Halliburton Watch Co-Releases Report on Halliburton, Demands Vice President Cheney Divest Stock

WASHINGTON - May 17 - Halliburton Watch is co- releasing its third annual report on the company at the company's annual stockholder meeting, which is being held today in Duncan, Okla. The report, "Hurricane Halliburton : Conflict, Climate Change and Catastrophe," is available here: http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/reports/houston2006.pdf

Halliburton Watch also launched the "Give It Up, Cheney" campaign, calling on the vice president to relinquish his remaining stock holdings in Halliburton.

Cheney, who was Halliburton's CEO from 1995 to 2000, continues to hold 50,000 stock option shares worth a gross value of $3.76 million as of May 15, 2006.

Cheney's 2005 public financial disclosure report was filed with the Office of Government Ethics on Monday. The Vice President reported that he also has thousands of stock options in Lockheed- Martin, Electronic Data Systems and Proctor and Gamble. In addition, Cheney received numerous personal gifts in 2005, including three guns and a hunting decoy.

The relevant pages from his financial disclosure report are posted at: http://www.giveitupcheney.org/disclosure.html

"The stock options create the appearance of an ongoing conflict of interest at the highest levels of government," said Charlie Cray, co-director of HalliburtonWatch.org. "We call on the Vice President to give up his remaining Halliburton options immediately and eliminate the appearance of a conflict of interest they continue to represent between his governmental duties and his interest as a stockholder in the nation's number one Iraq war contractor."

Cheney has signed a gift agreement, which stipulates that the proceeds of his Halliburton options will go to charity. To see the agreement, go here: http://www.giveitupcheney.org/agreement.html

The "Give It Up, Cheney" campaign suggests Cheney consider donating the proceeds from his remaining Halliburton stock options to the following charities that work with Iraq war veterans:

-- Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund: http://www.fallenheroesfund.org/

-- Mercy Corps: http://www.mercycorps.org/

-- National Coalition for Homeless Veterans: http://www.nchv.org/