How THE SURGE Helps Halliburton/KBR's Bottom Line

[CorpGovActivist]

Ever wonder why the terminology is so important?

THE SURGE of 21,500 troops translates into 64,500 additional meals that need to be served daily.

THE SURGE of 21,500 troops translates into 21,500 additional sets of bedding that has to be laundered.

THE SURGE of 21,500 troops translates into 21,500 additional sets of body armor that have to be procured.

You get the idea.

Under the terms of such Halliburton/KBR contracts as LOGCAP III, a "surge" allows the company to charge escalated fees, and sidestep "ordinary" procurement channels: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=kbr+%22surge+capacity%22

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=kbr+%22surge+capacity%22+logcap

So every time you hear Tony Snow mention "THE SURGE," just remember that the contracts between the Federal Government and Halliburton/KBR have clauses that kick in whenever there is a "surge"...

- Dave

[Minnesota_Lib]

1. Dude! Where have you been? We have been worried about your long silence...

...considering what was going on and all. Glad to see you back safe and sound. :)

[eleny]

2. K&R

[tbyg52]

3. Thank you for the info

"Under the terms of such Halliburton/KBR contracts as LOGCAP III, a "surge" allows the company to charge escalated fees, and sidestep "ordinary" procurement channels"

That is simply obscene. I hereby nominate the cabal for worst leaders in the history of the *world*.

[CorpGovActivist]

4. Try Laying Your Hands on a Copy of the LOGCAP III Contract

LOGCAP III is the contract under which Halliburton/KBR provides "logistics support" to the forward-deployed troops: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=logcap+iii

Try laying your hands on a copy of it under FOIA.

Now, try laying your hands on a copy if your name is Chairman Waxman, armed with subpoena power.

; )

If you fall under the latter category, you might also want to pull all the purchase orders and invoices that fall under LOGCAP III, and then brace yourself for whistleblowers to come forward with tales of forgery and fraud during every past "surge".

- Dave

[Maraya1969]

6. WOW you're link doesn't work either!

[Maraya1969]

5. Interesting how the links don't work now.

[CorpGovActivist]

7. If Links Don't Work, Here's How to Replicate the Search Terms

When I click them, they work.

To replicate the searches on Google:

1. OP link #1: Search terms are kbr AND "surge capacity"

2. OP link #2: kbr AND "surge capacity" AND logcap

3. Secondary post link: logcap iii

Hope that helps.

- Dave

[DemReadingDU]

11. links work for me, well, some do

edit to add

some of those LOGCAP links don't go anywhere
:(

[DemReadingDU]

8. The surge is about the oil too

1/14/07 Shock and oil: Iraq's billions & the White House connection
Last week The Independent on Sunday revealed that a BearingPoint employee, based in the US embassy in Baghdad, had been tasked with advising the Iraqi Ministry of Oil on drawing up a new hydrocarbon law. The legislation, which is due to be presented to Iraq's parliament within days, will give Western oil companies a large slice of profits from the country's oil fields in exchange for investing in new oil infrastructure.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2152438.ece


articles from last week

1/7/07 Future of Iraq: The spoils of war How the West will make a killing on Iraqi oil riches
Iraq's massive oil reserves, the third-largest in the world, are about to be thrown open for large-scale exploitation by Western oil companies under a controversial law which is expected to come before the Iraqi parliament within days. The US government has been involved in drawing up the law, a draft of which has been seen by The Independent on Sunday. It would give big oil companies such as BP, Shell and Exxon 30-year contracts to extract Iraqi crude and allow the first large-scale operation of foreign oil interests in the country since the industry was nationalised in 1972.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132569.ece article 1

1/7/07 Blood and oil: How the West will profit from Iraq's most precious commodity
So was this what the Iraq war was fought for, after all? As the number of US soldiers killed since the invasion rises past the 3,000 mark, and President George Bush gambles on sending in up to 30,000 more troops, The Independent on Sunday has learnt that the Iraqi government is about to push through a law giving Western oil companies the right to exploit the country's massive oil reserves.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132574.ece article 2

1/7/07 Iraq poised to end drought for thirsting oil giants
After 35 years, the third-largest reserves in the world are to be opened to American and British companies For more than three decades, foreign oil companies wanting into Iraq have been like children pressed against the sweet shop window - desperately seeking to feast on the goodies but having no way of getting through the door. That could soon change.
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2132467.ece article 3

1/7/07 Leading article: The oil rush
"The oil can is mightier than the sword," said the 19th-century US Senator Everett Dirksen. Nowhere does this seem more true than in contemporary Iraq where, despite widespread despair about the war's costs in terms of blood and treasure, US corporations look set to be some of the conflict's few winners. The announcement that the Iraqi government is planning to change its constitution to allow foreign extraction of oil will give Western companies access to the world's third largest oil reserves. Production sharing agreements (PSAs), lasting for up to 30 years, will divert up to 75 per cent of Iraqi oil revenues to Western drilling companies until their initial investment costs have been recouped. The importance of this cannot be overstated for a shattered country still reliant on oil for 95 per cent of its income.
http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article2132500.ece article 4


edit to add 1 more article

The long discussed plan to hand over most of Iraq’s oil assets to big foreign oil companies is about to happen. When people can't figure out what Bush means when he claims victory in Iraq, this is what he is talking about.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2007/01/3212_big_oil_wins_ir.html

