The Roots of the Bush-Cheney's Oil Government

[Guest guest]

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/bush-cheney.htm

 

The Model for Bush Globalization

The Roots of the Bush-Cheney's Oil Government

 

 

 

Nightmare in Indonesia: The Roots of the

Bush-Cheney's Oil Government

By Cheryl Seal CHERDAV44

 

 

At Disney World's Epcot Center in sunny

Orlando, Florida, crowds of

well-fed, smiling children and their parents

dressed in bright summer cottons,

crowd into the Universe of Energy attraction.

There, surrounded by a dizzying

array of special effects, they are treated to

" Ellen's Energy Adventure, "

featuring a very young Ellen Degeneres and

Bill Nye the Science Guy, who take

them on a tour of the wonder world of energy -

a crowd-pleasing experience

complete with life-like dinosaurs.(1)

A world away in the jungles of Sumatra in

Indonesia, a bone-thin family of

Aceh natives squat inside their tiny hut clad

in worn rags, waiting to eat their

meager midday meal. Suddenly, Indonensian

soldiers burst through the door

screaming " Where are the men? Where are the

GAM (Gerakan Aceh Mer??,

members ofthe Aceh freedom movement) hiding? "

There is a terrified scream

as one of the men seizes a tiny baby from the

arms of its sister. He dashes

the child to the ground outside the hut. In an

act of hideous brutality, he

pours the boiling water used to prepare the

family dinner over the screaming

child. No one is allowed to go to the baby's

aid. The next day at sunrise,

after the soldiers have left, the baby dies.

(2)

What do these two seemingly unrelated and

grossly different scenarios have

in common? They were both " sponsored " by

Exxon. While linking its name to

fun-filled all-American experiences such

Disneyworld, Exxon soaks up PR and

pushes its agenda (which, of course, is fossil

fuel) to kids and their parents.

In Indonensia, by applying pressure to the

unstable government, Exxon (d.b.a.

ExxonMobil) has triggered a wave of violence

against the Aceh natives who have

been fighting for their independence and

control of their homeland and future

for three decades. Why? Beheath the forest

floor in the Aceh homeland lays a

rich reserve of natural gas, while off its

coast lays vast, untapped oil

reserves.

But Aceh and Indonesia are not " just

another " foreign conflict. In this

struggle and its history is the darkly

mirrored image of the present U.S.

leadership, the past that shaped it, and, if

nothing is done to prevent it, the

future of our own nation.

 

Spices, Oil, and Blood: the Shaping of Modern

Indonesia

 

Indonesia has long been a dream come true

for opportunists (until this

century they were called " explorers " ). With

its 17,000 islands sprinkled across

the equator in the South Pacific atop a zone

of tectonic upheaval, it is a land

of incredible biodiversity and dramatic

landscapes. Among its main islands are

Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Timor (East and West),

and Bali (of " South Pacific "

fame). Its forests and mountains are treasure

chests of exotic plants and

animals, while its human population is just as

diverse - as recently as the

1980s, an estimated 250 different languages

were spoken here.

The first westerners to exploit the

region were the Portuguese, who, in the

17th century, began to " mine " the forests for

spices while dominating the

natives. These fragrant exports earned the

region the name of " the Spice

Islands. " Since then, this land, whose native

inhabitants in some regions have

lineages extending back as much as one million

years, has been the focus of a

greedy tug-of-war between different foreign

powers and between these powers and

the Indonesian native peoples. No Indonesian

resources have been at the center

of more collective strife, bloodshed, and

environmental damage than oil and

natural gas (unless it is gold - which is the

subject of Part III).

After World War II, Indonesia made a

determined stand for its autonomy and

by 1950 had thrown off domination by the

Japanese (who had commandeered the oil

and liquid natural gas supplies during the

war), then the British and Indian

armies, and, finally, the Dutch. The new

Indonesian leader Sukarno (not to be

confused with the later brutal dictator

Suharto) eventually became the country's

first president. Sukarno was a visionary who

pursued an ideal he called

" Pancasilo, " a state of Indonesian unity in

which ethnic and religious tolerance

would prevail. It was a dream that was doomed

to failure; half-way round the

globe, forces were massing that would

ultimately topple Sukarno and his

government.

