With the stench of Enron growing more acrid each day, you’d think the
last thing President Bush would want is to be seen toadying to another
deep-pocketed energy giant.
Well, you’d be wrong.
In a shameless handout to a poor-little-me corporate mendicant, the
president wants to spend close to $100 million to help Occidental
Petroleum protect an oil pipeline unwisely built in war-torn Colombia.
For years, in a seedy little deal worthy of a Graham Greene novel, the
oil company has been paying the Colombian army to protect its interests,
forking over $1 for every barrel of oil produced. In fact, one out of
every four Colombian soldiers in the field is assigned to looking after
Occidental’s assets. The trouble is, they aren’t doing a very good job.
Colombia’s guerrilla forces, which don’t look too kindly on foreign
multinationals in their midst, have made a habit of blowing up the
pipeline. Last year alone, it was bombed 170 times and was out of
commission for 266 days, putting a definite downward drag on
Occidental’s profits.
So here comes President Bush riding to Oxy’s rescue with Super Huey
helicopters and U.S. Special Forces to train a Colombian Army brigade to
protect the pipeline. When it comes to Social Security, Bush can’t wait
to privatize, but when it comes to corporate security, he can’t wait to
“publicatize.”
After years of insisting that our military involvement in Colombia will
be limited to fighting the drug trade, why has the administration
suddenly decided to thrust America deeper into a 38-year civil war – a
war that took an explosive turn on Wednesday when President Andres
Pastrana broke off peace talks and ordered the armed forces to retake
control of the demilitarized area held by the rebels?
Could it be the over $9 million that Occidental has spent on lobbying
since 1996 – much of it used to push for more and more U.S. military
aid to Colombia – and the $1.5 million the company donated to federal
campaigns between 1995-2000?
“It is something we have to do,” said Anne Patterson, America’s
ambassador to Colombia. “It is important for the future of the country,
for our petroleum supplies and for the confidence of our investors.” Our
investors? Since when is U.S. foreign policy a publicly traded
commodity?
Maybe I missed the memo, but I thought the Bush administration was all
about promoting the “genius of capitalism” and foursquare against the
government bailing out capitalists who make bad business decisions.
(Team Bush is in danger of injuring itself if it doesn’t stop patting
itself on the back for “doing nothing” when a desperate Ken Lay played
Dialing for Deliverance with Don Evans and Paul O’Neill). And let’s face
it, Occidental’s decision to build an oil pipeline in a country in the
midst of a bloody civil war isn’t exactly the kind of boardroom brainstorm that
gets taught at Wharton. Indeed, even as the pipeline was being built, it was under
attack. So Oxy chairman Armand Hammer cut a deal with the rebels, paying them
millions to keep the oil flowing.
And now the oil-igarchy in the White House has chosen to reward this
shining example of the idiocy of capitalism with a no-strings-attached
corporate welfare check. Testifying before Congress last week, Secretary
of State Colin Powell summed up the administration’s position: “We
thought a $98 million investment in Colombian brigades to help protect
this pipeline is a wise one and a prudent one. What makes this pipeline
unique is that it is such a major source of income.” Income for whom?
It’s the new, improved Powell Doctrine: “U.S. military might should
never be used – unless it helps Corporate America turn a profit.”
The question is: where do we draw the bottom line in the sand? According
to Ambassador Patterson, there are more than 300 additional sites with
infrastructure of strategic importance to the United States in Colombia.
Are we going to pay to protect all of these, too? And what about the
other pipelines around the world that are “a major source of income?”
Will “investing” our military to keep them up and running prove “wise
and prudent” or a foreign policy nightmare?
The reckless decision to elevate corporate interests above the public
good in Colombia risks dragging American troops into a military
quagmire. Imagine a mother getting the following notice from the Defense
Department: “We regret to inform you that your son was killed in the
line of duty while in Colombia. Secretary Rumsfield and Occidental
Petroleum wish to extend their deepest sympathies. Please accept our
condolences and a coupon for a free tank of gas.”
Sound far-fetched? It is, because, on second thought, Oxy will never
give taxpayers free gas in exchange for our pipeline protection subsidy.
Instead, we’ll pay for it three times over: on tax day, at the gas pump,
and, finally, when the flag-draped coffins start being shipped home.
