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American un-prosecuted war criminals, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, owner of Halliburton at the U.S. Pentagon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Op-Ed: 800 Lb war Gorilla hangs over Peoria Trial

Posted on May 5, 2008August 27, 2019 By rayhanania No Comments on Op-Ed: 800 Lb war Gorilla hangs over Peoria Trial
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Op-Ed: 800 Lb war Gorilla hangs over Peoria Trial

By Ray Hanania

Posted Oct 4, 2008 at 12:01 AM. Updated Oct 4, 2008 at 3:23 AM. Published in the Peoria Star-Journal. Jeff Mazon triual skirts many of the important issues

Although a Rock Island jury last April deadlocked on the Bush administration’s claim that a former Halliburton subcontractor, Jeff Mazon, inflated a fuel-related contract cost in exchange for a bribe, the Justice Department is trying again to prosecute Mazon – this time in a federal trial in Peoria, which started last week.

Although a Rock Island jury last April deadlocked on the Bush administration’s claim that a former Halliburton subcontractor, Jeff Mazon, inflated a fuel-related contract cost in exchange for a bribe, the Justice Department is trying again to prosecute Mazon – this time in a federal trial in Peoria, which started last week.

Significant as war-related corruption cases are, the trial misses what some consider a far more serious problem. Is corruption limited only to one mid-level manager? Or does it reflect a bigger problem involving a culture of corruption amid what could be called an unjust war?

American un-prosecuted war criminals, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, owner of Halliburton at the U.S. Pentagon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
American un-prosecuted war criminals, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, owner of Halliburton at the U.S. Pentagon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Despite these concerns, the retrial will avoid addressing whether a corporation like Halliburton should be held accountable for the actions of its employees.

Mazon had everything going against him in the first trial. Yet the jury deadlocked. Indeed, in the first trial earlier this year, U.S. District Court Judge Joe B. McDade banned Mazon from exploring the larger issues of the Iraq war or of Halliburton’s history of alleged contract corruption and apparent price-gouging. McDade, a central Illinoisan who traveled to Rock Island for the trial, kept the focus tight on Mazon.

But we cannot ignore that Halliburton, Mazon’s main contractor, is also Vice President Dick Cheney’s “former” corporation. So is Bush trying to protect Halliburton and, by extension, Cheney?

Where the case is prosecuted is important. Rock Island was first chosen because the “LOGCAP III” contract to feed, shelter and support U.S. soldiers, and help restore Iraq’s oil infrastructure is based there. But can a defendant perceived as a “foreigner” – Mazon, who lives in suburban Chicago, is Ecuadorian – who also is accused of taking a bribe from an Arab contractor expect sympathy from a post-Sept. 11 jury in a mostly rural area of Illinois?

In contrast, prosecuting the case in Washington, D.C., instead of Rock Island, would have put a brighter public spotlight on the issue of war-related contract corruption. It would have drawn more media coverage, likely exploring the bigger questions. No national media covered the Rock Island trial. Clearly, the Bush administration doesn’t want the public to ask questions about Halliburton, which has been plagued by allegations of scandal. Why is the company still receiving contracts?

Moving Mazon’s trial to Peoria will bring more attention. But prosecutors again have asked the judge to prohibit Mazon from arguing that he is a “scapegoat” for Halliburton or its subsidiary, KBR; that he was framed by Halliburton; that the government conspired to protect Halliburton; and that Mazon is the victim of a war-related culture of corruption.

Mazon originally was accused of inflating three contracts. During a three-year investigation, the government settled on one contract. He was charged with major fraud against the United States.

But the facts of Mazon’s alleged corruption remain a hurdle to government hopes of quickly closing this case.

Enough jurors apparently sympathized with Mazon’s claim that an alleged bribe was actually a simple computer error involving the conversion of U.S. dollars into Kuwaiti dinars.

For the Bush administration, the Mazon case is as much about politics as it is about corruption. Can the administration deal with corruption without holding the clout-heavy Halliburton accountable?

Some 36 contract managers – many employed by Halliburton or its subsidiaries and sub-contractors – have been convicted of corruption and bribery. One might argue that corruption has become part of the war and Halliburton’s culture.

As for Cheney, it’s not a leap to suspect something more is involved. Cheney was the chief architect of the Iraq war. Barely a year after stepping down as CEO from Halliburton, Cheney was drafting plans to invade Iraq. And Halliburton would be a lead war contractor.

If we must spend more tax dollars to make a foreign currency conversion error look like a bribe, can’t we acknowledge that sitting front and center in the Peoria federal courtroom is an 800-pound gorilla the Bush administration hopes no one will notice?

(Ray Hanania is an award-winning syndicated columnist and radio talk show host based in Chicago. He can be reached at www.ArabWritersGroup.com.)

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rayhanania
Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News
RAY HANANIA — Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster

Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.

Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).

Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.

Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.

His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.

Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.

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