The #1 Most Buried Story: Halliburton Pumping Oil That's Not Even Metered

[No Exit]

The #1 Most Buried Story: Halliburton pumping the oil that’s not even metered

— ben @ 8:39 pm

No it’s not the Downing Street Memo, or the $9 Billion lost in Iraq, or the 52 warnings before 9/11 (info that was suppressed before the election, which should nullify the election)…

The #1 buried story is the fact that Halliburton has been pumping the oil in Iraq since 2003, and it hasn’t been metered. This was revealed by the Inspector General’s report on the missing $9 billion, and highlighted by Galloway’s awesome testimony before the Senate this May.

(snip)


http://benfrank.net/blog/

[Mme. Defarge]

1. Don't understand what that means

please explain

[htuttle]

3. It means they are basically just stealing it

If they are not metering it, they're probably keeping all the money from it's sale.

If you're ever confused by the Bush mob, just ask yourself, "WWJGD?" (What Would John Gotti Do?), and their motives will usually become clear.

So, I guess all that oil just 'fell off a truck'...

[reality based]

4. Metering measures the amount of oil passing through a pipeline

Without accurate, honest metering, the entity pumping the oil has a license to steal, which, in the oil "bidness", will usually be ruthlessly exercised.

[meppie-meppie not]

9. it means that not only are the pigs stealing from all of you but also from

the Iraqi's, stealing their only natural resource with no conscience to impede.

[MissWaverly]

17. Yea, and we should "stay the course" Of course!

protect these bandits against retaliation, we are asking our
young men and women to die to protect plunderers on a modern day
pirate ship.

[meppie-meppie not]

20. their idea of "staying the course" is absolutely repulsive given all we

know! To me it's unconscionable. No more lives for liars and thieves!!!

[MissWaverly]

24. love your slogan

the next time someone needs a t-shirt slogan, you should enter
it.

No move lives for liars and thieves!!! - Great

[meppie-meppie not]

25. Thanks, MissWaverly! :)

[MissWaverly]

26. Stephanie Miller is quoting us

She says we are quite festive, she is going to try to sing some of
our DU Fitzmas carols later in the show.

[meppie-meppie not]

28. oh, very cool! if this helps to bring the boys and girls back home by

exposing this administration for what it is, then I say "sing your heart out sweetie, sing till the last one is home"!!

[MissWaverly]

30. I see it all now the way to election reform is to go on MTV

How come I didn't think of this before.

[meppie-meppie not]

31. what do you mean? Not sure I'm following you here, sorry :)

[MissWaverly]

32. I am not making fun, I am just saying if no one listens to the news

Maybe we should think of boiling our message down and marketing it
in 20 second sound bites, I would put relevant facts in fortune cookies if it would wake up the sheeple, I have had enough of
"staying the course" I am really glad that Stephanie mentioned us
on her road show in Santa Barbara, she just had the mayor of Santa
Barbara, Mayor Bloom on the show. We are getting free publicity!

[meppie-meppie not]

34. oh I see and you're quite right. I didn't take you as making

fun of anything I just was having a duh moment, lol. But you have a great idea. The Repukes call it "talking points" which come out more like an echo chamber of the obtuse. So if we package reality and sanity to counter their absurdity and dementia...why not? :-)

[MissWaverly]

35. that's why I like Stephanie Miller

she takes their comments and shows how absurd they are.

[meppie-meppie not]

36. I like her just from what you've said, wish I could listen to her :(

[MissWaverly]

37. the big secret is you can

You don't have to have satellite radio, I listen to Rhandi Rhodes
and I don't have xm

here's the link, she is on every night from 9-10 pm Eastern standard time, sometimes they
have a listen live link on the top of DU, if you click on the link
it usually takes you to a link, you have to have some software to
play it, winamp is good and free, that's what I use or you can get
real player for free. Good Luck!

http://www.stephaniemiller.com/index.php?option=com_registration&task=register

[meppie-meppie not]

38. I already have Real Player and that's how I listen to Rhandi and

Mike Malloy now! Thanks MissW :-) :toast:

[MissWaverly]

39. You are welcome

I sunk a ton of change to buy my sirius radio and then bye, bye
Air America, now I listen to Rhandi on the computer!

[texpatriot2004]

2. Get out... Shut up! Wow. Slimy bastards. n.t

[meppie-meppie not]

10. given what they did on 911, should we be surprised? :}

[pauldp]

5. Kick . Holy Sh*t

What bastards.

[pauldp]

6. Is there any other corroboration for this? n/t

[lostnfound]

12. The AFP story confirms that Halliburton operates Iraqi oil fields

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0507-01.htm

Was it the lack of metering you were interested in? It was in George Galloway's testimony but I expect you are looking for another source?

[lostnfound]

13. Juan Gonzalez/DemocracyNow! interview (link): No metering

It appears that the root source is a UN oversight interim report -- interview is with the British group ChristianAid who wrote a report on the subject.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/30/1514255

JUAN GONZALEZ: If I can interrupt you one second. One thing your report indicates is that the oil that's being sold from Iraq is not even being metered, so that therefore no one really knows how much oil has been sold?

