- WASHINGTON -- Since the beginning
of the Iraq war, Halliburton, the Texas energy giant once headed by Vice
President Dick Cheney, has seen its stock price more than triple in value.
When the U.S invaded Iraq in March of 2003, Halliburton's stock was selling
for $20 per share. The stock price at the close of market activity on Monday
was $66.
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- In the last 12 months, the total number of U.S. service
members killed in Iraq almost doubled as Halliburton's stock doubled. Halliburton's
stock rose from $33 per share in September 2004 to $66 yesterday while
U.S. deaths in Iraq increased from 1,061 to almost 1900.
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- Three graphs at this link starkly depict the dramatically
similar rise of Halliburton's stock price, revenue and U.S. soldiers killed
during the past thirty months of war in Iraq.
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- Halliburton's CEO also enjoyed an incredible personal
gain from Iraq and the commensurate rise in gasoline prices. A HalliburtonWatch
analysis reveals that CEO David Lesar's stock holdings in Halliburton increased
by a stunning $78 million since the Iraq invasion.
- As U.S. citizens march on Washington this weekend to
protest the 30-month anniversary of the war, a recent poll shows 52 percent
of Americans want an "immediate" withdrawal of all U.S. troops
from Iraq.
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- The big money Halliburton has made from the war, along
with the widespread belief that the Bush administration lied about Saddam
Hussein's purported weapons of mass destruction, has helped fuel public
sentiment supporting the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Polls
show a majority of Americans do not think the war is worth the cost in
lives and taxpayers' money.
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- Halliburton has been the focus of heated criticism from
members of Congress and even the Bush administration over its handling
of war contracts. Pentagon auditors have issued at least nine reports slamming
the company's inept and possibly fraudulent accounting system for work
in Iraq.
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- In September 2004, the U.S. military called for the immediate
termination of Halliburton's most lucrative contract with the Army because
of poor performance. Additionally, in January, the U.S. embassy in Iraq
threatened to terminate Halliburton's contracts because of poor performance.
However, both recommendations were ignored by President George W. Bush.
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- http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/news/stock_troop2.html
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