19.6.03
Unocal may stand trial over Burma human rights violations
Thank god for San Francisco. According to the Independent, "a panel of federal appeals judges in San Francisco heard final arguments this week on whether Unocal should be made to stand trial" over human rights abuses related to its business policies in Burma.
Thank god for San Francisco. According to the Independent, "a panel of federal appeals judges in San Francisco heard final arguments this week on whether Unocal should be made to stand trial" over human rights abuses related to its business policies in Burma.
When the Union Oil Company of California, or Unocal, started working on a gas pipeline project there, it con-tracted out security operations to the Burmese military regime ; and that was when the horror began.Now, this is the same "Burmese military regime" that is supposedly causing Bush such anguish over its recent jailing of Aung San Suu Kyi. But what is the Bush regime's policy, in cases involving less famous victims of military junta brutality?
The prospect of an avalanche of suits against big corporations has so spooked the Bush administration - always a good friend to the oil industry - that last month the Justice Department filed a brief in the Unocal case denouncing the Alien Tort Act as "an obscure provision" and arguing its application posed a direct threat to, among other things, the war on terrorism.Hmm...it seems as if the administration doesn't care too much for the advice of Richard "Mr. Morality" Perle, who would like to teach banks and corporations a lesson about the "moral hazard" of dealing with a "vicious dictatorship". But these "lessons", it appear, are only aimed at the French and Germans.
The San Francisco appeals court has indicated it is less than impressed with this line of argument. The Justice Department was not allowed to participate in this week's oral arguments, and large corporations who wanted to file similar briefs were denied. [emphasis added].
