Cheney and Halliburton: Treason?

Recent judicial action is revealing more and more information about the relationship between the Vice President and Halliburton. Dick Cheney, who went from running the oil services and construction conglomerate to the Vice Presidency, keeps claiming he severed his ties to his former employer. He even said this on national television:

"[S]ince I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice president, I've severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interests," Cheney said. "I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had now for over three years."

I keep hearing this from Republicans when complaints arise about all the no bid contracts Halliburton keeps getting from this Administration. It's a lie. Cheney still owns 433,000 stock options in Halliburton. Dick Cheney continues receiving $200,000/year in deferred compensation. His financial interest in that company is huge. The better they do the better he does. Conversely Halliburton has done very well since their CEO left to become Vice-President.

Why is this a problem? The Congressional Research Service explains:

"The proper operation of a democratic government requires that officials be independent and impartial; that Government decisions and policy be made in the proper channels of the governmental structure;... and that the public have confidence in the integrity of its government. The attainment of one or more of these ends is impaired whenever there exists, or appears to exist, an actual or potential conflict between the private interests of a Government employee and his duties as a public official."

As the Carpetbagger Report explains, Cheney's disclosure reports divulge these personal holdings in Halliburton stock options:

100,000 shares at $54.5000 (vested), expire 12-03-07
* 33,333 shares at $28.1250 (vested), expire 12-02-08
* 300,000 shares at $39.5000 (vested), expire 12-02-09


Morningstar reports an upcoming stock split for Halliburton on June 23rd. Here is an analysis by Morningstar of how this stock has performed:

Halliburton HAL

Last Close		52–Week Range		5 Year Range
$74.34		$45.35 — $83.97		$8.75 — $83.97
1 Month Range		% Below 52-Week High		% Below 5 Year High
$67.85 — $77.64		11.47		11.47

Total Returns %				Data through 06-15-06
	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	YTD
Stock	-63.3	47.2	42.1	53.3	59.5	20.5
+/- Industry	-33.0	53.0	25.0	15.1	5.9	5.7
+/- S&P 500	-50.3	70.6	15.7	44.3	56.5	19.9

Trailing Total Returns	1 Month	3 Month	1 Year	3 Yr Avg	5 Yr Avg	10 Yr Avg	* YTD
Stock	4.8	5.1	63.3	46.9	15.7	12.2	20.5
+/– Industry	7.4	3.4	18.7	11.4	-0.1	-0.8	5.7
+/– S&P 500	7.8	8.7	59.2	38.6	15.0	5.6	19.9
*data through 05-31-06

Price/Dividends/Splits

Daily Price History		2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Dividend History		12-01	12-02	12-03	12-04	12-05
Dividend $		0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50
Year-end Yield %		3.82	2.67	1.92	1.27	0.81
S&P 500 Yield %		1.19	1.58	1.39	1.43	1.54

5 Year History	Splits and Dividends	Amount Per Share
02-28-06	Cash Dividend	0.1500
11-29-05	Cash Dividend	0.1250
08-31-05	Cash Dividend	0.1250
05-31-05	Cash Dividend	0.1250
03-01-05	Cash Dividend	0.1250
11-29-04	Cash Dividend	0.1250
08-31-04	Cash Dividend	0.1250
06-01-04	Cash Dividend	0.1250
03-02-04	Cash Dividend	0.1250
11-28-03	Cash Dividend	0.1250
09-02-03	Cash Dividend	0.1250
06-03-03	Cash Dividend	0.1250
03-04-03	Cash Dividend	0.1250
11-25-02	Cash Dividend	0.1250
09-03-02	Cash Dividend	0.1250
06-04-02	Cash Dividend	0.1250
02-26-02	Cash Dividend	0.1250

Growth of $10,000	YTD through 06-15-06

	Stock: Halliburton
	Industry: Oil & Gas Services
	Index: S&P 500

Total Returns %	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	YTD
Stock	-63.3	47.2	42.1	53.3	59.5	20.5
+/- Industry	-33.0	53.0	25.0	15.1	5.9	5.7
+/- S&P 500	-50.3	70.6	15.7	44.3	56.5

Halliburton's stock price is currently at $74.34/share. At the beginning of the Iraq war it was trading around $25/share, according to Morningstar.

During this time Halliburton has received numerous, huge no bid contracts from the United States government. Now, in a case before U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina, an email from an official at the Army Corps of Engineers regarding a contract being awarded to Halliburton has been entered into evidence at trial. The Judge ruled that embarrassment of a public official is not sufficient reason to exempt it from public scrutiny. Seems the document had been requested under the Freedom of Information Act and our government was refusing to release it. What embarrassment and what official? Seems the Vice President was greasing the wheels for this no bid contract to go to his former company:

"We anticipate no issue (with the KBR deal) since the action has been coordinated w [sic] VP's office."

KBR is Kellogg, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton and the recipient of many, many government contracts since 2001. So, how much money are we talking about? According to The Carpetbagger Report these stock options are now worth $8,165,489.07.

The bottom line is this: Vice President Dick Cheney has enriched himself enormously at the public's expense while Vice President by intervening in the awarding of no bid contracts to a company he has extensive personal financial interests in. This is corruption at the highest levels of our government.

On an even broader scale one must conjecture whether all these Halliburton contracts in Iraq, for which Cheney is personally profiting from, had anything to do with his jamming this war down our throats with lies and deceit. Recall it was his Chief of Staff, Lewis Libby who exposed Valerie Plame's CIA status and who pipelined and stovepiped cherry picked intelligence to the White House to justify this war in the first place.

No office of our federal government did more to initiate the war in Iraq than the Vice President's. Was it all so he could profit personally? There are some very, very serious questions to be answered here and the Congress is refusing to do so.