WASHINGTON - May 18 - Hundreds of peace, labor and consumer rights activists will gather outside the annual Halliburton Corporation shareholders meeting in Houston, Texas on May 19 to protest war profiteering and corporate cronyism as exemplified by Halliburton.

"We're going to tell the shareholders and CEO of Halliburton to bring their employees home from Iraq and stop ripping off U.S. taxpayers and Iraqis," said Andrea Buffa of Global Exchange, one of the groups organizing the protest.

The protest in Houston will begin with a rally at 8 AM at Root Memorial Park, 1400 Clay Street. Activists will then march two blocks to the Four Seasons Hotel, 1300 Lamar Street, where Halliburton will be holding its annual shareholders meeting.

"It's just wrong that Halliburton can get away with overcharging millions of dollars in Iraq, not to mention its other offensive practices, like dodging taxes through offshore subsidiaries and side-stepping federal laws. But because the company is 'embedded' in the Bush administration, they're just made more profitable instead of being held accountable," said Hadi Jawad of the Dallas Peace Center, who has organized a busload of activists from Dallas who plan to attend the protest.

Halliburton has been the number one beneficiary of Iraq "reconstruction" projects, raking in some $9 billion in contracts to rebuild the country's oil industry and service the U.S. troops. According to Halliburton's 2004 first quarter financial report, the company's revenues were 80 percent higher than the first quarter of 2003 thanks to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root's work in the Middle East.

News reports document a pattern of fraud, waste, and corruption by Halliburton. The allegations range from overcharges of $61 million for fuel and $24.7 million for meals, to confirmed kickbacks worth $6.3 million. Halliburton's pattern of fraud and corruption has been so pervasive that the Pentagon recently asked the Justice Department to investigate Halliburton for possible criminal wrongdoing related to its Iraq contracts. Vice President Dick Cheney was Halliburton's CEO prior to his taking office and continues to receive annual payments from Halliburton in excess of $150,000.

The demonstration comes a day after Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. hosted a news conference to discuss new evidence of lax oversight of spending on Iraqi reconstruction, including Pentagon outsourcing of oversight.

"While U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians are killed almost every day, Halliburton has been making big profits off war - often by breaking the law," said Rania Masri of the Campaign to Stop the War Profiteers. "It's time to bring them home and start a full Congressional investigation into Halliburton and other war profiteers."

Watchdog groups associated with the protest will release a report about Halliburton - "Houston, We Have a Problem" - the day before the shareholders meeting. To obtain a copy of the report, email pchatterjee@igc.org. For details about the protest, see http://www.globalexchange.org/halliburton

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