Athough this thread is not about Dick Cheney, and all the possible questions about his estate have been awswered, it looks like we need to go back and look again.

All of the assets of Mr. Cheney and his wife were put in a very complex blind trust with at least three compartments.The stock options from Haliburton were a major part of his compensation as it's CEO and my have be their largest asset.

Any increase in value of these options was to be given to charities. Any loss in value would be borne by the Cheney's. Three charities were chosen and are as follows: "The charities chosen by the Cheneys are Capital Partners for Education, which provides educational assistance to low-income highschool-age children in the Washington, D.C. area, George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates, also in Washington, D.C., and the University of Wyoming in their home state."

Cash, property and deferred salary are seperated treated but also in the blind trust. The only people who could possibly benefit from and increase in value were in the charities. Anybody from the general public who thought that having Haliburton's former CEO as VP could have bought stock in the company. Perhaps the only two people in the world who could not were the Cheney's.

About the contracts mentioned, involving driving trucks and feeding troops in Iraq, Haliburton took them because the government asked them to. They are more dangerous for employees and pay less than the company receives for their specialized oil field developement in the oil-rich regions of the world.

Also, Haliburton was ranked at about 105 on the top corporations list when Cheney took office. Last time I checked it was at about 155. Some benefit from having "their man" as VP, eh.