The First Time You Hear a Name In The News
Here’s a name we might be hearing about in the future: David J. Lesar. He’s the chairman and chief executive of Halliburton. Yesterday, the NY Times reports congressional Democrats creating controversy by questioning his relocation to Dubai.
Like Mr, Lesar, the names Halliburton and Dubai have only surfaced since the war began. The American public never heard of these before the media hounds sniffed around. And where the news leads, trouble soon follows. It reminds me of Enron, where we only found out about them after their implosion. A curious phenomenon. I’m expecting to hear more of David J. Lesar, Hallibutron and Dubai, UAE, and the news, as usual, will be troubling.
Some seemingly small events seem unrelated to large ones. That is not true; everything connects. Halliburton is as intrinsically tied to Iraq as is it’s former CEO, Dick Cheney. And wasn’t least year’s hubbub over US ports connected to a company from Dubai? That was the first time I had heard of the place.
The first time I heard of Halliburton was in connection with a unprecedented no-bid contract worth billions for services in Iraq during wartime. They bill themselves as an Oil Services Company. Vague, that. One would ask what kinds of oil services do the troops need? Then came the allegations of mismanagement of of vague services rendered - or not - and billions of dollars spent for AWOL service. People are getting suspicious. Now, the Chief Exec who oversaw the company’s most lucrative contracts, netting the firm unprecedented growth (there’s that word again,) suddenly relocates to a little noticed corner of the world. (I suspect Cheney’s stock portfolio has "done well" these past few years.)
The NY Times news story quoted a company spokesperson’s remarks that the move, while unprecedented, was purely a business move: they’re in the oil services business; Dubai is in the Persian Gulf region; therefore, on the surface, one could reasonably presume that’s true.
Except Dubai has the distinction of gaining the least of its wealth through oil profits of all the Arab Emirates. And its not in geographical position to provide a pipeline path to anywhere. Likewise, it’s not the largest port in the UAE. It’s a tourist destination.
Something’s rotten in the state of Texas. I reiterate: We’ll be hearing more about Mr. Lesar. I wonder if, as a US citizen and head of a US corporation, he can be subpoenaed while over there. I suspect we’ll find out.