In the United States, after World War II,

the age of the automobile had

dawned. Americans in geometrically growing

numbers were heading off to " See the

U.S.A in their Chevrolets " - great big

gas-guzzling Chevrolets. They came home

from their cruises to modern oil-heated homes

in proliferting suburbs. 'Existing

U.S. sources, already heavily exploited, soon

couldn't match the demand for

abundant, cheap fuel and so the oil companies

looked elsewhere.to places such as

Indonesia. At that time, oil-rich Southeast

Asia was struggling for autonomy,

urged on by the growing Asian communist party.

To address this impediment to the

oil companies, as early as 1953, the U.S.

National Security Council had adopted

a policy of " appropriate action in

collaboration with friendly countries to

prevent permanent communist control of

Indonesia. "

By the late 1950s, the U.S. was pouring

$20 million per year into the

Indonesian military. However, Sukarno wanted

increasingly less to do with

foreign " supporters. " He wanted to deprivatize

all industrial and commercial

holdings and return the wealth to the people.

In keeping with this view, he

leaned increasingly toward the left, allying

himself with the growing Indonesian

communist party PKI. In 1964, Sukarno refused

to accept anymore aid from the

U.S. government. But his push for independence

and socialization were his

downfall. The CIA had begun to create and

disseminate vicious anti-communist

propaganda, while quietly continuing to funnel

money and arms to the Indonesian

military, all the while cultivating an

alliance with the ultra-right-wing

General Suharto.

In the global wings, U.S. corporations

were circling like sharks, waiting

to go in for the kill. For example, in 1965,

Freeport Sulfur cut a private deal

- with Henry Kissinger reportedly the deal

broker - with Indian officials for a

share in a proposed gold-copper mining, while

Mobile Oil Indonesia entered into

a contract with the Indonesian state oil

company, Pertamina. Over a dozen other

oil companies were waiting for their chance to

pounce. All that was needed to

complete the scheme was to get rid of Sukarno

to avoid the risk of most profits

got to the Indonesian people.

The CIA helped Suharto plan and Stage a

three-part coup. First, in 1965,

all of the left-leaning military leaders were

murdered and their deaths blamed

on the PKI. Second, by convincing the public

and Sukarno that the communists

were trying to topple the government, Sukarto

got clearance to lead an all-out

slaughter of communists. Between 1965-1966 an

estimated 500,000 to one million

men, women, and children known or suspected of

being communists were massacred.

Some were murdered in their beds, and a large

percentage were killed with

U.S.-supplied weapons. " Time " magazine

reported during this period that

" travelers from [some] areas tell of small

rivers and streams that have been

literally clogged with bodies. "

In the final step of the coup, Suharto

deposed Sukarno. What followed was a

feeding frenzy by Suharto, his henchmen and

U.S. corporations. Like a warlord,

Suharto approriated the best of everything he

could for himself and his family -

oil wells, timber lands, and sugar

plantations. Thousands of acres of land were

seized by companies with the blessings of

Suharto. Tens of thousands of native

people were killed, displaced, or

" disappeared " to make way for mining, logging,

and drilling operations. The Freeport gold

operation Kissinger (see " Bloody

Hands Full of Gold " ) helped orchestrate (and

of which he is today the primary

stockholder, as well as collecting $500,000 a

year as its chief legal rep

through his law firm Kissinger Associates) was

the first company to be

officially licensed after the coup. By 1969,

nineteen U.S. oil companies were

vying for the rights to the oil beneath

Indonesia's coastal waters, while

Weyerhaueser, International Paper, and Boise

Cascade were hacking down huge

tracts of tropical forests in Sumatra as fast

as they could hack. Meanwhile, now

that the U.S. had " saved " the Indonesian

people from communism, they forced the

natives to work in the new factories and

industrial operations at an average

wage of 10 cents an hour.

It is certainly no coincidence that

during the same " formative years " of

the exploitation of Southeast Asia - 1965-1969

- that the war in Vietnam was

being launched and prosecuted full force. Why?

The main oil shipping corridor

from Indonesia to Japan (and thence to the

U.S.) lays between Indonesia and

Vietnam. It is interesting to note that Hainan

Island also lies in this corridor

- the same area that was the center of our

recent spy plane incursion. This

corridor is mentioned in Baker Institute

reports on U.S. energy policy as being

a " keep out of the hands of the Chinese at all

costs " zone. The main shipping

corridor to India (another growing oil

consumer at that time and now as well)

lays between northwestern Indonesia and

Cambodia, a fact which just may explain

Henry Kissinger's otherwise inexplicable

decision during the Vietnam war to bomb

neutral Cambodia back into the stone age

(sending the country from thence into

the nightmare of life under the Khmer Rouge).

