Why Ashcroft Should Indict Cheney
It is time for the investigation and indictment of Vice President Richard Cheney for alleged violations of law and the presidential executive order banning trade with and aid to Iran
by Mac MacArthur

Saturday, Feb. 17, 2001 -- WASHINGTON -- Recently I read that that Dick Cheney's personal cash cow, Halliburton -- a monolith in the American oil hardware and software industry -- has opened an office in (where else?) Tehran.

That's Tehran as in Iran. As in Ayatollah "Kook-Mangy." As in big bucks for Cheney.

Halliburton, in doing so, has, according to colleagues in the Justice Department and the few remaining thinkers in the U.S. Attorney's Office, violated -- in spades -- federal law barring Halliburton (or any other company, for that matter) doing business with the wife-beating, "infidel"-torturing, clitoris-slashing Iranians.  And Halliburton is certainly not there for humanitarian violations -- America doesn't care about those now that the smirking Bush Baby has invaded the "Oaf-yule" Office -- but because it's the policy of the United States as approved by Congress.

This isn't some new law passed by the Bush Klan to mollify Baghdad and Bush's secret buddy Saddam. No, this is the law.

Under Cheney's rule at Halliburton -- and don't let the denials fool you -- Halliburton arranged to open a sleazy little putative office in Tehran to help the Ayatollahs produce more oil and to prepare to annihilate their enemies -- including Israel. Their offices are hidden behind vaguely marked doors on the ninth and tenth floors of an office tower is downtown Tehran.

Their advertising for the Ayatollahs includes this statement:

"...[T]he company has performed oil-drilling services on two offshore drilling contracts in the Iranian sector of the Persian Gulf. One is the Sirri field, being developed by France's TotalFinaElf SA, and the other is Phase 1 of the South Pars field, being developed by an Iranian company.... We are committed to position ourselves in a market that offers huge growth potential."

What a crock.

What is the Iranian "Sector" of the Persian Gulf? Does that make these freaky big drilling towers "non-inclusive" under those laws that control US companies doing business in Iran? Of course not! But Halliburton, like many U.S. corporations driven by greed and avarice alone, would help anyone -- including Iraq -- if the money was right.

And RIGHT means if it's in cash.

Rather than moving into Iran openly, Cheney plotted to move the company into Iran through a Halliburton-owned Cayman Islands company.

Hey Dick, you  putrid swine, when is the last time that Halliburton helped strike oil in the Caymans? Or did you incorporate as "Halliburton Products and Services Ltd Cayman Islands" just to rob the American public of lawful income taxes your company owed it? Or was the primary reason to facilitate doing business in places you aren't supposed to -- under that oh-so-sacred RULE OF LAW?

This story becomes particularly poignant amid the hew and cry about the pardon of Marc Rich by people like the bulbous, pockmarked sleaze Arlen Spector -- whose real "claim to fame" was his defense of the notorious murderer-cum-Guru Ira Einhorn, who murdered his girlfriend and then hid her in a trunk in his apartment for months. It is rumored that Spector helped Einhorn out of the country where he fled to Canada, then Europe.  Einhorn now lives in France free from prosecution. Now Spector may not have helped Einhorn this way, but he WAS his defense lawyer! And he is concerned about Clinton pardoning Rich?

Cue laugh track!

Rich too was (and is) in the oil business, and Halliburton was indirectly involved in the entire fiasco where Rich and two giant American oil companies were caught violating oil import and tax laws. The two large producers, large in comparison to Rich, were simply fined and had to pay the taxes due; Rich, on the other hand, was INDICTED as a criminal because he didn't pay off elected officials of the ilk of Spector -- even though he paid up all his back taxes as well AND THEN SOME.

Now Rich, who lives in Switzerland, wants to come home.

Learning well from the Republican slime who protected and still protect the Oil Giants and their boards from prosecution, Rich began tossing around money to the politicians that might help him. OF COURSE (wink), no quid pro
quo was intended. Never. Ask any Senator -- including Spector -- and they'll tell you they never vote the way their huge contributors demand them to!

So Spector, fearful that the Clintons will rise again, is spearheading -- along with his fellow mental case Dan Burton -- a move to indict Clinton and Richfor their involvement with each other.

Now remember: Cheney, a man who is such a liar that he ALWAYS has to speak from the side of his sneering mouth, was the "mastermind" behind Desert Storm (along with his then-puppet, General Colin Powell) to DEFEND those slave masters the Emir of Kuwait and all the Kuwaiti princes from the "evil" Saddam -- but not the princesses.

