The year 2006 probably represented the first time in history a sitting president of the United States had considered the use of nuclear weapons against another country (Iran) ,while his Vice President's ´former´ company, Halliburton, had (and still has) active multimillion dollar contracts with aforementioned target nation. The following articles should completely and utterly blow the lid off of the Bush Administration´s so-called ´War on Terror´and reveal it for what it truly is: a blatantly hypocritical, murderous and traitorous scam.
From CNN.Money:
"HALLIBURTON!" CHIRPED THE employee who answered the telephone in Tehran. Tehran, the capital of the Islamic Republic of Iran, part of the "axis of evil"? Yes, the company was a tenant, confirmed the guard in the lobby of a building on Bucharest Street when we dropped in one recent afternoon. The staff rarely invited guests up to their tenth-floor offices, said the guard, and the company's name was not among those displayed on the lobby wall. Halliburton finally dispatched two Iranian staff members to ask this reporter to leave. Said the guard softly: "We're not too sure what the company is up to."
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Under U.S. law, a foreign subsidiary can legally operate in Iran if it acts independently of its parent and has no American executives. In addition, there's a $40 million limit on how much a non-U.S. company can invest in Iran. Halliburton spokeswoman Beverly Scippa told FORTUNE that HPSL's new contract is worth "between $30 million and $35 million over the next three years."
Nevertheless, Halliburton is under grand-jury investigation for possible sanctions violations in Iran. U.S. Treasury officials began their probe in 2001 after HPSL was found to share its Dubai address and telephone number with Halliburton. Senator Lautenberg plans in February to reintroduce legislation--defeated in the Senate by one vote last year--to ban foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies from doing business in Iran. Meanwhile, the oilmen in Texas are likely to use the loophole as long as it exists.
From Forbes.com: Trading With The Enemy
Today American companies are downright brazen about dodging the sanctions. And why not? On the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons maintained by the Office of Foreign Asset Control at the U.S. Department of Treasury, only 1% of 3,032 separate entries are Dubai-based individuals and entities designated under the Iraq, Libya and Iran terrorism sanctions programs. On the Commerce Department's current list of 55 foreign end users specifically involved in proliferation activities, there is not one U.A.E. entity; the agency dispatched its first attaché to Dubai only 15 months ago. Since 1999 the government has turned down just 2% of applications to export to the U.A.E.--sometimes snaring unsuspecting entrepreneurs (see box). Officials do point out that 114 end-use checks were conducted in the region between 2000 and 2003, up from 63 checks from 1996 to 1999.
From the United States Senate, A Report by the Office of Senator Frank Lautenberg: Dick Cheney, Iran and Halliburton, A Grand Jury Investigates Sanctions Violations
Download US-congress-Lautenberg Report-Halliburton-0205.pdf
In July 2004, a Federal grand jury empanelled in the Southern District of Texas issued a subpoena to the Halliburton Company for the production of documents related to potentially criminal activity by current and former executives who may have violated U.S. terrorist sanctions law. The grand jury was assembled after the case was referred by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to the U.S. Department of Justice.
From Newsweek: Business As Usual?
Only weeks before Halliburton made headlines by announcing it was pulling out of Iran—a nation George W. Bush has labeled part of the “axis of evil”—the Texas-based oil services firm quietly signed a major new business deal to help develop Tehran’s natural gas fields.
A related article regarding a multinational doing business with ´state sponsors of terror:´from Bloomberg Markets Magazine via the Arizona State Treasurer´s Office: HSBC Chases Profit in Iran, Nations U.S. Says Sponsor Terrorism
From their offices atop Tehran's 15- story Sayeh Tower, HSBC Holdings Plc bankers have helped lend more than $825 million to the Iranian government, which the U.S. says sponsors terrorism and provided a haven to al-Qaeda members after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Half a world away in New York, where London-based HSBC is the biggest retail bank in the state, with 412 branches, the company takes deposits just two blocks from the site of the twin towers that were destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks. HSBC is doing business in other countries that the U.S. says sponsor terrorism, including Libya, Sudan and Syria, through direct and indirect ties, according to bank documents and interviews with executives. HSBC also banked for the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, according to a Central Intelligence Agency report published in October 2004. Such dealings by HSBC and other non-U.S.-based banks are unfettered by U.S. sanctions, which generally don't apply to foreign companies acting overseas. Even U.S. companies, which must conform to sanctions against terror-sponsoring nations, can avoid them by using foreign subsidiaries. New York-based American Express Co. uses a Bahrain-based unit to issue and accept charge cards in Syria.