[CorpGovActivist]

9. Halliburton/KBR Can Help There, Too

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=energy+services+exploration+halliburton

; )

- Dave

[DemReadingDU]

12. Yep - energy, big oil, KBR

they are all in this corruption together

[CorpGovActivist]

14. Waxman and LOGCAP IV Bidders - An Oversight Scenario

You may recall that some former Halliburton/KBR execs "left" to set up a "new" company that has expressed interest in bidding on LOGCAP IV:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22logcap+iv%22

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=logcap+swindle+kbr

I foresee some of these "new" players being hauled up to Capitol Hill, where they will be confronted with damning e-mails and other evidence that suggests criminal collusion and bid rigging.

There might even be a person or two who used to wear a star or two on his lapel who gets snared.

Ike was right.

- Dave

[Maraya1969]

13. How does the US get away with stealing another countries oil?

I don't understand how this works. The Iraqi leaders can't say "get away from our oil?"


A new bumper sticker. "A US soldier died for that gas in your car"

[CorpGovActivist]

15. "10% Ethanol, 10% Service Member Blood?"

Imagine if those stickers started showing up on pumps.

- Dave

[Tuesday_Morning]

10. K & R

Thanks, Dave.

[radfringe]

16. heh

don't forget it also means 21,000 more MONOGRAMMED bath and hand towels

[BeHereNow]

17. Where have you BEEN???

I was worried about you...
BHN

[CorpGovActivist]

18. Eh

Recuperating.

- Dave

[Morgana LaFey]

19. O.M.G. Those brazen bastards.

Unbelieveable.

Have you sent this to Keith Olbermann? If not, PLEASE do. Surely someone has a link for him.

I'm sure he (or someone on his staff) reads DU, btw. Again and again I see him bring up topics I don't think he'd have picked up from anywhere else. BUT -- no reason not to bring this to his attention. Please.

[CorpGovActivist]

20. It's Worth a Shot...

... maybe if everyone on here wrote to him: [e-mail].

Maybe a standard subject line? "Halliburton and THE SURGE"

; )

- Dave

[Morgana LaFey]

26. I have no idea if the same headline work or if it's better to

use our own -- I would think the latter.

Thanks for the link. Does that mean he's one of your approved journalists????

[CorpGovActivist]

27. KO Rocks...

... but I have had no contacts with his producers.

- Dave

[shance]

21. Almost ALL of your taxpayer money you earn is now going to companies like Halliburton.

And overseas.

This Administration is dismantling our schools, healthcare, Social Security and our future retirement by taking our money and reinvesting it in this war that is killing OUR AMERICAN CHILDREN.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

22. K&R! so how much did Halliburton make last year?...

Without furnishing basic services usually provided by ANY construction
company, acting as an in-country defense contractor, does anyone know what
Halliburton makes?

besides obscene profits???

[CorpGovActivist]

24. Halliburton's Annual Report Due out in March

Here is a listing of past annual reports: http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?type=10-k&dateb=&owner=include&count=40&action=getcompany&CIK=hal

The forthcoming 10-K (annual report) will cover 2005.

- Dave

[Jeffersons Ghost]

28. thanks for the link but I still didn't see the bottom line... want more graphics?..

[CorpGovActivist]

30. Revenues of $20.99B, Gross Profit of $2.8B

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=HAL&annual (three years' numbers)

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/060131/hal8-k.html (last year's announcement)

Hope that helps. Pretty obscene, huh?

- Dave

[Jeffersons Ghost]

31. here's a message pic from the next generation...

[conscious evolution]

23. Anyone see this?

Seamslikeadream posted this about merc's in Iraq

.http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=3121119&mesg_id=3121119

What caught my eye was this:"Historically, there is nothing new about the military's use of private contractors, but the Iraq war has seen outsourcing on an unprecedented scale. The policy change came after the Cold War when the Pentagon was downsizing under then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. Cheney first hired Halliburton as a consultant and later became the company's president. Halliburton subsidiary KBR is now one of the largest recipients of government contracts."

It's nice to see Cheneys connections to Haliburton being exposed on a show like Frontline.

[CorpGovActivist]

25. Where It Gets Really Interesting...

... is when Waxman's investigators start producing the statistics on how many of Cheney's former top brass retired from the military, to take key positions at Halliburton/KBR.

Some of the surviving e-mails (from those who didn't understand the paper trail it created) are going to shock the conscience of even the most jaded Americans, if I were a betting man.