They don't count as human in Kuwait.

Well, read up on Kuwait.  This tawdry little Emirate basically held Saddam hostage and made him pay through the nose for access to pipelines that run for a few miles inside Kuwaiti territory on land that once was part of Iraq in order that the landlocked Iraq could ship her oil. Where? To the United States.  Not only that, but Kuwait was caught using "diagonal drilling" to STEAL Iraqi oil.

Dick Cheney openly supports the move on Clinton and Rich -- yet Cheney was around to help Daddy Bush get the pardons ready for disgraced ex-Marine Oliver North and Cap Weinberger, two men who actually murdered people in Central America with their hired thugs, all paid for with drug money provided by the CIA's own pushers.

Cheney was also great friends with Ed "The Pig" Meese before his career came to a bitter and scandalous end, loves his neighbor Ken "Trouser Detective" Starr, is married to one of the better dole-suckers this nation has ever produced -- the shrill and overrated Lynn Cheney who, it is rumored, once called Hillary Clinton a "trampy little dyke."

To divert attention from these Halliburton revelations, the Little Moron at 1600 Pennsylvania decided to bomb Baghdad yesterday -- kill a few women and kids while he continues to starve them and keep from them medical supplies much needed by Iraquis so that he, Cheney and loser Powell (yes, Powell lost the first war against Saddam, "Desert Bust," because he knew that Saddam was actually a good friend of the Bush family and the late King Hussein of Jordan) can PROVE to the American people that ex-cokehead, ex-drunk, ex-wife-brutalizer DumbBellYuh Bush can't be pushed around!

If it wasn't so comical I would cry.

To be certain that Halliburton was operating in Iran, we had a look at its brochure and on it -- in LIVING COLOR -- was the Halliburton USA logo!  The brochure offers services FROM ANY of its offices AROUND THE WORLD -- which would include the U.S. office, I assume. Now Halliburton will tell you, "No, no, no, this is the 'LTD' Halliburton, a CAYMAN company, not the REAL one in Texas!"

Peeee-you!

Believe it or not, Cheney actually has a spokesperson -- Juleanna Glover-Weissman -- whom The Wall Street Journal calls Cheney's spokes-MAN!  He replies wit a comment most likely executed by some $600-an-hour lawyer: "The Vice President is no longer head of Halliburton and has severed all ties to the company."

Yeah -- after getting his $50 million dollar payoff to keep his mouth shut.

And, if you think Team Smirk hasn't already corrupted our Treasury Department, think again.

The WSJ and American Politics Journal called them to ask about Halliburton and Cheney and were referred not to a high level Treasury guru, but to its OFFICE OF FOREGIN ASSETS CONTROL, who referred us to its WEB SITE!

What a riot -- hiding behind weasel-worded Web pages!  Here is the Vice President of the United States standing accused of running a scam operation to defraud the United States in Iran, and we are told to "go to a web site to determine the truth" and what Treasury and the Justice Department ought to do about it.

And what does Halliburton say about all this? Well, a similar tart -- Ms. Wendy Hall -- said that Halliburton's Tehran Office didn't violate the Treasury Department's restrictions on foreign subsidies of U.S. firms operating in Iran!

Well, she must be right -- I mean, the Iran operation is funded by the scam sham blam company set up by those swift-minded morons at Halliburton in the CAYMANS, right? So it really IS a Cayman corporation -- owned
by nobody, we guess -- that is dealing with IRAN.

Gee, I wonder what Halliburton stockholders will think about this.

If Halliburton DOES NOT OWN OR CONTROL THE TEHRAN OFFICE, where do the profits go from its operations? To the CAYMANS? or right into Vice President Cheney's pocket?

We already know that Cheney was around during the planning of the Tehran office, and we also know that agents of The Cayman Halliburton entity were doing business and raking in bucks while Cheney was on the Halliburton throne.

So, this should be a slam-dunk for our "above-it-all" Attorney General John Ashcroft.

If you wonder what Halliburton's intent really is, take a second look at the lines quoted above from its brochures.  Then, sit down and write a nice formal letter to our wonderful and unimpeachable Attorney General.

