CHENEY INDICTED IN FRANCE?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

Monday, October 24, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.com

by staff reports
In the context of all the indictments, both impending and already served, concerning PlameGate, it may seem overkill to consider what other countries are up to. However, according to a report on Uruknet.org, there is a distinct possibility that a French court might indict U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, on charges of bribery, money laundering and misuse of corporate assets.

The issue involves a $6 billion gas liquification factory, built in Nigeria on behalf of oil mammoth Shell by Halliburton - the company Cheney headed before becoming Vice President - and in partnership with Technip, a large French petroengineering company. The story says Judge Renaud van Ruymbeke, a renowned French jurist, has been probing the Nigeria deal since last October.

According to accounts in the French press, it says, Judge van Ruymbeke believes that some or all of $180 million in so-called secret "retrocommissions" paid by Halliburton and Technip were, in fact, bribes given to Nigerian officials and others to grease the wheels for the refinery's construction. - ST

from: http://www.freemarketnews.com/Feedback.asp?nid=644

It'd be fun to see an extradition attempt.

[catnhatnh]

1. Quite an achievement.....

...first sitting Vice President to be indicted on two continents???

[SammyBlue]

7. In two different hemispheres no less.

[Kailassa]

9. The world must be changing fast.

Last time I looked, France and America were both in the Northern Hemisphere.

[SammyBlue]

14. eastern hemisphere, western hemisphere.

Divided at the Meridan through London.

[mtpWriter]

11. WOW!

[BR_Parkway]

18. Now that's globilization! n/t

[John Q. Citizen]

2. Wow! Traitor, War Criminal, and Corporate Criminal. That would

be cool if the French indict him too.

[TheDebbieDee]

4. Yeah, another TRIFECTA for the sorry-assed * administration!

[Overseas]

3. Kick ! I wondered what had happened with this case

Glad to hear it has been continuing.

[Rex]

5. I told you Chirac was getting close to Chavez! Look two Cs! Booga!

Booga booga booga!


"Yes boss, we'll get right on trashing France. Boss."

[aquart]

10. Three. Three Ch's: Chirac, Chavez, and Cheney.

Six letters in each name.

[DanCa]

6. First the statue of liberty now this.

See the French our not really that bad after all.

[mtpWriter]

12. lol

[savemefromdumbya]

8. the French getting their own back nt

nt

[sofa king]

13. Here's hoping Dick has airplane trouble on his way to Switzerland.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

15. He'll end up pinned down worse than Kissinger!

As the war crimes indictments stack up across the world, he'll have less places he can go to

:rofl:

[banana republican]

16. Can you spell "Foreign Corrupt Pratices"

The bribery of foreign officials is a US crime.....

[Up2Late]

17. Ahh, he never like traveling to France anyway...

What a great bunch of guys we have, running our government.:sarcasm: :applause:

[berni_mccoy]

19. Don't Forget about Canada!

Soon, Bush won't be able to SET FOOT in Canada without being Arrested!

It's true, there was just an article about it last Friday how a Canadian Prosecutor won her case in Canada's highest court to be able to prosecute Bush on War Crimes.

I'll see if I can dig up the link...

[merh]

28. I'd love to see that article.

:hi: I hope you find the link. :evilgrin:

[converted_democrat]

35. I'll look for it too, I remember seeing it, and reading it......I just

don't remember where. It was here on DU, I'm just no sure what forum.

[converted_democrat]

36. Here....

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8901

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/12386

http://counterpunch.org/davidson10202005.html
(scroll down the page a bit)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/21/53732/086

[merh]

37. thank you

:hi:

[converted_democrat]

39. No problem....

:hi:

[Kindigger]

20. Weeeeee

:bounce:

[malaise]

21. There's now a new meaning to

French Fried.

[Ganja Ninja]

22. and W can't pardon Cheney for convictions in a French court.

Nice!B-)

[0007]

23. The freepers are ready to commit hari-kari, I bet!

[tanyev]

24. More likely ready to nuke France. Just for fun.

[0007]

29. Nary a whisper in the "Midland Reporter" these days on the

Washington fiasco and junior's problems, how about your town?

[tanyev]

32. Well, the Plano newspaper is just community gossip, not even worth

bothering with. The Dallas Morning News has more of an obligation to cover these stories, but they bury as much as they can toward the back. I was pleasantly surprised to see their editorial coming out against Prop 2, we'll see if that makes any difference.

