Halliburton sold nuclear equipment to Iran

Thanks to the Iraq reconstruction, Halliburton reported a 284 percent increase in its second quarter profits.

Even as Halliburton manages the reconstruction of Iraq (now that we know there were no mushroom-cloud producing bombs there), the Bush administration's favorite military contractor has been making extra money on the side selling Iran nuclear centrifuges and detonators.

Halliburton started its relationship with Iran back in 1995 (while Dick Cheney was CEO), in violation of U.S. sanctions.

In a post on his blog and published on CounterPunch, Jason Leopold quotes a "reliable source" at Halliburton who alleges that the energy services company was making nuclear deals with Iran, a country which the Bush administration says sponsors terrorism.

But hey, it's okay, because this wasn't that Halliburton. No, not the same Halliburton in charge of the Iraq reconstruction. No, this was the non-American Halliburton registered in the Cayman Islands and based in Dubai. That Cayman Islands Halliburton is the real culprit here. Heck, their dirty dealings go back a long way:

In 1991, Halliburton sold Libya, another country that sponsors terrorism, nuclear detonator devices. The company paid more than $3 million in fines for violating a U.S. trade embargo that President Reagan imposed in 1986 because of Libya's ties to terrorist activities.

Oh, sure, the Dallas-based Halliburton does get mail forwarded from the Cayman Islands Halliburton, but, you know, it's just so confusing for postal services to sort out. It's probably just a coincidence.