Here is some suggested language:

Dear Attorney General Ashcroft:

It has come to my attention that Halliburton Co. USA is doing business in
the oil services industry in Tehran, Iran, in what I believe is a serious
violation of several United States laws including Presidential Executive
orders which make such violations punishable by $500,000 fines in each and
every instance and up to ten years in jail for individuals involved such as
the former head of Halliburton, Vice President Richard Cheney, who may have
been involved in the planning and implementation of the opening of the
Halliburton Iran offices and the continued use of Halliburton offices in the
Cayman Islands to launder the activates and profits that may have been or
will be derived from Halliburton's Iranian operations.

In addition, Halliburton Co USA has been, for 25 years, engaged in the use
of what might be characterized as a sham corporation in the Cayman
Islands where Halliburton formed a company named Halliburton LTD, which
the U.S. company believes puts it outside the laws of the United States.
(See the statements of Halliburton spokesperson Wendy Hall in The Wall
Street Journal, February 15th, 2001) inasmuch as the Cayman Company is a
foreign corporation.

However, Mr. Attorney General, you know very well that establishing offshore
corporations for few other purposes than to defraud the Internal Revenue
Service merely to cloud revenues or to launder funds derived from illegal
foreign operations -- especially in the oil drilling hardware, equipment and
software business -- is a criminal offense, at least by the CEO, President
and Boards of Directors of any US Corporation involved. It is also a
criminal offense to aid Iran in ANY oil drilling, storage or other endeavor
under United States Law and Presidential Executive Order.

This open violation of the laws of Congress and rules promulgated by the
President and the United States and the United States Treasury Department is
more troubling inasmuch as Vice President Cheney was the chief of
Halliburton while the plans were laid for the Halliburton Tehran office and
the continued operation of the Caymans office of Halliburton, perhaps to
cover the Tehran operation and with full knowledge and approval of Vice
President Cheney.

What is more disturbing is that the Vice President, who, as a public servant
for most of his life never earned more than perhaps $150,000 each year, was
compensated by Halliburton Co USA with millions in salaries and other
benefits and given what was reported by the Company and the media, $40
million or more as "compensation" when he left Halliburton last year to run
with the President on the Republican national ticket. Vice President Cheney
had no training nor education to assume such a role in a corporation the
size of Halliburton Co., but had had tremendous responsibilities surrounding
the United State's military action against Iraq called "Desert Storm" --
the indirect or direct result of which might have enriched companies like
Halliburton and its subsidiaries following the end of the Iraq war.

I believe that, inasmuch as the Congress has eliminated the Independent
Counsel Act, it is now incumbent upon your good office and your personal and
sworn responsibility to begin an investigation of the Vice President of the
United States, in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
the United States Treasury Department to develop a factual context regarding
these allegations -- now being reported in the mainstream media, including
The Wall Street Journal.

To do anything else would cause further erosion of the faith of the American
people in its government and laws, as is already apparently in a nosedive.

Should these investigations reveal that the Vice President, while head of
Halliburton, had such knowledge, or should have had such knowledge regarding
Halliburton's work for Tehran and actually in Iran that violated the
several laws prohibiting such acts, and if the Vice President had knowledge
and approved of, of should have known of, the nature of the Halliburton Ltd.
Caymans operations which may have included the laundering of illegally
obtained revenues, then we ask that your good office prepare an indictment
of Vice President Richard Cheney forthwith at the conclusion of any
investigation which may reveal his culpability in these alleged
transgressions.

Let me add that I am fully aware of the possibility that Halliburton's
involvement in Tehran may be, in nature, a national security issue inasmuch
as it is not unheard of that other agencies of the United States may have
requested Halliburton and Mr. Cheney to arrange their business moves in the
Caymans and in Tehran for national security reasons. I am also aware that
certain segments of our population, both political and commercial, could
very well be planting rumor and innuendo about our Vice President for simply
selfish political or financial gain. That notwithstanding, allegations of
this sort, under your own description of the manner in which you would serve
as Attorney General of the United States, must deserve your immediate and
concerned attention. Whether or not some sub-rosa reason(s) for this
alleged illegality exist, they too may have been illegal. One need only look
to Iran-Contra for a textbook example of it.

With all due and full respect
[name here]

Now, our readers often write to Congress and the White House at our suggestion, but I urge you to be businesslike and unemotional in your letter to Attorney General Ashcroft, and to put your thoughts in your own language.

It does no good at all for the Attorney General to perceive your letter as merely a part of an organized letter writing campaign. And let me point out that this is not what I am urging. What I am urging is that you consider this article and then consider what your options are regarding it.

I, for one, feel that the only responsible argument is to request the investigation of ALLEGED violations of our laws without personally attacking the Vice President.

That's all for now.

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