Iraq: The Cork Connection

cork | anti-war / imperialism | news report Friday August 13, 2004 01:47 by conor o' meara - none conomara at hotmail dot com 86 ripon road bournemouth winton england none

Irish Gov. employs Cheneys company to build Irish roads

A report on the contract given to KBR, a subsidery of Halliburton to build the Fermoy Bypass. This company was formely headed by American Vice President Dick Cheney. It is currently under investigation in various countries for bribery and corruption and hs just been castigated by the Pentagon for overcharging by nearly two billlion dollars for services rendered in Iraq

I was one of the estimated hundred thousand marching in Dublin to protest the invasion of Iraq by the curiously named coalition forces. Back then I though Anglo-American invasion was a more appropriate name of the invasion force but as time went by I realized I was wrong. The invasion it turned out wasn't predominantly driven by these two governments but by a number of very rich and very influential American companies. Corporate sponsorship of war is nothing new, dating back reliably to major conflicts such as the Sino-Japanese war in Manchuria and especially the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay which companies like Krupps, Skoda and Vickers were widely held responsible for. Even the first world war was allegedly egged on by the silent hand of industry, leading eventually to the American senate to instigate an investigation in nineteen thirty four, as it did again in nineteen ninety four. See Url
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1373/is_n10_v45/ai_17529565

DeVelera once said that the only thing a small country can do in practical terms is to voice its opinion. Our government failed to do this effectively, if at all, before the start of the Iraq war. However to add insult to the injury of ignoring the hundred thousand people who marched in Dublin that day they have hired one of the worst corporations implicated in the Iraq conflict to build the Fermoy Bypass in north Cork. The fact that KBR was chosen as the lead contractor for the by-pass was casually mentioned in my local newspaper. What was not metioned was that KBR is a subsiderary of Halliburton, the company formerly headed by the US president Dick Cheney. The newspaper did not mention the dark history of this company or the ongoing investigations into its dealings. I am a student in the middle of my masters thesis and have very limited access to responsible sources. However a quick search of the guardian's archive (see guardian.co.uk) gives a good insight into the behavior of the firm. It has been under investigation by numerous institutions in various countries as well as the U.S. The French are investigating it for bribery in an oil scandal in Nigeria, while nearly every notable American institution seems to have raised a legal eyebrow at its shenanigans , including investigations by the U.S stock exchange committee and the U.S army and pentagon. A report today by the very much republican run pentagon admitted that Halliburton couldn't account for about one point eight billion dollars of charges. This on top of a previous investigation wondering why the same company was breaking the embargo on Iran. The list goes on and on.
It seems to me a curious choice of contractor to build the bypass around Fermoy but i guess it could be a perfect marriage of convenience. Irish politicians have demonstrated a fondness for brown paper envelopes in the past and Halliburton cant seem to give out enough.