And that's not all...

[khaosworks]

Cheney is still paid by Pentagon contractor

Halliburton, the Texas company which has been awarded the Pentagon's contract to put out potential oil-field fires in Iraq and which is bidding for postwar construction contracts, is still making annual payments to its former chief executive, the vice-president Dick Cheney.
The payments, which appear on Mr Cheney's 2001 financial disclosure statement, are in the form of "deferred compensation" of up to $1m a year.

When he left Halliburton in 2000 to become George Bush's running mate, he opted not to receive his leaving payment in a lump sum but instead have it paid to him over five years, possibly for tax reasons.

The vice-president's office said yesterday it had nothing to do with the award of Pentagon contracts, and said it would look into the details of the Halliburton payments.

The company would not say how much the payments are. The obligatory disclosure statement filled by all top government officials says only that they are in the range of $100,000 and $1m. Nor is it clear how they are calculated.

Can you say conflict of interest, boys and girls?

The contract to control possible oil fires if Saddam sets his fields alight has been awarded to Kellogg, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton - who by the way, also got the contract to build the terrorist detention center, Camp X-Ray, at Guantanamo Bay. Even granted that KBR has been a long-time government contractor like Halliburton spokesperson Wendy Hall says, this just goes to show how closely tied the current administration is with big business and specifically big oil. Too close, some might say.