E-mail ties Cheney office to contract (MSNBC)

[orangeotter]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6356265/
it is a heading from further in the article
E-mail ties Cheney office to contract
In a formal whistle-blower complaint filed last week, Greenhouse alleged the award of contracts without competition to KBR puts at risk “the integrity of the federal contracting program as it relates to a major defense contractor.” The contracts were to restore Iraq’s oil industry.

Among the evidence cited in the complaint was an internal 2003 Pentagon e-mail that says the Iraq contract “has been coordinated” with Cheney’s White House office.

The vice president, who continues to receive deferred compensation from when he was Halliburton’s chief executive in the late 1990s, has steadfastly maintained he has played no role in the selection of his former company for federal business.

[David__77]

1. SURPRISE! OCTOBER SURPRISE!

SURPRISE! OCTOBER SURPRISE!SURPRISE! OCTOBER SURPRISE!SURPRISE! OCTOBER SURPRISE!SURPRISE! OCTOBER SURPRISE!SURPRISE! OCTOBER SURPRISE!

[Dover]

3. Dick or Treat ! Dick or Treat!

Bwaaaahaaaahaaaa!

[Eurobabe]

10. bwahhhaaahaa!!!

love it!

[myrna minx]

33. Hahahahaha.

Thank you for the laugh!!

[David__77]

2. "The WHITE HOUSE corruption is RISKING the troops LIVES!"

"The White House is not only stealing taxpayer money, but that is more important to them than the LIVES OF THE TROOPS. They will give contracts, but not body armor. They dole out the cash to corrupt corporations like Halliburton, but won't secore known weapons sites."

[aquart]

4. Meanwhile our troops are begging their families for FOOD.

[BrendaStarr]

51. This can be buried just like so much other news has been.

Unless we get this out to the rest of the world.

We can't depend on the news media.

Get this out to mixed boards and chats, etc.

Keep it alive.

Alternative news forum for those who want to take news to the rest of the internet: http://www.network54.com/Forum/341201

[Mandate My Ass]

5. Ouch! Am I reading this on MSRNC??

"It was the worst abuse of the procurement and contracting system that I have seen," Bunnatine Greenhouse, the Army Corps of Engineers’ chief contracting officer, told NBC in an exclusive interview."

“This multibillion dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton was suspicious from day one, and now our worst suspicions are confirmed,” Lautenberg said. “The FBI doesn’t get involved unless there are possible criminal violations.”

[joeunderdog]

37. If ShrubCo doesn't win the election

it could mean jail time for people who are getting protection from The Family right now. The stakes are higher than in any other election, and it's not just people's jobs on the line, but their freedom from imprisonment. The Plame inquiry, Halliburton, Iraq...all with criminal implications that aren't even being discussed until now. And what about all the Bush pals in Enron?

There's alot of sweating going in the White House, and there will be alot more when Kerry gets in.

[Rockholm]

6. This shit started the day Cheney picked himself VP.

FOUR MORE DAYS, FOUR MORE DAYS!!!!!!

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. LOL!

Finally, something to relieve my hot flashes.

[NJGeek]

7. OUCH

drip drip drip is turning into POUR POUR POUR

[JusticeForAll]

30. Here comes the FLOOD! n/t

[carolinalady]

8. and he just got done telling his rally he was not involved!

two hot stories i hope the swingers are listening.

[classof56]

21. Welcome to DU, Carolina Lady

And congrats on the gold star! I can believe Bush maintains his innocence of all involvement in any of the evil that has transpired during his "presidency". I think this psychopath has lost the ability to tell truth from lies--of course, the fact that he only TELLS lies explains it all.

Let us hope the swingers are paying attention and join us in DEFEATING BUSH!!

[carolinalady]

23. thank you great to be here

[JohnyCanuck]

9. Cheney and Halliburton & a big bill for asbestos liablilities

Check out this GD thread started by DUer HamdenRice

Explaining Cheney's greed -- why he MUST win at all costs: asbestos

One thing that has always puzzled me about rich people is why they are so ruthless about getting richer. This paradox might seem applicable to Cheney, who was made fantastically rich at Halliburton. Why would he help plunge the country into war at the cost of hundreds of thousands of deaths to secure billions in contracts for his old company, Halliburton?

The key to understanding Cheney is that he is not being greedy for more -- he is desperately trying to protect what he has. If Cheney does not win re-election and continue channeling contracts to Halliburton, he runs a serious risk of losing it all -- becoming a penniless former CEO and former VP.

How is this possible?

Cheney cultivates the image of a wise elder statesman and competent manager. He is anything but. This college dropout was a terrible CEO of Halliburton, who almost plunged the oil services giant into banruptcy. Cheney masterminded Halliburton's acquisition of Dresser Industries. While doubling the size of Halliburton, the acquisition also caused Halliburton to acquire Dresser's vast liability for asbestos related injuries to workers and consumers. Asbestos litigation has already bankrupted many industrial giants.


More

I think HR makes some good points raising the asbestos liability issues as a motivating factor for Big Dick's seemingly overwhelming need to keep grabbing more taxpayer supplied goodies for Halliburton.

[tinrobot]

11. SMOKING GUN

This will take down Cheney. It's only a matter of time.

[nolabels]

16. We want a good look at Dicks energy task force

Sierra club and JDW will have a field day with them papers. Could do in the whole last four years for all them folks, would be my guess. Why in the heck would Dick even take a chance with the duck hunt otherwise?

[leftchick]

29. you just know there is a big old map of Iraq in there.....

with all of the oil wells divied up to his cronies. Ahhh to see those papers....

