ÿş<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">  <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Al Jazeera - objective and balanced global news coverage and analysis- In-Depth</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=UTF-16"> <META http-equiv=Content-Type><LINK href="article-oiling-wheels_files/style.css" type=text/css rel=stylesheet> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2722.900" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY leftMargin=0 topMargin=10 rightMargin=0> <DIV align=center xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <CENTER> <TABLE style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px" align=left><IMG src="article-oiling-wheels_files/banner.gif"></TD></TR> <TR> <TD><IMG src="article-oiling-wheels_files/mainheader.jpg"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER></DIV> <DIV align=center> <CENTER> <TABLE id=AutoNumber2 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#999999 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=770 border=1> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <TABLE id=AutoNumber3 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=dates id=hDate dir=ltr style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px" width="80%" bgColor=#cccccc></TD> <TD dir=ltr width="20%" bgColor=#cccccc></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <TABLE id=AutoNumber4 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=768 border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width=565> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD colSpan=2 height=5></TD></TR> <TR> <TD style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px" colSpan=2> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=indicationLink2 vAlign=top><A class=indicationLink href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/index.html">Homepage<IMG src="article-oiling-wheels_files/spacer.gif" width=2 border=0></A><IMG src="article-oiling-wheels_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0><IMG src="article-oiling-wheels_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0>/ <IMG src="article-oiling-wheels_files/spacer.gif" width=2 border=0><A class=indicationLink href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/topics/index439b.html?cu_no=1&template_id=273&temp_type=42">In-Depth<IMG src="article-oiling-wheels_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0></A>/ </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR> <TR> <TD colSpan=3 height=6></TD></TR> <TR> <TD width=10></TD> <TD><INPUT id=item_cu_no type=hidden value=1 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=item_no type=hidden value=511 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=version type=hidden value=1 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=date1 type=hidden value=25/03/2003 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=dateTime type=hidden value=" 5:58AM" xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=articalText type=hidden value="<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>The U.S. Constitution bars a President and Vice President coming from the same state, but it does not prevent a leadership duo with roots in the same industry. As it happens, this is a striking feature of the current US political leadership, and one that warrants serious attention, given its strategic choices.</DIV>
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<TD class=imgcaption id=Comment dir=rtl vAlign=top align=middle><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>US President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney&nbsp;meet with congressional leaders to brief on the progress of the war in Iraq at&nbsp;the White House</FONT> </FONT></TD></TR></TABLE></DIV></FONT>
<P align=left><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>Since coming into office, the Bush administration has embraced an energy policy that bets on rapidly growing oil consumption (along with stepped-up reliance on coal and nuclear power). It has push</FONT><FONT face=Arial>ed for opening sensitive areas to oil drilling at home and is working hard to secure increased supplies from a range of far-flung places abroad. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>And the administration has downplayed the environmental dangers of such a policy, rejecting the Kyoto Protocol — the fledgling effort to address the threat of climate change. And with the prospect of an attack against Iraq drawing ever closer, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that oil is a factor in the equation.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Many cabinet officers and other leading Bush administration officials have extensive corporate pedigree. Oil and gas companies figure prominently, as do corporations that are heavy energy users, such as car manufacturers, airlines, airplane manufacturers, and paper and aluminum producers. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Several top-level officials have served as corporate executives or have sat on the board of directors of such companies, while others worked as high-level lobbyists and advisers.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>George W. Bush himself is steeped in the Texas oil culture. His father and predecessor in the White House ran a company, Zapata Oil, in the 1950s and 1960s before launching his political career. The current President replicated this pattern. Though ultimately far less successful commercially, George W. Bush was nonetheless able to peddle his famous family name to climb the political ladder.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>He set up Arbusto in 1978. Following a financial bailout in 1982, the company was merged with Spectrum 7 in 1984 to stave off bankruptcy, with Bush as chief executive. Spectrum 7, struggling financially, was in turn bought by Harken Energy in 1986. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Having the son of the Vice President, and later President, of the United States on the board of directors appears to have paid off for the company: in January 1990, Harken was unexpectedly awarded exclusive drilling rights off Bahrain, even though the firm had no prior expertise outside the United States or experience in offshore drilling. In 2002, when a flood of corporate accounting scandals broke in the wake of the Enron collapse, it was revealed that Harken officials may have engaged in insider trading and other improper financial deals.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>The oil industry has played a prominent role in funding George W. Bush’s two gubernatorial races in Texas in 1994 and 1998 and his presidential campaign in 2000. Of the top 10 financial supporters to his campaigns, six are either directly in the oil business or have close ties to it. In the Texas races, the industry contributed 14 percent of $41 million raised.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>In the 2000 presidential race, Bush received more money from energy industries than any other candidate for nationwide office — $2.9 million according to the Center for Responsive Politics. More than $1.9 million of that amount came from the oil and gas industry, with Enron, Exxon-Mobil, BP, and Chevron as the top contributors.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Different tack</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>Whereas George Bush used his background in the oil sector as a springboard into politics, his Vice President took the opposite tack. After having served as Chief of Staff in the Ford White House, a career in the House of Representatives, and a stint as defense secretary under the first President Bush, Dick Cheney took the top job at Halliburton.</FONT> 
