More on Halliburton's Cheney

[JoseCuervo]

I still think it was the right think to invade Iraq for the Oil reserves. I just wish Cheney would quit making up other excuses....

Vice President Cheney: In Iraq, Saddam Hussein was in power, overseeing one of the bloodiest regimes of the 20th century… He had long established ties with al Qaeda. [Cheney, Orlando, FL, 6/14/04]

Mary Matalin, Cheney Adviser: "I can tell you that the vice president of the United States in that office or when he was secretary of defense had no operational involvement with letting of any [Halliburton] contracts." [NBC, "Today," 6/1/04]

But the truth is…

Dick Cheney had long established ties with Halliburton.

In March 2003, the Pentagon awarded a subsidiary of Halliburton a no-bid contract worth $7 billion to help rebuild Iraqi oil fields. An internal Pentagon e-mail said "action" on the contract was "coordinated" with the Vice President's office. A senior political appointee in the Defense Department, Michael H. Mobbs, acknowledged that he selected Halliburton for Iraq reconstruction work. Before awarding the contract, Mobbs briefed top officials, including Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's top aide. [Time, 5/30/04; LA Times, 5/7/03; Washington Post, 2/10/04, 6/14/04]

Iraq had no operational involvement with Al Qaeda.

"There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda also occurred after Bin Ladin had returned to Afghanistan, but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship. Two senior Bin Ladin associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between al Qaeda and Iraq. We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States." [9-11Commission.gov, Staff Statement #15]