[Just Me]

31. Maybe that will be revealed via yet another "leak"!!!

Poor ole' neoCONS. They have more enemies than they can keep the cover on.

When they are all wearing orange jumpsuits and peering from behind bars, I will be full of joy.

[Gregorian]

12. Start handing out the pardons, Bushbaby.

I suppose one pardon covers all crimes committed in office?
I just hope we can finally rid America of these lice. They got away once, and now they appear to be getting away again. Please, please let this be a coordinated effort that culminates in jail time for all of these criminals. After all, they are much much more dangerous to our country than any other criminals we have ever had. That includes mass murderers, I hate to say.

[nolabels]

18. They can't, somebody has to be charged first

They are damned if they do, and damned if they don't

[JoFerret]

36. OK the pardons list

begins with...

[clydefrand]

13. Will Kerry pardon this criminal just to unite our country?

[JusticeForAll]

32. This is not worth uniting over.

You might give one-time criminals a break, but the vicious criminalism this Administration has consistently employed for 4+ years? no way.

I would much rather Kerry preserve justice in the way that the repubs deal with justice. No forgiveness, no chance for rehab, no apologies. Simple Black and white, the way they like their world. Long periods of Jail time, nonconcurrently served, would give them plenty of time to think how wrong they have been and how many lives they have damaged and destroyed.

[Tight_rope]

45. Hell No!...He ain't stupid like Bush*. He has a political career to think

about!

[JoFerret]

14. How burnt is the toast?

I predict Kerry by a margin of 34.

[fryguy]

15. oops....guess someone forgot to delete the hard drives....

[juliagoolia]

17. FINALLY.. the CROOKS get a light shown on them

Aren't you tired of organized crime families running our country, pandering to emotional religious and poor people exploiting tragedies and fear and manipulating the public with LIES??

I am so glad its nearly over.. what a crooked pot of messy lies we have had to deal with.

[indie_voter]

20. Didn't this come out already? I swear I remember reading

about these emails.

[Mountainman]

26. The part about the emails was out a while back

[DrZeeLit]

22. Oh quelle surprise...

And yes, I think that memo has been trotted out a few times already with no takers.

[Carolab]

34. Yes the e-mail is old news

so why is everyone so excited?

This is worrisome:

The FBI declined to comment Thursday, but a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the investigation does not involve anyone in the White House — including Cheney’s office.

[Free2BMe]

24. Just when we think we have all the ammunition to dump this...

administration we get more..Yet,, the moral righteousness excuses all these crimes because of the holy than thou attitude that pervades their beings...How can America be so stupid...So Geoge and Dicky go out and get drunk and stoned tonight...it'll be blamed on somebody else...ya know...they all get what is deserved if these idiots are re-elected...Unfortunately ...we'll get what we don't deserve...Yuck...

[Sara Beverley]

25. I have always said that rank-in-file Federal employeess always try to do

their jobs, just as the "grunts" in the military do. What screws up the system is cadre of "political appointees" who take orders from the WH and the upper echelons of government that are controlled by the corporations. This is a prime example. Most of the time the system is so stacked against any whistleblower that few try to expose the corruption. I really admire this woman and wish her the best.

[thecrow]

27. Corruption, meet exposure.

<snicker>

[reprobate]

40. The ancient Greeks would call our government Corrupt

They, the inventors of democratic government defined Corruption as pandering to special interests to the detriment of the people. That sure sounds like what we got ourselves today.

[Chiyo-chichi]

28. Ideal timing would be

if this investigation had happened sooner and indictments were handed down right about now. THAT would be satisfying.

[Sinnerman]

35. FBI ... Should indict Cheney before election....

For Complete 50 State Landslide for Kerry

[goforit]

38. Yah .......the FBI is not Bush's private police force, It's every

American individual's FBI!!!!!

Soooooooo.......Wake up FBI!!!!

[harpo]

39. Its good to know that "some folks" are going to get theirs :)

[Swamp Rat]

41. This little piggie is going to be bacon soon.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

42. Why would this contract need to be coordinated thru the VP office?

I cant see that.

I could see coordinated through maybe a cabinet office, or even thorugh Condi Rice at the White House...

But why the VP office?

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

43. I never payed much attention to these Halliburton;Cheney ties until now.

Sure, I knew about Cheneys activtiy w. Halliburton, but didnt think there was any connection between Cheneya & Halliburton getting these contracts....I thought that was all speculation, but no hard evidence of a link.

But now, this memo, is the first HARD proof that Cheneys office at least was somehow involved.

This is the first hard evidence of some sort of linkage.

[Tight_rope]

44. HOT DAMN....It's raining shit on Bush* & Cheney!

[coda]

46. Thread needs Cheney's quote. "As Vice President, I have absolutely no...

"As Vice President, I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form of contracts led by the Army Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the Federal Government."

--Dick Cheney, Meet the Press,


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040607-644111,00.html

[goforit]

47. Keep this one up front and center.

[juajen]

48. Here goes

:kick: :kick:

[mbperrin]

49. Kick a bit

One kick for Dick!

[MADem]

50. This is a small nail in the coffin

Ms. Greenhouse is an African American registered independent, FWIW. Career civil service.

Her lawyer is the same guy who represented Linda Tripp in the Ken Bacon release of her personnel file information.

She has them dead to rights--she was no fool--she kept copies of the contracts, with her objections, and she carefully documented the efforts of her boss to downgrade her performance evals because she refused to play ball and game the system.

Realistically, in the short term scheme of things, this will not produce any great movement now. What it will do, though, is VALIDATE the choice of Kerry post-election.

The White House will be placed in the ironic position of pushing the FBI to charge people quickly in November, so that Bush can write up the pardons, a la Cap Weinberger.