Replies to post #59262 on Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[PegnVA]

Terror is the ONLY card GWB has to play.

[Rick Faurot]

Kerry vows to target Bush over Halliburton
By Thomas Catan in Washington
Published: August 11 2004 20:54 / Last updated: August 12 2004 00:19
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/0dd82514-ebcf-11d8-82f7-00000e2511c8.html
John Kerry's campaign signalled its intention on Wednesday to place the controversy surrounding Halliburton, the oil services giant formerly headed by Vice-President Dick Cheney, as a central theme of its bid for the White House.

The announcement of the strategy followed the leaking of a report by Pentagon auditors, who concluded that Halliburton had inadequately accounted for work in Iraq and Kuwait worth several billion dollars.

Political opponents immediately seized on the finding, with Mr Kerry promising to exploit what they said was mounting public anger over Halliburton's links to the Bush administration and the perception that it had profiteered from the war in Iraq.

“We think that it is emerging as a real issue in the campaign,” said Tad Devine, a senior adviser to the Kerry campaign. “[Voters are] very upset about it and it hurts the president very badly.” He said research from focus groups showed that Halliburton had become a “top-of-mind” issue for voters ranking alongside traditional concerns such as jobs and healthcare.

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[Rick Faurot]

New record for oil

Crude touches $45.15 a barrel on concerns that Najaf battle may spark sabotage.
August 12, 2004: 10:04 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Oil prices touched record levels Thursday as an escalating battle in Iraq, approaching storms in a U.S. production region and continued uncertainty about Russian exporter Yukos led to more speculative buying.

At 10:02 a.m. ET, U.S. light crude for September delivery rose 32 cents to $45.12 a barrel in electronic trading. It earlier rose as high as $45.15, 11 cents above the record high for New York crude futures of $45.04 struck Tuesday.

London's Brent crude rose 31 cents to $41.88, after hitting a new peak of $42 a barrel earlier in the session; the previous all-time high was $41.70.

Iraq's oil exports were running at half normal levels for the fourth day in a row Thursday as officials decided to limit some capacity following sabotage threats as U.S.-led forces move to quiet an uprising in the holy city of Najaf.

A pipeline sabotage attack late Monday has already cut loadings from Iraq's two offshore Gulf terminals -- which account for all the country's exports -- to 960,000 barrels per day compared with 1.9 million normally.