- WASHINGTON -- Yet another
controversy has flared up around the Halliburton oil services company of
which Vice-President Dick Cheney used to be chief executive - this time
over whether during the 1995-2000 Cheney era it violated US law by doing
business directly with Iran.
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- The US Treasury has been probing the affair, which centres
on a Dubai-based subsidiary of Halliburton and its work at Iranian oilfields,
ever since allegations first surfaced in 2001. But this week it emerged
that the group is under investigation by federal prosecutors in its home
town of Houston. A grand jury has also subpoenaed various documents covering
its Iranian operations, a sign that some evidence has surfaced indicating
the company knowingly violated the sanctions.
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- Halliburton claims it is the victim of an election season
witch-hunt by the Democrats. It maintains it obeyed US regulations over
dealings with Iran, which stipulate that subsidiaries doing business there
must be registered abroad, employ no US citizens, and operate independently
of the parent company.
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- But these protestations will count for nothing amid the
new clamour over Iran's possible ties with international terrorism, and
an ever more heated election campaign in which the company has turned into
one of the prime issues.
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- Fairly or unfairly, the company has become symbol of
the mismanagement of reconstruc- tion in Iraq, and more generally of corporate
greed and cronyism, and the Bush Presidency's fondness for big business,
at the expense of ordinary Americans.
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- Iran is but the latest of at least five probes into the
company currently in progress into allegations of bribery, kickbacks and
overcharging.
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- The controversy surrounding Halliburton has even had
some Republicans urging Mr Bush to drop Mr Cheney from the Republican ticket.
Both the White House and Mr Cheney reject all such talk, and political
professionals say such a move is all but unthinkable, given the Vice-President's
popularity with the conservative Republican base, his exceptionally powerful
position within the administration, and Mr Bush's refusal to admit he has
made a mistake.
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- But Halliburton's latest legal misadventures have come
to light at an awkward moment for the White House. The independent commission
investigating the 11 September 2001 attacks today delivers its final report,
likely to contain criticism of the Bush administration's alertness to the
threat before the attacks on New York and Washington.
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- Although there is no suggestion that the Tehran regime,
any more than Iraq, was directly involved, the report will point to evidence
that eight or more of the 19 hijackers transited through Iran en route
to the US. Mr Bush has now promised to look further into the "Iran
connection" - of which Halliburton has become another angle.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=543331
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