N. needs to keep its collective mouth closed because they are the only proven thieves between the 2 of em.

[Texsox]

I stand corrected Tex.  Since the U.N. has proven to be extremely adept at plundering Iraq ( they did it for 8 years so they at least have experience on their side ) they should know theft when they see it, evidence be damned.

 

The only thing Haliburton has been caught doing wrong is overcharging on fuel and the Congress made them pay for it.  Until they come up with some concrete evidence the U.N. needs to keep its collective mouth closed because they are the only proven thieves between the 2 of em.

 

So who should blow the whistle? If the UN discovers that billions are missing, what should they do? Wouldn't keeping their mouth shut be corrupt and covering up?

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

So who should blow the whistle? If the UN discovers that billions are missing, what should they do? Wouldn't keeping their mouth shut be corrupt and covering up?

 

 

They could start by gathering something more concrete than accusations. As I said before, they are the only proven theives between the 2 of them and accusations backed up by nothing lead me to call bulls***.