Thread: Quagmire....

the 'surge' AKA 'last gasp of the neocons' will do one thing......increase the death and destruction in iraq.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.

By JAKE TAPPER



March 12, 2007 — Halliburton Co., currently the largest military contractor in Iraq with billions of dollars in Pentagon contracts, announced Sunday that it was planning to move its CEO and corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
The move could eventually save the firm a fortune in U.S. taxes, but it is raising serious questions about its priorities and prompting at least one possible congressional hearing.


Dave Lesar, Halliburton's chairman, president and chief executive officer, made the announcement at an energy conference in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Link: ABC News: Halliburton's Dubai Move Makes Democrats Suspicious

^All companies are striving to have their HQ as close to the market as possible.

Originally Posted by lom

^All companies are striving to have their HQ as close to the market as possible.

This does make sense Lom, but the avoidance of taxation after all of the taxpayer money that has been shoveled into Halliburton - specifically as a result - of Iraq, is a bit disconcerning.


This is the thanks.....American taxpayers get?

Originally Posted by Milkman

This is the thanks.....American taxpayers get?

The final robbery before the party is over..

^ And....

“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.

Link: Halliburton to open new HQ in Dubai - Oil & Energy - MSNBC.com

UAE was also the financial launch pad of the 9/11 attacks.

Originally Posted by mad_dog

Originally Posted by Milkman

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.

Al Qaeda's goal is to evict the Jews and Crusaders from the whole of the Arabian peninsula this means the UAE , Oman, Qatar, and The Yemen. Saudi Arabia is only part of the Holy Arabian Peninsula. The Jihad wont stop until the invaders leave Muslim holy lands.

Nonsense MD. Al Qaeda is a violent, reckless fringe group that the US government funded, armed, then turned into hero's and martyrs for the readily available idiots, when your policies changed.
They are easily marginalised, and they do not speak for the majority of Moslems. Put someone with brains in charge.

Originally Posted by mad_dog

Al Qaeda's goal is to evict the Jews and Crusaders from the whole of the Arabian peninsula this means the UAE , Oman, Qatar, and The Yemen. Saudi Arabia is only part of the Holy Arabian Peninsula. The Jihad wont stop until the invaders leave Muslim holy lands.

That's just one of their goals. Some of the others include recapture Andalucia, Sicily and Southern Italy, destroy Israel and the USA and while they're at it destroy western civilization so they can finally feel reassured that their god is being respected.


Halliburton move to Dubai = more neo-liberal economics and politics. Peace through trade and through interdependence there is the threat of mutually assured destruction. Halliburton's move can be seen by liberal thinkers as an inclusive move.

Attaboy, I don't get your post.
1- Who care what AQ's goals are. Marginalise them, let the rest wither that are not destroyed.
2- Halliburton moving HQ to Dubai is entirely Conservatively justified by corporate greed, but what they are not telling you is the scramble to get their assets out of the reach of many potential legal actions. I would love to play you some of those Patriotic Halliburton advertisements so that even a Yank would understand the Irony.

that move will facilitate tax free payments to Cheney and Bush when they retire next year

Originally Posted by attaboy

Originally Posted by mad_dog

Al Qaeda's goal is to evict the Jews and Crusaders from the whole of the Arabian peninsula this means the UAE , Oman, Qatar, and The Yemen. Saudi Arabia is only part of the Holy Arabian Peninsula. The Jihad wont stop until the invaders leave Muslim holy lands.

That's just one of their goals. Some of the others include recapture Andalucia, Sicily and Southern Italy, destroy Israel and the USA .

Andalucia is part of the Islamic world. The destruction of the US and Israel are praiseworthy goals. Their annihilation will lead to an end of jahilliya and the global reach of Dar Ul Islam.

One things for sure- it's a strange bloody world.

Originally Posted by attaboy

incorporated in Delaware

Delaware is a small US tax paradise, no state tax and some other federal benefits.

Originally Posted by attaboy

any tax benefits from the Dubai headquarters operation.

