Former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney was playing fast and loose with the truth when, during a Sept. 14 interview on "Meet the Press," he claimed that "since I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice president, I've severed all ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interest. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had now for over three years."

As it turns out, in 2001 Cheney pocketed $205,298 in deferred salary that was paid by Halliburton. In 2002, he collected $162,392. And he is scheduled to collect similar amounts in 2003, 2004 and 2005. And Cheney has retained unexercised options for 433,000 Halliburton stock shares.

It sure doesn't sound like the vice president has "severed all ties" to his former firm.

And it sure doesn't sound like Cheney ought to be trusted as an honest player in the debate over whether to allocate $87 billion to fund the military occupation of Iraq and reconstruction of that country's oil industry infrastructure. Halliburton has already received $1.4 billion for work done to restore Iraqi oil production. The maximum value for its occupation management contracts is $2 billion; the maximum value for its reconstruction contracts is $7 billion.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., says, "Halliburton got special treatment." Cheney says that's not the case. We believe Waxman.

We also believe that Congress must police this administration. Unfortunately, the Senate on Thursday rejected an amendment to the administration's $87 billion Iraq spending package that was written to prevent further fiscal abuses. Sponsored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., the amendment would have barred funds from going to contracts with companies that owe deferred compensation to Cheney and 21 other administration officials. It was defeated by a 65-34 vote, with only Democrats (including Wisconsin's Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl) voting to impose basic ethical standards.

Copyright 2003 The Capital Times

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