ANTHEA LAWSON: Yes! This is correct. Now, metering occurs in order to reconcile the amount of oil that's coming out of the ground with the amount that is being sold on, at the point when it's moved on into pipelines, tankers and so on to move on to its next destination. Like a lot of Iraq's oil industry, the metering facilities fell into disrepair during the 90's, during the sanctions regime. And one would have thought given the importance of the metering to insuring transparency of oil revenues it would be one of the first things that was put into place before the oil started flowing again. But nearly a year after the CPA began extracting Iraq's oil and selling it on Iraq's behalf, the UN Oversight board -- this board that we were talking about in the report that was set up so late -- started complaining to the CPA, saying there's no metering. Now that was only in April.

[pauldp]

16. Thanks for that. n/t

[pauldp]

46. Kick n/t

[knowbody0]

7. they just never "fixed" the meters

not a priority dontcha know?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

40. Not budgeted for.... pity. nt.

[0007]

8. Ten more years of this fucking shit! No way Jose.

I hope this report isn't true, but I fear it is.

[indepat]

11. Is a single solitary soul surprised?

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

15. Sorry for the repeat of your...

...point. I posted before I read through them. Shame on me.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

14. Unconscionable...

...and not the least bit surprising. Is there any kind of criminality left for BushCo and cronies to partake in that would actually shock or surprise any of us? I can think of none.

[bonito]

18. Yes

I saw a clip on tv, mother brings a baby to a clinic having diarrhea for days, doc says let me take a look, explaining nasty water conditions, and no meds. I really feel I don't belong here any more, not with my conscience, and I wont give that up.

[Zhade]

19. I better hear some top Dems screaming about this!

Outright, blatant theft - this offers a lot of support to the idea of the war being for oil.

If Dems remain silent on this, I WILL consider them complicit.

[gulfcoastliberal]

22. Consider them complicit. 100-1 they say nothing.

They're in on this illegal profiteering as much as the repigs. Just look at Feinsteins hubby - Blum & Perini Corp. Saudigroup funds Hillary. They'll remain as silent as the lambs.

[Zhade]

23. Believe me, I know all about Feinstein.

She's my senator.

:puke:

Needless to say, she will never again get my vote (barring a miraculous transformation into someone who actually represents We the People)!

[gulfcoastliberal]

43. Yeah, if you;re ever in SF drive by her house (can't recall tnighborhood)

It's a huge mansion in this little gated circle at the top of a hill. The folks living in those megamansions are her base.

[mia]

21. Stuffing their pockets as fast as they can...

while Iraqi citizens lack the basics. Disgusting.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30733
IRAQ:
Two Years Later, U.S. Still Can't Keep the Lights On
Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (IPS) - The reconstruction of Iraq is failing rapidly despite repeated claims of progress by the George W. Bush administration, according to a number of U.S. officials and reports released here this week.

...

"Oil production remains below pre-war levels, electricity production is unreliable and well below the goal of 6,000 megawatts of peak electricity output, and a third of Iraqis still lack access to potable water," says the report. "Billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent, but there is little to show for the expenditures in Iraq."

...

"Electric and water projects are being scaled back, while estimates of the costs to complete the same projects continue to escalate," Shays said.

The difficult security situation in Iraq and the rising Iraqi resistance have been cited as the main reasons for the slow progress in the reconstruction efforts. Billions of dollars have been diverted away from rebuilding projects in order to pay private security contractors and to train and equip Iraqi forces more rapidly.

...


I can almost imagine the hatred that the oil-rich nations feel for us. I wonder what U.S. citizens would be doing if another nation invaded us for the sole purpose of stealing our wealth.
Not that we have much left. The Bush Administration has pillaged Iraq and our own country.

[Burried News]

27. Surely the oil minister (Ahmed Chalabai) wouldn't let this go on.

At $60 per barrel? That's not chump change? And of course it's off the books so no tax reported. These guys make Al Capone look good.

And the greater the Chaos, the easier to run the CON.

[Joanne98]

29. DUH!

[Nothing Without Hope]

33. ***Here is the PERMALINK of the OP blog post***

(The link in the OP is to the home page of the blog.)

And note that the blog post has links to substantive reports on this issue. Glad this has been brought up again. I remember when Galloway was thundering about this in the Senate but hadn't thought about it for a while. We CANNOT LET THIS CONTINUE IN SILENCE.

[Marleyb]

41. another source

“Throughout the entire period of CPA rule, there was no metering of the oil passing through Iraq’s pipelines, which means that there was no way of telling how much of the country’s wealth the authority was extracting, or whether it was paying a fair price for it. The CPA, according to the international monitoring body charged with auditing it, was also “unable to estimate the amount of petroleum … that was smuggled”.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1408187,00.html

[pauldp]

47. Thanks for that other source.

Freakin' Robber Barons.

[Chicago Democrat]

42. Piggy piggy piggy piggy piggy piggy! SQUEAL!! Piggy!

Squeal Piggy!!!!!!

[xchrom]

44. kick

[bigbrother05]

45. Kick n/t