[IronLionZion]

25. But it's FRANCE!

Freedom Fry eating surrender monkeys or some shit like that. :P

Perhaps * thinks it's a good time to expand the war into France. I doubt anything will come of the French indictment since Cheney is a sitting Vice President. International courts had a problem indicting sitting leaders like Pinochet and Sharon.

[underpants]

26. Aren't they co-sponsoring with us at the UN about Syria?

Hmmmm heads exploding all over I am sure.

[merh]

27. This investigation has been going on for years and is

why the weed's administration turned on France ("freedom fries") and had all of their media servants boycott or ridicule the country.

They wanted to discredit the French government because of the impending indictments.

Nothing that this administration has done was done by accident or innocently, it has always been done with ulterior motives and to cover up their crimes.

[primavera]

30. Whatever happened to Rumsferatu's indictment for war crimes?

I seem to recall something about Rummy being afraid to go to France (or was it Germany?) as courts had issued a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges and he was afraid he'd be arrested. Anyone know whatever came of that?

[katinmn]

31. Arrest that man! Merci beaucoup!

Cheney is a wanted man in many countries.

Lying, cheating scum-sucker.

[Orrin_73]

33. For once the French do something right!

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. To answer the question: No.

And it's speculation (by "Free Market News" - who they?) that he might be. This is not Late Breaking News.

[lovuian]

38. Cheney getting indictments on two continents!!! Whoah!!!

We get him first!!!

[DanCa]

40. Does that make Cheney bi now?

:D

[IowaGuy]

41. Is this really recent info????

This same story about the same set of facts was floating around a couple of years ago and just seemed to fall off the face of the earth and disappear...is anything new really happening?

[muriel_volestrangler]

42. No - the story is indeed from December 2003

It refers to 'a report on uruknet.org', which would apparently be this: Will the French Indict Cheney? by Doug Ireland, which uruknet.org date as October 22, 2005.

However, that is a copy of the article that Doug Ireland wrote for the Nation in December 2003 - as uruknet acknowledges in small print at the end of the page: ":: The incoming address of this article is :
www.thenation.com/doc/20040112/ireland"

So this is so not Late Breaking News. It's 22 months old.

[muriel_volestrangler]

43. The most recent thing I can find is Aug 2005

Chicago Bridge & Iron Subpoenaed by SEC in FCPA Investigation of Halliburton

Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. N.V., a Dutch construction company, filed an 8-K that makes a terse disclosure that the company received an SEC subpoena as part of an Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation of possible bribery in connection with the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Nigeria. The company's entire release (here) states:

We were served with a subpoena for documents on August 15, 2005 by the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with its investigation titled “In the Matter of Halliburton Company, File No. HO-9968” relating to an LNG construction project on Bonny Island, Nigeria, where we served as one of several subcontractors to a Halliburton affiliate. We are cooperating fully with such investigation.

The SEC commenced an investigation last year of possible bribery related to the project, which involved the Halliburton Company as one of the lead contractors, and Chicago Bridge was a subcontractor that received a $100 million contract. In an update on the investigation issued on Sept. 1, 2004, Halliburton disclosed (here) that the Department of Justice and a French magistrate were investigating possible bribery related to the project. In June 2004, the company terminated the contract with the former head of its Kellogg Brown & Root subsidiary, Jack Stanley, "because of violations of Halliburton's and Dresser’s codes of business conduct that, to Halliburton’s knowledge, involve the receipt by these persons of improper personal benefits. Evidence of these violations was uncovered in connection with the previously disclosed investigation related to the construction and subsequent expansion by TSKJ of a natural gas liquefaction facility in Nigeria." (See 8-K here). The SEC's latest subpoena means that the investigation is continuing, and may be focusing on whether illegal payments were made through intermediaries. (ph)

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/whitecollarcrime_blog/2005/08/chicago_bridge_.html

[brainshrub]

44. This isn't the only court that is working its way up the food chain:

From an article that I wrote:

Trust international law to try Bush for war crimes.

Not only does the White House have legal problems at home with the pending indictments of the inner circle, but Bush himself faces serious long-term legal problems on an international scale: The Associated Press has reported that:

A (Spanish) judge has issued an international arrest warrant for three U.S. soldiers whose tank fired on a Baghdad hotel during the Iraq war, killing a Spanish journalist and a Ukrainian cameraman, a court official said Wednesday.

This may not sound like much today, but it sets a precedent. How much longer before courts start issueing warrants for the people who ordered that tank to fire on the Baghdad hotel? How long before an international court issues warrants against the people who ordered the illegal invasion of Iraq in the first place?

[cosmicdot]

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