[PEN-L:30262] Fortunes of War

["ken hanly" <khanly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Wasnt the artillery system cancelled? Maybe that was just a payout for
cancellation.

Cheers, Ken Hanly


Fortunes of war await Bush's circle after attacks on Iraq
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
15 September 2002
Internal links



Neutral? Not on your life!
The last time the United States went to war against Iraq, Dick Cheney did
very nicely from it.

Having served as Defence Secretary, and basked in the reflected glory of the
US military's surprisingly rapid advance across the desert sands to end the
Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, he then managed to reap benefits of a very
different kind once the war was over and he left government to become chief
executive of Halliburton, the Texas-based oil services company.

When the United Nations relaxed its sanctions regime in 1998 and permitted
Iraq to buy spare parts for its oil fields, it was Halliburton, under Mr
Cheney's leadership, that cleaned up on the contract to repair war damage
and get Saddam Hussein's oil pipes flowing at full capacity again. Two
Halliburton subsidiaries did business worth almost $24m (£15m) with the man
whom these days Mr Cheney calls a "murderous dictator" and "the world's
worst leader".

Since taking over as George Bush's vice-president, Mr Cheney has severed all
formal ties with his former employer, notably when he cashed in $36m in
stock options and other benefits at the height of the market in August 2000.
But Halliburton - currently struggling with a corporate accounting scandal
that may or may not implicate Mr Cheney - could profit all over again if the
much-threatened new war against Iraq comes to pass.

We can certainly expect more air strikes against the oil fields, possibly
combined with a ground invasion. Then, when it is all over, someone is going
to have to mop up the damage once again. Halliburton, with its previous
experience and unparalleled political connections (not limited to Mr
Cheney), would be in pole position for the job.

Nobody could justifiably accuse the Bush administration of wanting to wage w
ar on Iraq solely as a favour to its friends in the oil business and the
military-industrial complex. But many of the companies that stand to gain
most from a war enjoy remarkably close ties to senior figures in the
administration. And some of the President's closest confidants have shown
extraordinary elasticity down the years in their attitudes to President
Saddam, America's on-again, off-again public enemy number one.

Mr Cheney, who has gone from warmonger to dealmaker and back to warmonger,
is just one example. Donald Rumsfeld, the current Defence Secretary, has
repeatedly raised the spectre of Iraq's arsenal of weapons of mass
destruction. But in 1983, when Mr Rumsfeld was President Reagan's special
envoy to Iraq, he turned a blind eye to Iraqi use of nerve and mustard gas
in its war with Iran, concentrating instead on forging a personal
relationship with the Iraqi leader, then considered a valuable US ally.

Mr Rumsfeld was actually in Baghdad on the day the United Nations first
reported Iraqi use of chemical weapons, but chose to remain silent, as did
the rest of the US establishment. Five years later, he cited his ability to
make friends with Saddam Hussein as one of his qualifications for a possible
run at the presidency.

This Bush administration has been much more upfront about the role of oil in
its deliberations on Iraq than the last Bush administration. That is partly
a matter of circumstance: since the 11 September attacks, the stability of
Middle Eastern oil states has been a big policy consideration. But it also
reflects the fact that much of the Bush inner circle, including the
President himself, is made up of former oilmen. The oil and gas industry has
pumped about $50m to political candidates since the 2000 election.

There are also uncomfortably cosy ties between the government and the
defence industry. Mr Rumsfeld's oldest friend, Frank Carlucci, a former
defence secretary himself, now heads the Carlyle Group, an investment
consortium which has a big interest in the contracting firm United Defense.

Carlyle's board includes George Bush Sr and James Baker, the former
secretary of state. One programme alone - the Crusader artillery system -
has earned Carlyle more than $2bn in advance government contracts. Carlyle's
European chairman is John Major, who may have played a role in the Ministry
of Defence's controversial recent decision to declare Carlyle the "preferred
bidder" for a stake in its scientific research division.

None of these links is illegal, but that does not mean there is no conflict
of interest. Messrs Bush, Cheney and friends have either sold their stock
holdings or put them in a blind trust, meaning personal gain is off the
agenda. But gain for their friends and family may well be a by-product of
the looming war against Iraq