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<TD class=imgcaption id=Comment dir=rtl vAlign=top align=middle><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>President George W. Bush receives an update on the status of military action in Iraq in the Oval Office. Present are Vice President Dick Cheney, CIA Director George Tenet and Chief of Staff Andy Car</FONT>d </FONT></TD></TR></TABLE></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Dallas-based firm ranks among the top 25 energy companies in the world and is one of the leaders providing equipment and services to oil and gas companies, with revenues of about $15 billion and a workforce of about 100,000 in more than 120 countries.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Cheney served as chairman and chief executive from 1995 to 2000. Under his leadership, the company nearly doubled the business it did with the U.S. government (including military contracting), while also doubling its support for Republican election campaigns.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Building on contacts with foreign government representatives developed during his Pentagon days, Cheney was successful in landing lucrative contracts for his company. Even prior to joining Halliburton, he helped to broker a deal between Chevron and Kazakhstan in 1994, as a member of that country’s Oil Advisory Board. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dick Cheney was the largest individual Halliburton shareholder and received a multi-million dollar compensation package for his services.&nbsp; Although he sold his company stock upon becoming Vice President, Cheney is still receiving “deferred compensation” payments of up to $1 million per year from Halliburton.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>&nbsp;The Vice President took the lead in formulating the Bush energy policy. Oil industry executives not only played a key role in the deliberations, but were able to largely shape the resulting policy proposals. For every meeting or contact with conservation and public interest groups, Cheney's energy task force had about 25 meetings with energy industry representatives.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>However, Cheney has gone to extraordinary lengths to shroud the details of his task force meetings in secrecy—so much so that the Congressional General Accounting Office felt compelled to go to court in May 2002 to have meeting records revealed.&nbsp; (Republican Senators subsequently threatened in early 2003 to cut the GAO’s budget if it persisted with its lawsuit).</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>In addition to the President and Vice President, several other leading figures in the current administration are intimately connected to the oil industry. For instance:</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Secretary of Commerce Don Evans spent 25 years at Tom Brown Inc., a Denver-based oil and gas company. Evans also was a board member of another oil patch firm, TMBR/Sharp Drilling. He assisted his long-time friend George Bush in all his election campaigns and, as campaign finance committee chairman in 2000, raised a record $100 million.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Payback</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice served on the board of Chevron, one of the world’s top five oil companies, from 1991 to 2000. A Soviet affairs specialist, Rice assisted Chevron in its successful efforts to gain a stake in the Caspian Sea oil development after the demise of the Soviet Union. In gratitude, the company named a supertanker after her. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Interior Secretary Gale Norton represented Delta Petroleum as a lawyer and was national chairwoman of the “Coalition of Republican Environmental Advocates,” an anti-environmental lobbying group funded among others by the Ford Motor Company and oil giant BP Amoco.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thomas White, Secretary of the Army, was a top official at Enron, working for a decade at the now-disgraced and bankrupt energy trading company prior to his current appointment.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Besides filling several top ranks with individuals in cahoots with the energy industry, the Bush administration also made sure that nominees for political posts have to pass industry muster. An advisory team vetting nominees for the Energy Department was made up of 27 representatives from the oil and gas industry, 17 from the nuclear power and uranium mining industries, 16 from the electricity sector, and seven from the coal industry. Only one represented the renewable energy sector.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>The results of these extensive industry connections are clear enough. The administration has worked assiduously to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.&nbsp; It has proposed to weaken clean air and water laws that stand in the way of expanded domestic oil production.&nbsp; It has cut federal R&amp;D funding for renewable energy and energy efficiency, and has rejected tightening automobile fuel economy standards.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>And it is now positioning US oil and construction companies to benefit from what may turn out to be the largest post-war reconstruction effort since World War II in the wake of a war in Iraq. Halliburton was awarded a contract to rebuild Iraq’s oil industry and, along with four other firms, was put on a short-list for a first, $900 million contract involving broader reconstruction efforts.</FONT></P>
<P><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><STRONG><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>Michael Renner is&nbsp;Senior Researcher with the&nbsp;Worldwatch Institute<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></STRONG></SPAN></P>
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