KBR, kick back and relax...substandard performance in Iraq due to incompetent personnel.

http://bytethathertz.blogspot.com/

Dear Mr. Jacobs:

I would like to offer you any assistance I possibly can in this matter regarding Mr. Lesar. You see, I too have a personal relationship with the Lesar family - a very personal one! Mr. Lesar's wife happens to be my older sister. I must say that his behavior is not as rosy as Mr. Shaddock makes it out to be. Speaking as a family member who has essentially been cut off from relations with my relatives because of my beliefs and the fact that I married a man of the "wrong color and cultural background" and strong left leanings, I have to disagree with the comment that Mr. Lesar "loves his family". My family in fact is his deep dark secret.....I doubt very much that he would like the world to know that he has nephews that are Arab and American indian in ethnicity who also happen to be practicing muslims and strongly denounce his company's dealings in the middle east and elsewhere. Believe me when I tell you that you will not get a response from this man in regard to your documentary. He, after all, couldn't be bothered with having his own brother in law (my younger brother who is now deceased) over to his home for Thanksgiving while he was in basic training in Texas. Oh the dirty little secrets that people try to sweep under the rug! Please let me know if I can be of assistance to you.....perhaps you would like to have his personal home phone number or address if he is unavailable at Halliburton! Thank you for your good work in bringing corruption to light. All my best wishes and I will intently be watching your work. Kristin Ferris (nee Lamphere)

Dear Mr. Shaddock:

Thank you for taking the time to write in response to one of my recent blog posts. Neither I nor the film, “Iraq for Sale” state that contractors should work for free. We do take the position, quite clearly, that making egregious profits while damaging the war effort, the US military and American image in Iraq ought to be illegal. How can anyone stand up and be proud of offering medals in exchange for an agreement not to sue his company? How can anyone be proud of providing untreated water that causes harm to our patriotic, loyal marines? How can anyone be proud of ordering civilian truckers onto a road that has been closed by the Army simply to get paid for trucks to run?

No, this is not patriotism. It is quite the opposite. An independent Congress will investigate using the subpoena power at its disposal and then the truth will be seen by all Americans. Those who perpetrated the acts must pay the price.

Richard Jacobs
Chairman
Brave New Films, LLC

dear mr. shaddock,
thank you for your continued time and energy. We respectfully disagree.We tried on numerous occasions to get anyone from Haliburton to respond to our requests.We promised to post a FULL TRANSCRIPT of every word of Lesar on our website for the world to see.And after months of trying, not one simple, polite response.Therefore we have taken to telling the story as we know it.
If you could get Mr. Lesar to see the film and have a frank and open discussion with us, we will committ to posting every word he says on the website, and to posting video of the exchange. Our interest is in the truth and we look forward to pursuing that truth.
Without Mr. Lesar responding, we will continue to keep the Haliburton "ad" which says Mr. Lesar is a war profiteer on the website and on youtube(where over 70,000 people have seen it) and to create further "ads" that tell the story.
The issue is not his bravery or lack, or his hours or lack of, the issue is war profiteering and that is a discussion we should have as citizens in a democracy. He should not refuse to talk with us.

sincerely, robert greenwald

Robert and Jim,

If you question the legitimacy of my claims, I would like to point out that he was my next door neighbor for about 10 years in Plano until he moved to Houston. I am close with and still keep in touch with his family and can vouch for his good character. I am a land developer in North Texas and have had no association with the US government or Halliburton. I do not appreciate your website mocking him.

If you want to give him a hard time about making a large sum of money, criticize the board of directors for Halliburton. They decide his pay. He is predominantly paid by stock options and as you know the company has done quite well. His CEO compensation is on par with most companies of Halliburton's size. He probably would have made that sum of money whether Halliburton was involved with the war or not.

If you argue that it is unfair that Halliburton received a no bid contract, then consider the fact that estimating the price of this war has not been very easy. You can't bid out a project of this size. I believe that the US government used Halliburton because they have the capability of setting up an operation that large in a short period of time and have experience in the region.

Also, when a truck driver claims that charging $45 for Coke and $100 for laundry is legal stealing, consider the costs involved with getting Coke to Iraq and doing laundry. $100 for laundry is a big number for one load of laundry, but not 100 uniforms. $45 is absurd for a single coke, but maybe not for a few 24 packs in Iraq.

Next, you ask him to have a democratic debate about Halliburton, but if you got him on camera you would spin around what he said and take it out of context, just like you did on the You Tube video on the website. Why would he subject himself and the company to that?

I am not going to comment on specific dates and times that Mr. Lesar has been to Iraq but I know for a fact that he has been there many times. He is not afraid to get his hands dirty. He works very hard.

Ever since I have known Mr. Lesar he has driven a Buick and has lived well below his means. Although his job is demanding, he loves his family. He does not live lavishly like most CEOs.

Everyone tries to be successful and make money. Despite the fact you want to expose truth surrounding this controversy, you have to admit that you are out to make a buck also.

Please email me back and feel free to post this on your website. I apologize for the "moving to Canada" comment. It was inappropriate but I don't feel that it is one tenth as obnoxious as the video you posted on the website.

William Shaddock, Jr.