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Times Watch for September 24, 2004

Harassing Halliburton

     The Times' harassing of Halliburton (and by extension Dick Cheney) continues with an off-lead story by Simon Romero, "Troubled Unit Of Halliburton May Go On Block -- Work In Iraq Is Factor."

     In April 2003, the Times editorialized that Halliburton's Iraq contract "looks like naked favoritism and undermines the Bush administration's portrayal of the war as a campaign for disarmament and democracy, not lucre."

     Now that Halliburton is looking to sell its KBR subsidiary, the unit actually providing service to the war effort in Iraq (not enough "lucre," apparently), Friday's front-page story includes a virtual laundry list of Democrat criticisms of the company: "When Halliburton was awarded contracts worth more than $12 billion for work in Iraq, critics said that the company was using its political connections to reap big profits. But now, in a sign that those contracts are not providing the boon executives had expected from a subsidiary weighed down by other problems, Halliburton said Thursday that it was considering a sale of the business….Controversy is nothing new for the company, which was run by Vice President Dick Cheney for five years until 2000. KBR has long been associated with the coziness of politics and business in the oil industry in Texas, and has become a symbol of the reach of American energy conglomerates into many politically unsavory areas around the world. Halliburton acquired Brown & Root, the corporate ancestor of KBR, in 1962….Then there is the continued criticism of Halliburton's connections to Mr. Cheney and its work in Iraq, which have led some investors to completely stay away from the company….When word of the no-bid contract surfaced a few days after the March 2003 invasion, Democrats in Congress quickly criticized the deal and pushed for a new contract. Eventually the oil contract was rebid, and KBR was awarded one of the two contracts. That did not stop the criticism: Mr. Cheney's ties to the company and Halliburton's work in Iraq have been a staple of campaign commercials by John F. Kerry and his allies."

     Those "connections" and "ties" consist of a deferred compensation package negotiated in 1998, which was not tied to the company's performance going forward. Romero could have also pointed out Halliburton won "no-bid contracts" during the Clinton presidency as well.

     Romero then brings up one countervailing point -- the fact that the company is not merely paying a financial price in Iraq: "At least 45 of Halliburton's employees and contractors have died in Iraq in the last year."

For the rest of Romero on Halliburton (and Cheney), click here.

• Dick Cheney | Halliburton | Iraq War | Simon Romero

Trumpeting Possible Deficits Over Definite Tax Relief

     As he did in yesterday's lead story on Congress's vote to extend middle-class tax cuts, economics reporter Edmund Andrews emphasizes possible future deficits rather than definite middle-class tax relief in his Friday follow-up story.

     "The Republican-controlled Congress easily passed legislation on Thursday that would extend expiring provisions of last year's tax cuts for families as well as about 20 business tax cuts, at a cost of about $146 billion over 10 years. Even though Democrats protested that the tax cuts would worsen the federal deficit and should be paid for with spending cuts or other tax increases, party leaders gave their members free rein to vote for the bill rather than incur the wrath of voters just a few weeks before Election Day."

     Even though the legislation passed the House by a landslide 339-65 margin, Andrews quoted two people who disapproved of the bill (including one, Rep. Charles Rangel, who voted for it anyway) and only one who spoke in favor.

     Deeper into the story, Andrews notes the particulars of the tax-cut extension, showing but not emphasizing that the extensions are actually aimed at middle-class taxpayers: "The bill extends several individual tax cuts that were set to expire at the end of this year: a $1,000 child tax credit, which would have declined to $700 under current law; tax breaks for two-income married couples intended to reduce the so-called marriage penalty; and an expansion of the lowest, 10-percent tax bracket to cover more taxpayers."

For the rest of Andrews on the tax-cut extension, click here.

• Edmund Andrews | Economy | Tax Cuts

E-mail TimesWatch Director, Clay Waters, with TimesWatch feedback at cwaters@mediaresearch.org