While the U.S. companies ripped billions

of dollars out of the Indonesian

landscape, over 60% of the nation lived below

the poverty line, many at the

point of starvation. Yet, the Suharto

government would always point to all of

the new schools and the improved education

system as proof of his compassion for

his country. (Sound familiar?)

As always, when it comes to corporate

greed, enough is never enough. By

1974, the U.S. had lost Vietnam and, under

Suharto's despotic, corrupt rule,

there were constant outbreaks of rebellion in

Indonesia. Nowhere was the push

for independence more well-organized and

persistent than in East Timor. The

progressive governor there decided to allow

the formation of multiple political

parties, which in turn lead to an intensified

push for independence from the

oppression of Suharto and foreign interests.

The prospect of East Timorese

autonomy dismayed Suharto because he and his

friends had very valuable holdings

in the region, including three oil wells. If

the push for independence

succeeded, he might lose his " investments " (or

should we say seizures). Worse

yet, the push for independence could spread

through the country, threatening

other interests, such as Kissinger's gold

mine!

In 1975, Kissinger orchestrated a

surprise invasion of East Timor by the

Indonesian military (a fact supported by

documents since revealed). Kissinger

and Gerald Ford are believed (by many human

rights observers and historians) to

have been in on the planning of the invasion

right up to the moment of

initiation. In any case, the two were

visiting Suharto on December 6, 1975. The

next day, just an hour or so after Air Force

One had cleared Indonesian air

space, headed for the U.S., the attack was

launched and East Timor was declared

Indonesia's 27th province. In the process,

over 200,000 East Timorese people

were slaughtered. Since then, for the oil and

mining industries in Indonesia,

it has been business as usual.

The 1997-1998 Asian economic crisis hit

Indonesia hard and contributed to

the long-hoped-for ouster of Suharto. He was

replaced in May of 1998 by B.J.

Habibe. But the Indonesian people had had

enough of being oppressed and abused,

of receiving a tiny percentage of the money -

if any - generated by the

exploitation of their natural resources. The

push for freedom which had

sporadically continued in some areas since the

terrors of 1975 had reached new,

widespread dimensions.In 1999, rioting broke

out in Aceh, Ambon, Borneo, and

Irian Jaya - all areas heavily exploited by

American corporations.

The threat of a new rebellion by East

Timor, was, once more, particularly

irksome to the corporations and to the oil-fed

Indonesian government. A

38,000-square-mile zone called the Timor Gap

had just been staked out off the

coast of the country and promised to yield

unheard of volumes of oil. Habibe was

either colossally weak or extraordinarily

Machiavellian (or, more likely, was

advised by someone extraordinarily

Machiavellian). In a show of democratic good

will, he allowed East Timor to hold a

referendum to decide its independence. An

overwhelming 80% of all voters opted for

independence. But, as soon as the

results had been tallied, the Indonesian

government stormed in, just as they had

when Suharno had pressed for nationalization.

Thousands of East Timorese were

massacred, while one-third of the country's

residents were forced out of the

region and 80% of all structures in the little

nation were destroyed. UNICEF

reported in 1999 that 114 children had died in

concentration camps in West Timor

where an estimated 200,000 East Timorese were

held in squalid conditions.

Hundreds more children were abuducted, many

for sexual slavery.

Habibe did nothing to stop the military.

Meanwhile, he continued to scoop

up the largesse of the oil companies. At the

height of the slaughter, Philips

Petroleum, which had heavy interests in East

Timor, paid $2.9 million to the

Indonesian government. According to human

rights activist Jose Ramos Horta (a

1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner), Philips had at

that point, never paid a cent to

East Timor for the billions of barrels of oil

it had removed from the country's

waters. Many Timorese activists believe that

the destruction of 80% of the

country's buildings was all part of the

collusion between the Indonesian

government and foreign powers, including the

U.S. Since the tragedy, $1.2

billion in rebuilding funds have poured into

East Timor, along with thousands of

foreign " carpet baggers " eager to " rebuild. "

It was 1975 all over again " This is

not much different from the [previous]

Indonesian invasion, " says Maria

Bernadino of East Timor's " Rebuild Watch. "

" All they need to do now is to go

around shooting people and torturing people. "

And, as always, all the jobs in

the " rebuilding " effort went (and are still

going) to foreigners, while a

staggering 95% of natives have, on occasionin

the past few years, been

unemployed.

