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The Daily Muck
Halliburton Adds Headquarters, CEO to Dubai
"Halliburton, the big energy services company, said on Sunday that it would open a corporate headquarters in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai and move its chairman and chief executive, David J. Lesar, there. The company will maintain its existing corporate office here as well as its legal incorporation in the United States, meaning that it will still be subject to domestic laws and regulations." (The New York Times)
Padilla Interrogation Video Missing
"A videotape showing Pentagon officials' final interrogation of Al Qaeda suspect Jose Padilla is missing, raising questions about whether federal prosecutors have lost other recordings and evidence in the case. The tape is classified, but Padilla's lawyers said they believe something happened during that interrogation that could explain why Padilla does not trust them and suspects they are government agents." (Associated Press)
No Guilty Plea For DC Madam
"A former escort service owner who has threatened to sell a list of 15,000 phone numbers from her client list to help her defense pleaded not guilty Friday to racketeering. Deborah Jean Palfrey, 50, of Vallejo, Calif., entered the plea in U.S. District Court. She was released but ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device." (Associated Press)
Critics Note Privatization of Walter Reed
"The scandal over treatment of outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has focused attention on the Army's decision to privatize the facilities-support workforce at the hospital, a move commanders say left the building maintenance crew understaffed. Some Democratic lawmakers have questioned the decision to hire IAP Worldwide Services, a contractor with connections to the Bush administration and to KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary." (The Washington Post)
Despite Open Laws, State Government Often Closed
"Though laws in every state say government records and meetings must be open to all, reality often falls far short: Laws are sporadically enforced, penalties for failure to comply are mild and violators almost always walk away with nothing more than a reprimand, an Associated Press survey of all 50 states has found. Even in the handful of states that monitor such cases, when citizens appeal over lack of access to information, the government usually wins -- and keeps public business secret." (Associated Press)
Lawmakers Push to Protect Anonymous Sources
"House lawmakers, spurred by recent high-profile cases, plan to reintroduce a bipartisan measure that would allow reporters to protect the identities of confidential sources. Efforts to create a federal shield law failed last session, but supporters say the new Democrat-controlled Congress is likely to renew the push, setting up a battle with the Bush administration, which opposes the legislation." (Gannett News Service)
Labor Dept. Sought Cut in Aid For Sick Nuclear Workers
"Federal officials secretly schemed to limit payouts for sick and dying nuclear weapons workers, including thousands from the Rocky Flats plant outside Denver, newly released documents show. The officials responsible for helping those workers went behind their boss's back, called on White House officials for help and tried to hide their efforts, according to internal e-mails and memos obtained by a congressional committee and posted on its Web site." (Rocky Mountain News)
Comments (15)
Anonymous wrote on March 12, 2007 10:18 AM:Don't overlook the fact that Lesar serves on the Board of Directors of the American-Iranian Council. A curious choice for a CEO whose only other Board memberships are on oil/energy companies.
http://www.american-iranian.org/home.php?mains=10&subs=127
The move to Dubai is probaby Haliburton's move to get ready for whatever is going to happen in Iran.
Georgette Orwell wrote on March 12, 2007 10:28 AM:....it will still be subject to domestic laws and regulations....
Still? When have they ever been subject to rules and regulations *before*?
Mad Dog Rackham wrote on March 12, 2007 10:45 AM:Why do I feel that they left off the "for now" after "it will still be subject to domestic laws and regulations"?
Scritch wrote on March 12, 2007 10:49 AM:Moving to Dubai is a proactive, preemptive move to avoid our consiglieri when the sh*t hits the f*n. Does Dubai have an extradition treaty with the U.S.? Does Dubai allow dual citizenship? I bet it will be real hard to arrest the CEO and the board members in a foreign country.
SeeDee wrote on March 12, 2007 10:56 AM:Yeah, "still subject to domestic rules and regulations" or not, it will be so much easier to fail to comply fully with subpoenae and requests for info, when 'so many records are hidden' in Dubai.
Maybe Cheney will feel safer in Dubai than Houston after 2008...if not before.
Alex R wrote on March 12, 2007 12:13 PM:SeeDee beat me to it... Come the end of 2008, Cheney's going to need a new job, out of reach of the long arm of US law.
OCPatriot wrote on March 12, 2007 12:35 PM:The long and the short of it is that almost all the oil companies, and their affiliates and those companies that service them, are not American companies. Haliburton started out as this type of company. Dubai may be running our security for our ports, remember? So those of you who think Haliburton is a patriotic American company, think again; their corporate responsibility is to themselves, not to America. A lot of oil-related companies pretend they're American but have no loyalty to our country; they're truly international. BP is probably not even British any more, and they own such companies as ARCO and AMOCO. So, if you evn think Cheney is a patriot, think again, when he champions his old company. Cheney is losing it; when he says that the British are getting out of Iraq because their work is done, it's either a delusion or a lie. He's a physically sick man; the blood clot in his leg was only the most recent "incident". Who has ever found out what kind of medication he's taking that probably makes him sleepy, unable to drive, and more fatigued than you might think. So why would you trust the judgment of a man who has had more than three heart attacks and takes his daily doses? And why does Haliburton moving outside the U.S. surprise anybody? Just wait until Boeing and Lockheed Martin and Bechtel and Fluor and the so-called "defense contractors" like Blackwater start moving outside the U.S...
