Will Cheney Be Joining Them?

[Carlene 12]

MANAMA/HOUSTON - U.S. oil services firm Halliburton Co. is moving its headquarters and chief executive to Dubai in a move that immediately sparked criticism from some U.S. politicians.

Texas-based Halliburton, which was led by Vice President Dick Cheney from 1995-2000, did not specify what, if any, tax implications the move might entail. It plans to list on a stock exchange in the Middle East once it moves to Dubai — a booming commercial center in the Gulf. The company said it was making the moves to position itself better to gain contracts in the oil-rich Middle East.

“This is an insult to the U.S. soldiers and taxpayers who paid the tab for their no-bid contracts and endured their overcharges for all these years,” said judiciary committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat.

Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, might hold a hearing on the implications, an aide to Waxman said.

Halliburton has drawn scrutiny from auditors, congressional Democrats and the Justice Department for the quality and pricing of its KBR Inc. unit’s work for the U.S. army in Iraq.

“My office will be in Dubai, and I will run our entire worldwide operations from that office,” Chief Executive David Lesar said at an energy conference in Bahrain on Sunday. “Dubai is a great business center.”

Halliburton, which has long been involved in the Middle East, generated more than 38 percent of its $13 billion in oil-services revenue in the eastern hemisphere last year.

Middle East growth

“The company as a whole has continued to diversify internationally, and the Middle East is a point that they have targeted,” said William Sanchez, a U.S.-based analyst at Howard Weil Inc.

“They are being opportunistic in putting the CEO in the middle of the action.”

Sanchez said he believed Halliburton’s move to Dubai was not tax related. Instead he viewed it as a strategic play.

Alan Laws, an analyst at Merrill Lynch, said the move would likely help Halliburton’s position in negotiating large contracts.

Halliburton said it would maintain its legal registration in the United States and was not leaving Houston, where it was currently based.

But Lesar told reporters: “At this point in time we clearly see there are greater opportunities in the eastern hemisphere than the western hemisphere.”

KBR, the engineering and military-services contractor unit that Halliburton is in the process of splitting off, is the Pentagon’s largest contractor in Iraq.

[bitteroldhag 0]

Well, I have to call B.S. on this. Of course, they are getting big tax breaks after we have paid them billions. I hate Halliburton. I should know about them since they bought Dresser Industries which bought Magcobar (Magnet Cover Barium Company) which my father worked for. Dresser was at least a little fairer than Halliburton. Halliburton were competitors with Magcobar for years when I was a kid. I don't know what happened, but they ended up owning Magcobar. My mother was getting insurance through Halliburton and every year they'd threaten to discontinue insurance for retirees. That pissed me off so we went for Medicare Part D, just to get rid of the threats. My father worked for about 35-40 years for Magcobar/Dresser Industries and they treat my mother like trash. I say good riddance to a bad company. May they die the death of a thousand cuts in Dubai.

[BJean 16]

Bitter: Love the moniker. You live up to it here. And who can blame you!!

What so many corporations have done in the past 10 to 15 years to their employees is disgraceful. And should be illegal. Greed. Pure and simple.

My Dad (a great old political Okie) always preached to his kids about loyalty to ones employers. I in turn have tried to instill that idea into my own kids. But times have changed. The employers are not loyal to their workers and they do not treat them fairly. No wonder kids today have no sense of loyalty to the companies that employ them. They quickly move to the highest bidder without a second thought. The greed factor filters down all through our society.