Time to close gitmo? Guess not - Halliburton's $30mil gig

Post #211,788

6/20/05 4:30:49 PM

8/21/07 12:46:43 PM

[link|http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050616/ts_nm/security_guantanamo_halliburton_dc;_ylt=AqRR9bqA3aWgVbdOzMkb3cms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2MTQ3MTFjBHNlYwN0cw--|http://news.yahoo.co...3MTFjBHNlYwN0cw--]

A Halliburton Co. unit will build a new $30 million detention facility and security fence at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the United States is holding about 520 foreign terrorism suspects, the Defense Department announced on Thursday.

The announcement comes the same week that Vice President
Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld defended the jail after U.S. lawmakers said it had created an image problem for the United States.
---------
Guess Dick can't disappoint his buddies by ending the party now.

"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect"   --Mark Twain

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."   --Albert Einstein

"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses."   --George W. Bush

Edited by tuberculosis Aug. 21, 2007, 12:46:43 PM EDT

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Post #211,789

by imric

6/20/05 4:40:42 PM

Bwahahaha!

Halliburton is an 'oil services' company.

Since prisons are now part of 'oil services', I guess that puts a stake through the heart of the 'this isn't about trading blood for oil' lie.

How can this kind of corruption go on? And on? And on?

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Post #211,793

by Another Scott

6/20/05 6:07:00 PM

Halliburton's not just into oil. KBR builds stuff.

[link|http://www.halliburton.com/about/index.jsp|About]:

[link|http://www.halliburton.com/kbr/index.jsp|KBR], Halliburton\ufffds engineering and construction subsidiary, employs more than 60,000 people in 43 countries. Its strength is in engineering and project management, with a strong historical position in LNG and oil and gas projects. The company is a leading government services contractor as well.

This global technology and services company is composed of two distinct divisions: the Energy & Chemicals Division and the Government & Infrastructure Division. The Energy & Chemicals Division provides state-of-the-art engineering, procurement, construction and technology capabilities focused on upstream and downstream markets. The Government & Infrastructure Division, with its premier civil infrastructure capabilities, is one of the largest government logistics and services contractors in the world.

Whether designing an LNG facility, serving as a defense industry contractor or providing capital construction, KBR delivers world-class service and performance.

KBR has a history of big projects for various governments. For instance, they're making a huge [link|http://www.halliburton.com/kbr/projectProfiles/infra/meaRiver.pdf|water pipeline] (2 page .pdf) in Libya, and they did engineering for a major road interchange in [link|http://www.halliburton.com/kbr/projectProfiles/infra/amerInterchange.pdf|California] (2 page .pdf).

It's not all about the oil, but nepotism can't be ruled out. (Though personally I suspect that any nepotism was a long time ago - KBR is one of only a handful of companies that can do this type of stuff in a heightened-security environment.)

FWIW.

Cheers,
Scott.

Post #211,857

by Simon_Jester

6/20/05 11:55:44 PM

If memory serves me right....

KBR also built the first cells in Gitmo.

But don't rule out closing down Gitmo. This contract is in place. If we decide to close Gitmo, KBR will still get their money. :-)

Post #211,859

by inthane-chan

6/21/05 12:00:17 AM

Besides, if it does get shut down...

...we'll just play some giant shell game and move all the prisoners to YET ANOTHER facility somewhere out there, where KBR will have to build an ALL NEW facility...

Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall, aleph-null bottles of beer.
You take one down, you pass it around,
Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall!

Post #211,861

by Another Scott

6/21/05 12:17:26 AM

Yup.

KBR's been busy. [link|http://www.corporatepolicy.org/topics/Halliburton%20Timeline.htm|Linky]:

Pre-Iraq

The Navy hired Halliburton to build prison camps for terrorists in Guantanamo 2003 War Bay for $37 million. The State Department hired Halliburton to build a new embassy in Afghanistan for $100 million. And a secret task force picked Halliburton to receive a noncompetitive $7 billion contract to repair Iraq's oil fields. (Peter Carlson, "The Profitable Connections Of Halliburton," Washington Post, 2/10/2004)

If we decide to close Gitmo, KBR will still get their money. :-)

I have trouble believing that the prison at Guantanamo will be closed anytime soon. They'd reorganize it, allow outside inspectors, etc., but I don't see them closing it. The Pentagon's pretty good about resisting outside pressures like that. Remember, the ( [link|https://www.benning.army.mil/whinsec/|https://www.benning.army.mil/whinsec/] )[1] School of the Americas still exists even though many groups have tried for years to get it closed - it just has a different name. [link|http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2004/041004-gitmo.htm|This] story from 2004 has more information about the prison at Guantanamo.

As to them getting money if Guantanamo is closed, I dunno. There's lots of boilerplate in government contracts that says the US can back out at any time. I'm sure there's similar verbiage in that contract with KBR.

Cheers,
Scott.
[1] z doesn't like https hrefs.

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