Very confusing Tim.
and then this confusing VP Cheney.

Or what where the reason for Iraq? At least in Serbia/Yugoslavia we knew
there was genocide but Iraq?
WMD       - not true
Terrorist - not true
nuclear weapon - not true
WHY?

Cheney Once Pushed to Lift Iran Sanctions By MATT KELLEY, AP Writer

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney, who has called Iran "the world's
leading exporter of terror," pushed to lift U.S. trade sanctions against
Tehran while chairman of Halliburton Co. in the 1990s. And his company's
offshore subsidiaries also expanded business in Iran.

Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards criticized Cheney in
Tuesday night's debate for his position on Iran during the 1990s, and
Edwards said he supports expanding the sanctions against Iran.

Cheney countered that he now supports sanctions against Iran but
sidestepped the issue of Halliburton's involvement, saying it was being
raised by Democrats "to try to confuse the voters."

Halliburton's foreign subsidiaries did about $65 million in business with
Iran last year, company documents say. A federal grand jury is
investigating whether Halliburton or its executives deliberately violated
the U.S. ban on trade with Iran.

Foreign subsidiaries of American companies can do business with Iran as
long as no Americans participate in or direct that business. Halliburton
says it did not break that law.

While he headed the Houston-based oil services and construction company,
Cheney strongly criticized sanctions against countries like Iran and Libya.
President Clinton cut off all U.S. trade with Iran in 1995 because of
Tehran's support for terrorism.

Cheney argued then that sanctions did not work and punished American
companies. The former defense secretary complained in a 1998 speech that
U.S. companies were "cut out of the action" in Iran because of the
sanctions.

At an energy industry conference in 1996, Cheney said sanctions were the
greatest threat to Halliburton and other American oil-related companies
trying to expand overseas.

"We seem to be sanction-happy as a government," Cheney said. "The problem
is that the good Lord didn't see fit to always put oil and gas resources
where there are democratic governments."

Although Cheney maintained his opposition to unilateral U.S. sanctions
during his first months as vice president, the Bush administration renewed
the trade ban with Iran in March 2001.

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President Bush grouped
Iran with Saddam Hussein's Iraq and North Korea as members of an "axis of
evil" nations with ties to both terrorists and weapons of mass destruction.

Cheney now sounds a harder line against Iran.

"The government of Iran is the world's leading exporter of terror," Cheney
said less than a month after Bush's January 2002 "axis of evil" speech.

On the campaign trail, Cheney has often boasted of how the Bush
administration helped shut down an underground network supplying nuclear
technology to Iran, which he called one of "the world's most dangerous
regimes" in an August campaign speech in Davenport, Iowa.

Halliburton, meanwhile, has defended the business deals with Iran that
intensified under Cheney.

"It is neither prudent nor appropriate for our company to establish our own
country-by-country foreign policy," Halliburton said in a January statement
amid criticism of its Iran deals.

Much of Halliburton's business with Iran comes through Halliburton Products
& Services Ltd., a subsidiary incorporated in the Cayman Islands and based
in the United Arab Emirates. Halliburton Products & Services opened a
Tehran office in early 2000, before Cheney left Halliburton to become
Bush's running mate.

Halliburton Products & Services Ltd. does between $30 million and $40
million in business each year with Iran, Halliburton said in response to a
challenge by New York City Comptroller William Thompson Jr. Other foreign
subsidiaries did about $25 million in business with Iran in 2003, the
company said.

Halliburton also has kept alive a U.S.-based subsidiary called Kellogg
Iran, Inc. Halliburton spokeswoman Cathy Gist said that company has not
done anything since 1977, before Cheney acquired Kellogg Iran's former
parent company for Halliburton.

Thompson, whose office oversees pension funds for New York City police and
firefighters, has criticized Halliburton and other companies for doing
business with Iran and other nations that sponsor terrorism.

"Halliburton is saying they adhere to the letter of the law, when it poses
risks to the company but also to the United States and the world. I don't
think it's excusable," Thompson said. "This began in February 2000, and
Dick Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton then. Yes, he obviously bears some
responsibility."

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