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HSBC does additional Syrian business through London-based British Arab Commercial Bank Ltd. HSBC owns 46.5 percent of the bank, whose chief executive officer is an HSBC employee on loan. HSBC holds five of the 11 board seats.
From the Sunday Times of London, Sept 30, 2001:
British Companies at Heart of Cash Network
WESTERN intelligence agencies are examining more than 40 British companies suspected of being used to launder cash for Osama Bin Laden to finance his terror campaign.
Allegations that Britain is central to the Al-Qaeda terror group's financial empire were being scrutinised as the American Senate was shown a document last week claiming that leading corporations in the Middle East and a member of Bin Laden's family may have helped to manage funds. A chart listed more than 100 suspected Al-Qaeda connections in more than 20 countries.
Further details of the British charities and firms with possible links to Bin Laden emerged in an intelligence report commissioned by the French government. It names 44 British organisations which may be linked to Bin Laden.
Guillaume Dasquier, editor of the Intelligence Newsletter which obtained the report, said it had been commissioned by the French government and prepared with the French and American secret services.
In Washington, Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate's permanent investigations subcommittee, said last week that Bin Laden is suspected of using Sudan's Al-Shamal Islamic bank to shield his financial activities. The bank has correspondent accounts with leading western banks, including three in London, and it is believed that Bin Laden may have used these to transfer funds anonymously.
Al-Shamal was allegedly founded with a £30m cash injection by Bin Laden and its shareholders include senior Saudi businessmen. It was claimed in an American trial this year that it was used to transfer Al-Qaeda funds. Al-Shamal last week denied that Bin Laden was a backer.
The British Arab Commercial Bank (BACB), Banque Française de l'Orient and the American Express Bank in London all had accounts linked to the bank. "We closed the account last Monday," said a spokesman for the American Express Bank. The French bank said it was checking for links to Bin Laden. BACB was unavailable for comment.
Among the London-based organisations with suspected links to Bin Laden are Azzam Publications, an internet and publishing firm, the Islamic Media Observation Centre, run by Yasser al-Sirri, and the Al-Muhajiroun group, which recruits fighters.
The International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), also named, is a leading Saudi organisation with a British registration in Oxford.
According to intelligence reports, IIRO's branch in the Philippines was misused by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, the brother-in-law of Bin Laden, to help terrorists.
The most controversial allegations are that Bin Laden may have received finance from members of his own family. They have strongly denied funding it but the FBI is investigating.
The Senate document claimed that some of Bin Laden's dealings with the family business have been managed by his brother Yeslam, who categorically denies this and has condemned the American attacks. He says he has been cleared in the past of wrongdoing by Swiss investigators.
# Investigators examining allegations of insider dealing by terrorists ahead of the attacks on America are focusing on a single bet placed on Chicago's options exchange. Despite showing a $2.6m (£1.76m) profit on an investment of $180,000 (£122,200), nobody has yet claimed the cash.
The Money Trail
# American Express Bank London branch listed as 'correspondent bank' with the Al Shamal Bank in Sudan where Osama Bin Laden kept funds
# Banque Francaise de l'Orient Also had a correspondent branch in London with the Al Shamal Bank
# British Arab Commercial Bank Listed as a correspondent bank in London
# Barclays Bin Laden's organisation Al-Qaeda had funds in a Notting Hill branch
# Islamic Media Observation Centre Muslim rights group in west London linked to Bin Laden
# Azzam Publications London website subscribed to by Said Bahaji, suspected 'logistics officer' of US attacks
# Advice and Reformation Committee A front for Al-Qaeda in London
# International Islamic Relief Organisation Charity linked to Bin Laden that had a Barclays account in Oxford
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