Posted on 07/01/2004 10:29:04 AM PDT by Carl/NewsMax
Forty-one employees of the embattled energy services company Halliburton have been killed in Iraq and Kuwait since the company became the U.S.'s primary contractor in the Iraq rebuilding effort last year.
Halliburton's sacrifice in human terms is higher, for instance, than the entire British army's - which has the second largest military presence in Iraq. Twenty-seven British soldiers have killed since the occupation began on May 1, 2003.
Despite suffering a staggering death toll, Hallburton's contribution to the war effort has been derided by the Democratic-media complex as war profiteering. When a Halliburton employee is killed, kidnapped or injured in Iraq, it seldom generates any news coverage.
On the other hand, when a reporter dies covering the war, the media is awash in reports praising his courage and dedication.
And when a Halliburton worker does become the focus of media attention - as in the case of Thomas Hamill, who was taken hostage in April by Iraqi terrorists who had threatened to kill him - reporters mostly avoided mentioning his employer.
There were 906 mainstream media reports identifying Hamill as a kidnap victim in the first three days of his hostage ordeal. Only 326 identified him as a Halliburton worker. [He was later freed].
Rather than focus on Halliburton employees who are being killed and kidnapped daily in Iraq, the press has zeroed in on allegations that the company is bilking the taxpayer and laughing all the way to the bank.
NBC News reported the latest Halliburton "outrage" Wednesday night; an accusation that the company had charged $45 per case to deliver Coca Cola into the war zone.
In fact, at less than $2.00 a can, that's not a whole lot more than one might expect to pay a free lance vendor at the shore.
Unfortunately for Halliburton employees trying to deliver goods and services to U.S. soldiers amidst landmines and sniper fire, working in Iraq is no day at the beach.
The headline scared me - I thought it meant they were all killed today, and I thought, "Here we go again."
good story.
but again, from a media point of view - this is the kind of stuff Cheney should be on every Sunday talk show using to fight back against the ludicrous allegations against him. We've got to hit back - because when the media spin goes unchallenged, it becomes the "truth" in the minds of the sheeple.
This information is a good antidote for folks to recover from being swayed by Moore's propaganda.
BTTT
Halliburton and its employees and their families deserve our thanks. Sure it ticks me off when a couple of bad apples trying to make some extra money turn up, but that is the way it goes in business these days.
Unfortunately not. The leftists will just say that it's an example of evil greedy corporate executives' willingness to wantonly sacrifics the lives of working people in pursuit of profit.
Unfortunately, a lot of liberals - if they ever see this on the evening news (unlikely) - will just say, "The b*stards deserved it."
"...working in Iraq is no day at the beach."
Really? I hear Karbala is lovely this time of year.
Scared me too.
Sure, anyone hard-core will say that. I believe, though, that some folks who are swayed by Moore's propaganda can be swayed back a little. I have seen this work. Contractors and Halliburton employees put their lives on the line. Reasonable people see that they are doing needed and dangerous work. That they do it as part of a business is no big deal for the non-hard-core.
I have to defend the media on this one. I have no idea how many of these people in Iraq are Halliburton workers, because so many of them are working for subsidiaries of Halliburton with names that I had never heard of before (Blackwater, for example).
Halle Berry ping.
The media doesn't report it, but people need to remember that Halliburton is making something like a 3.5% profit on its Iraq contract. Just for perspective, a good mutual fund can yield 6-10% at much lower risk. The media should thank Halliburton for providing this public service rather than trying to play "gotcha" with them.
It would seem that Halliburton's contribution to the war reconstruction effort is far more vast than most of the "non-government organizations" that pretend to be there for improving the daily lives of the Iraqis who live closest to the grim conditions so widely reported by the mainstream media. And to make the point, Halliburton is not wavering, even in the face of great personal peril, while such humanitarian agencies like the UN will cut and run after the first engagement. Halliburton knows they are a target, but they stay out there every day.
I don't see anybody from the DNC doing it. And I SURE don't ever expect Michael Moore, American Hatriot, to wade into the situation and provide any relief to ANY of the parties involved.
Well, the "freedom fighters", maybe, but he wouldn't show up in PERSON.
The under reported cost of the WoT.........
Ping Ping KaPing....bang bang bang !
DITTO!
Scared me too.
Blackwater is not a subsidiary of Halliburton. It is possible that Kellog, Brown and Root is a client of Blackwater's, but I have seen nothing on that.
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