bob wrote on March 12, 2007 1:41 PM:boeing and others are already 'outsourcing'...a cute way of moving the means of manufacture OUT of the USA.
jumbo jet wings made in japan eh?
powkat wrote on March 12, 2007 2:02 PM:They should automatically lose all of those sweet no-bid contracts that Cheney threw at them. And Cheney should be required to divest himself of all his Halliburton stock (and all the subsidiaries) immediately because a company that will throw over the country that made it rich just to get richer cannot possibly have any loyalty to that country and should not be allowed access to the military or any other government entity that affects American security.
Stephen Taufen wrote on March 12, 2007 3:54 PM:It is not uncommon for recordings to go missing, so where's Padilla's backup copies? Halliburton is not the only sole-source opportunist, as at Adak Island in Alaska, where the National Missile Defense system, for the Sea-Based X-Band radar component, is going in, we had tapes missing too.
Larry Davison (my partner in privatizing the utility) sued the City of Adak after we lost electric utility rights, and a recording of the Mayor who had received a call from then-US Senator Frank Murkowski, went missing from lawyer files and Davison's home. It was during Senate hearings on the Adak Land Transfer to the Aleut Corporation. Murkowski's Senate office shared city councilmen and Davison's complaints to the Senate Energy committee (early 2002) with Ted Stevens' brother-in-law's lawfirm Birch Horton BITTNER and Cherot, whose lobbyist-atty Tom Albert then faxed to the Aleut Corp in Anchorage.
They faxed items to the City Mayor who then put pressure on councilmen to drop their complaints. Our requests of the Senate committee to obtain FOIA documents was ignored - i.e. Ted's relative's lawfirm had carte blanche access while common citizens get none.
The papers were about what?: about public serving assets such as fuel tanks the Navy had used, being allowed as planned to flow through to future public uses, instead of into the hands of the Alaska Native Corp. itself - who was price gouging for fuel to the electric generators, and ripping off schools, private citizens etc. while the Aleut Enterprise Corp. was not paying.
Also, a seafood plant where Ted Stevens' son, Alaska State senate president Ben Stevens held a secret deal to buy 25% for $500,000 was not paying its full share of electric costs either. Come to find out later, when processing cod, it stashed millions away allegedly, in a Norwegian bank account for KARLO INC. - which we hope is part of the FBI probes re Stevens.
Ted also gave Adak Fisheries about $10 to $12 million a year of pollock (whitefish) in a Rider in an Appropriations bill (pork barrel project). That made son Ben instantly rich, one could say.
Back to the recording, well the Mayor called Davison and left a message on his answering machine, saying that Senator Murkowski's office had called him, a very upsetting call, that Taufen was threatening the Land Transfer Bill, and to get him off the island on the next plane. Well, I did leave in a few days - with two large suitcases full of evidence.
When Davison sued in ANCHORAGE US District Court, (US AG Timothy Burgess was gone by then, and Nelson Cohen had not yet arrived - but this was simply a federal complaint among City and us.), I showed up at a deposition with a copy of the tape, after all. It paid to have many many copies made and secreted away. Our Seatle attorneys were o.k., without any doubt, but yet the copy did go missing. And someone did breach Davison's house and take many things, and followed him around to intimidate him.
When I played the tape at the end of the deposition, you can imagine that within minutes the City's defense attorney was calling then Alaska governor Murkowski's offices. The Alaska attorney however is suspect in my mind, as he seemed to go 180 on us. And 2200 pages of evidence was arguably not going to be admissible at trial, it was argued.
I have not yet sued. But in a case involving Adak in Alaska Superior court in 2005, about Ben Stevens' share of Adak Fisheries, his partner sued on conspiracy, fraud, unjust enrichment and other charges against a seafood partner who helped finance them. It was clear Stevens was trying to shove them out and take any future benefits from Navy for himself and personal partner(s).
On an on it goes. No wonder Ted was upset when Nelson Cohen from Pennsylvania got appointed AK AG for USA. We never accused Burgess of corruption, but do want to know why 44 counts stemming from when we sued the USA, serving John Ashcroft, never got prosecuted.
And since when did Ted ever let a military base in Alaska close? Only the one at Adak, where he and his cronies and son could carve out millions for themselves. And maybe Boeing paid off federal fine to keep the TANKERGATE (refueling jets) case from reaching him and Sen. Patty Murray - who were doing dirty quid pro quos on fisheries legislation, too.
Enough! Investigate all these bums. And yes, if you ever get a tape or evidence, do what we do: make many copies and put them in hands of old trusted friends.
Ted Stevens and all his cronies should go down. And if Alaskan judges go with him, then so be it.
Stephen Taufen (& Larry Davison).
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