Burma, Halliburton, Cheney Connection
Marinus van der Lubbe
Halliburton (Cheney's current employer) is doing business in Burma. Why
this Cayman Island company that seems to specialize in government
corruption and just pain evil projects is allowed to hold American
no-bid contracts is a mystery.
http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/haliburton/haliburton4.htm
We don’t do business in Burma,' claims Halliburton spokesperson Wendy
Hall. [See, now we know they do business in Burma, because the
categorically deny it.]
But while the company may have no current direct investments in Burma,
it has participated in a number of energy development projects there,
including the notorious Yadana and Yetagun pipelines.
According to an Earth Rights report: 'From 1992, until the present
(2000), thousands of villagers in Burma were forced to work in support
of these pipelines and related infrastructure. They lost their homes due
to forced relocation and were raped, tortured and killed by soldiers
hired by companies as security guards for the pipelines.
Shortly before the US presidential election, Dick Cheney admitted on the
Larry King Live! show that Halliburton had done contract work in Burma.
Cheney defended the project by saying that Halliburton had not broken
the US law imposing sanctions on Burma, which forbids new investments in
the country. 'You have to operate in some very difficult places and
oftentimes in countries that are governed in a manner that’s not
consistent with our principles here in the United States,' Cheney told
Larry King. 'But the world’s not made up only of democracies.'
Halliburton’s engagement in Burma predates Dick Cheney’s tenure as CEO.
Halliburton had an office in Rangoon as early as 1990, two years after
the military regime took power by voiding the election of the National
League for Democracy, the party of Aung San Suu Kyi.
In the early 1990’s, Halliburton Energy Services joined with Alfred
McAlpine (UK) to provide pre-commissioning services to the Yadana
pipeline. In 1997, after Dick Cheney joined Halliburton, the Yadana
field developers hired European Marine Services (EMC) to lay the
365-kilometer offshore portion of the Yadana gas pipeline. EMC is a
50-50 joint venture between Halliburton and Saipem of Italy.