Halliburton bribes Nigeria to get Cheney off bribery charges...!

Talk about bare-faced cheek, but you just couldn't make up these news stories if you tried.

The headline reads: "Nigeria mulls $250 mln deal to drop Cheney charges". Of course the Nigerians were hoping for $500 million, but it looks as though they' may have to settle for just half that sum.

"Nigeria has negotiated a 250 million dollar settlement deal that would see it drop charges against US ex-vice president Dick Cheney and others over a bribery scandal, an official said Tuesday.
The deal reached by officials from Nigeria and energy firm Halliburton, Cheney's former company, must still be approved by the West African country's government, said Femi Babafemi, a spokesman for the anti-graft agency."

Right, it still has to be approved by one of the most corrupt governments in the world..

Let's not forget that the bribes paid by Cheney's companies are "estimated at $180 million" and are "linked to construction of a liquefied natural gas plant."

Halliburton has serious form:

"US authorities said last year that Halliburton and KBR had agreed to pay 177 million dollars to settle charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States over the scandal.
KBR agreed to pay a further 402 million dollars to settle criminal charges brought by the US Justice Department."

The world would not be sorry if Cheney were to do a Holbrooke - preferably sooner than later...