Yeah, right. We will take your words from it. Accounting 101 and how to repatriate expenses from other countries.

Actually Halliburton has aggressively used offshore companies for many years.
I am fairly convinced that the real motive behind this move is more to do with asset protection than either operational efficiencies or tax efficiency. Of course, they will not admit that.
They can't have failed to notice there is a fair old political storm brewing in the background, and the likelihood of a Democratic presidency next year.

Dubai is very business friendly. There's a good chance Halliburton was provided an entire building rent free for ten years or something similar.

Updated: 7:44 a.m. PT March 14, 2007
BAGHDAD - Heavily armed soldiers trudge through the fetid streets of Sadr City, gagging from the stench of open sewage, eyes warily scanning ahead for trouble. Suddenly, a middle-aged man approaches — and begs for a job.
“We are a peaceful people,” the man tells the interpreter. “We only want to work and feed our families. Now is the time for people to come and offer us jobs.”


The Americans shrug helplessly — they’ve heard these complaints before — but tell him help is on its way.


U.S. soldiers rolled into Sadr City on March 4 primed and pumped for a fight with the notorious Mahdi Army militia of radical anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.Instead of snipers and roadside bombs, the Americans found an even bigger problem — a vast, crowded slum where years of misery and government neglect have created conditions for the militias to thrive.
U.S. soldiers worry that unless things improve — and soon — the people of Sadr City will quickly tire of the foreigners’ presence.
“There are a lot of days when I’m like, ’It’s going to take a miracle to make this work,”’ said 1st Lt. Jacob Czekanski of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment as he stared at a soccer field surrounded by trash. “We will always be viewed as outsiders here.”

Link: Troops face social ills in Sadr City - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Human nature is stubborn, and this myth of US forces being lauded as Liberators is long dead.
I presume it is common knowledge now in the States that the "Yea America" celebrations at in that Big Square were a group of mainly Kurdish people from the North, paid to be there, occupying a small corner of the Big Square. In the rest of the Square there were very few humans- most were cowering in their homes- but those that were looked on with stupefaction.

Of course the USA and GB are not Liberators.
Do you think these people are stupid?

Some history geeks compare the situation in Iraq with that in the Phillipines early last century, wondering what could be learned from the way the Muslim natives where handled back then.

Mr. Trump airs his opinion. Where are all of the Bush supporters? They've been quiet lately.

TRUMP: BUSH 'PROBABLY THE WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES'
Fri Mar 16 2007 1653 ET

Donald Trump goes off on President Bush in a scathing attack during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on the Friday edition of CNN's 'Situation Room.

"Well, I think Bush is probably the worst president in the history of the United States. And I just don't understand how [the Democrats] could have lost that election."

MORE...

"Everything in Washington has been a lie. Weapons of mass destruction, it was a total lie. It was a way of attacking Iraq, which he thought was going to be easy and it turned out to be the exact opposite of easy. He reads 60 books a year. He reads a book a week. Do you think the president reads a book a week? I don't think so. He doesn't watch television. Now, one thing I know is when I'm on television, I watch, or I try. You do. Your own ego says, let's watch. Whether good or bad, you want to watch. He doesn't watch television. He's on television being interviewed by you or someone else, he doesn't watch. Does anyone really believe that?"

On Saddam Hussein:

"Whether they like him or didn't like him, he hated terrorists. He would shoot and kill terrorists. When terrorists came into this country, which he did control and he did dominate, he would kill terrorists. Now it is a breeding ground for terrorists."

Winning the hearts and minds: more war crimes by U.S. soldiers lead to light punishments:

Soldier found guilty of negligent homicide - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Originally Posted by attaboy

Dubai is very business friendly. There's a good chance Halliburton was provided an entire building rent free for ten years or something similar.

OK....that explains it.


Thanks, bud.

Well, back on topic:

How about this Surge, eh? Car bombings down, US soldiers deaths down despite all you Nattering Nabobs of Negativism...