- Dave

[Rosa Luxemburg]

29. I wonder what would happen if someone bought Halliburton out

hostile takeover

[conscious evolution]

32. I dont know about HAL

but KBR has a clause in the SEC S1 filings from their spinoff/IPO from Haliburton that if any one or more persons who try to buy control of the company will cause the company to default on all outstanding lines of credit and loans.
I imagine HAL has the same sort of poison pill in their charter also.

[CorpGovActivist]

34. HAL's Poison Pill Expired in December 05, But...

Professor Bebchuk at Harvard sponsored a shareholder proposal this past Halliburton annual meeting that would make it harder for a new one to be created: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/45012/000095012906004061/h33850def14a.htm#126

KBR's poison pill is a function of Halliburton wanting to maintain majority control: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1357615/000119312506236666/d424b1.htm#rom71894_12

Given all these Risk Factors, it's easy to see why the parent wouldn't want anyone else gaining control of the spinoff: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1357615/000119312506236666/d424b1.htm#rom71894_2

Control = access to the corporate records.

- Dave

[Rosa Luxemburg]

36. Congress needs to pass legislation to curb companies like Halliburton etc

if Congress doesn't try to curb what's going on then it's not worth anythig to the voters!

[radfringe]

33. Spoils of War: Oil, the U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Area and the Bush Agenda

Spoils of War
Oil, the U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Area and the Bush Agenda
By Antonia Juhasz
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2979/
January 15, 2007

Remember oil? That thing we didn’t go to war in Iraq for? Now with his war under attack, even President George W. Bush has gone public, telling reporters last August, “ failed Iraq … would give the terrorists and extremists an additional tool besides safe haven, and that is revenues from oil sales.” Of course, Bush not only wants to keep oil out of his enemies’ hands, he also wants to put it into the hands of his friends.

The President’s concern over Iraq’s oil is shared by the Iraq Study Group, which on December 6 released its much-anticipated report. While the mainstream press focused on the report’s criticism of Bush’s handling of the war and the report’s call for (potential) removal of (most) U.S. troops (maybe) by 2008, ignored was the report’s focus on Iraq’s oil. Page 1, chapter 1 laid out in no uncertain terms Iraq’s importance to the Middle East, the United States and the world with this reminder: “It has the world’s second-largest known oil reserves.” The group then proceeds to give very specific and radical recommendations as to what should be done to secure those reserves.

Guaranteeing access to Iraq’s oil, however isn’t the whole story. Despite the lives lost and the utter ruin that the war has brought, the overarching economic agenda that the administration is successfully pursuing in the Middle East might be the most enduring legacy of the war—and the most ignored.

Just two months after declaring “mission accomplished” in Iraq, Bush announced his plans for a U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Area to spread the economic invasion well-underway in Iraq to the rest of the region by 2013. Negotiations have progressed rapidly as countries seek to prove that they are with the United States, not against it.

---snip---

After the U.S. corporate invasion of Iraq
More than 150 U.S. companies were awarded contracts for post-war work totaling more than $50 billion.

The American companies were hired, even though Iraqi companies had successfully rebuilt the country after the previous U.S. invasion. And, because the American companies did not have to hire Iraqis, many imported foreign workers instead. The Iraqis were, of course, well aware that American firms had received billions of dollars for reconstruction, that Iraqi companies and workers had been rejected and that the country was still without basic services. The result: increasing hostility, acts of sabotage targeted directly at foreign contractors and their work, and a rising insurgency.

Halliburton received the largest contract, worth more than $12 billion, while 13 other U.S. companies received contracts worth more than $1.5 billion each. The seven largest reconstruction contracts went to the Parsons Corporation of Pasadena, Calif. ($5.3 billion); Fluor Corporation of Aliso Viejo, Calif. ($3.75 billion); Washington Group International of Boise, Idaho ($3.1 billion); Shaw Group of Baton Rouge, La. ($3 billion); Bechtel Corporation of San Francisco ($2.8 billion); Perini Corporation of Framingham, Mass. ($2.5 billion); and Contrack International, Inc. of Arlington, Va. ($2.3 billion). These companies are responsible for virtually all reconstruction in Iraq, including water, bridges, roads, hospitals, and sewers and, most significantly, electricity.


---snip---

Halliburton’s subsidiary KBR is currently being investigated by government agencies and facing dozens of charges for waste, fraud and abuse. Most significantly, in 2006, the U.S. Army cancelled Halliburton’s largest government contract, the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP), which was for worldwide logistical support to U.S. troops. Halliburton will continue its current Iraq contract, but this year the LOGCAP will be broken into smaller parts and competitively bid out to other companies.

The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), a congressionally-mandated independent auditing and oversight body, has opened 256 investigations into criminal fraud, four of which have resulted in convictions. SIGIR has provided critical oversight of the U.S. reconstruction, but this fall it nearly fell prey to a GOP attempt to shut down its activities well ahead of schedule. Fortunately, it survived.

[DemReadingDU]

35. morning kick

:hi: