WASHINGTON - September 1 - As Vice President Dick Cheney gave his prime-time address at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night, Gael Murphy and Tiffany Burns of CODEPINK: Women for Peace unfurled a banner that read, “Cheney and Halliburton, Making a Killing in Iraq.” They were dragged out of the convention.

“Halliburton is the poster child for war profiteering,” Murphy said. “The company has made billions off the killing in Iraq, and is ripping off American taxpayers and Iraqis, but because of their close ties to Dick Cheney, they’re never held accountable.”

Halliburton has been the number one beneficiary of the invasion of Iraq, raking in some $9 billion in contracts to rebuild the country’s oil industry and service the U.S. troops. Dick Cheney was Halliburton’s CEO from 1995 to 2000, and he still receives $178,000 annually from the company.

Halliburton’s provision of services in Iraq has been shoddy at best and criminally fraudulent at worst. Every week new stories break in the news media detailing overcharges of $60 million for fuel delivery, $27.5 million for food services never provided to American troops, KBR trucks criss-crossing Iraq for hundreds of miles carrying empty loads, and corporate executives enjoying lavish stays at 5-star Kuwaiti hotels on the American tax-payers tab. In January, the company admitted that two employees involved in Iraq work took kickbacks worth $6.3 million from Kuwaiti contractors.

This is the second night in a row that CODEPINK activists have unfurled a banner inside the RNC during prime time speeches. Last night, Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK unfurled a pink banner that said “Be Pro-Life: Stop the Killing in Iraq” during Laura Bush’s speech.

Gael Murphy is a 50-year-old peace activist from Washington, DC who has traveled to Iraq several times since the war started. In addition to holding the banner, she was wearing a pink slip that read, “Cheney’s in bed with Halliburton, and we got screwed.” Tiffany Burns is a 28-year-old peace activist from Los Angeles.

CODEPINK is a women’s peace group with 90 chapters throughout the United States and the world. Its members have held numerous protests against Halliburton’s war profiteering and corporate cronyism, including one during the RNC on Tuesday morning, outside the hotel where the Texas delegates are staying.

For more information about Halliburton, see www.Halliburtonwatch.org.

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