In a last crowing outrage - and proof of

the repeating patterns at work -

as the political smoke subsided, in February

2000, Habibe's recently-appointed

replacement Wahid announced that he had named

Henry Kissinger his advisor. Just

one year later, at the first big shingidg

thrown in Washington, D.C. for

newly-sworn in Bush, Kissinger was also be

there, ready to advise - and help

begin a new reign of energy despotism.this

time on U.S. soil.

 

PART TWO:

ExxonMobil's Dirty Little War

 

By Cheryl Seal

 

ExxonMobil's liquid natural gas (LNG)

production facility (PT Arun) in

Northern Sumatra, Indonesia (an area known as

Lhokseumawe in the district of

North Aceh) was originally owned by Mobil Oil

Indonesia. The first thing the

company did back in the 1960s as soon as it

had identified the rich LNG reserves

in the forests and cut a deal with the

Indonesian state fuel company Pertamina,

was to seize a huge tract of land and

summarily displace all of the resident

natives. It is a scenario that has repeated

itself following countless oil/gas

discoveries in the past, from Oklahoma to

Africa. However, to Mobil's dismay,

the Aceh people were committed to throwing off

domination by exploitive foreign

interests and the corrupt Suharto government

that was so eager to aid the

exploitation.

In response to the Aceh resistance, the

military, acting on behalf of

Mobil, beat down the opposition with a brutal

fist. For example, when a handful

of Achel rebels tried to sabotage a gas

pipeline in 1977, the military

systematically killed an estimated 900

natives. When the Aceh freedom movement

GAM (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka) was officially

launched in 1980, Aceh was promptly

placed under military occupation. From the

start, Mobil (and now ExxonMobil),

has supported and condoned the military's

atrocities. Many such crimes have, in

fact, been committed on the company's own

land, by " security officers " on the

company's payroll. Mobil built two military

barracks for the elite security

division the Indonesian military sent them to

protect the LNG facility.: Post 13

and Camp Rancong. According to eyewitness

reports recounted to human rights

investigators, Post 13 was on at least one

occasion used as a

torture/interrogation facility.

Since 1980, hundreds of Aceh natives have

been murdered and/or tortured or

have disappeared. An estimated 15,000-20,000

children have been orphaned during

this same period as a direct result of Mobil's

" protective forces. " The

company's operation of the LNG facility has

taken a direct toll on the quality

of human life and the integrity of the

environment. The company repeatedly

contaminated the crucial rice paddies or

shrimp farms the villagers relied on

for food. Not once did the company offer fair

compensation for these

transgressions. In fact, in 1992, when the

village of Pu'uk sued the company for

contamination of its land, Mobil marched out

its high-powered battery of lawyers

and (surprise, surprise!) defeated the poor

villagers. In 1997, 1,600 villagers

were displaced when LNG wells erupted, dumping

tons of contaminated mud on their

homes. In another case, four villagers sued

the company for seizing their land

without adequate compensation and for taking

over a village cemetery for use as

an airstrip for PT Arun. Of course, once

again, the villagers lost their case.

The list of egregious violations (the same

terminology recently applied to Exxon

by a lawyer in Alabama when the company

recently lost a $3.4 billion fraud case)

of human rights and environmental ethics

perpetrated by Mobil, Exxon, and

ExxonMobil is astounding. This is supposed to

be an American company.Hell, this

is supposed to be the 20th/21st century!

Any protestors against this reign of

terror are treated viciously. Of

course, Mobil and ExxonMobil have claimed

total ignorance of such abuses,

despite repeated complaints, despite the fact

that Mobil (ExxonMobil) pays the

military millions of dollars each year for the

use of the military, despite the

fact that their own earth-moving equipment has

been used to dig mass graves and

its roads have been used as regular routes for

transporting prisoners and

bodies. Mass graves dug with Mobil equipment

were identified at Sentag Hill and

Tengkorak (Skull) Hill in North Aceh in 1998

by human rights investigators.

Bottom line: the company is ultimately in

complete control of the situation, as

was clearly pointed up by the chaos their

recent suspension of production

caused.

It was in 1998, during the increasing

controversy over Mobil's activities

that Exxon and Mobil merged, becoming

ExxonMobil. Now, to the outside world,

especially to the U.S., which, alas, rarely

pays attention to the details of

what is happening beyond its own borders, the

name " ExxonMobil " would seem like

a whole new horse of a different color. As a

" nice touch, " around the same time,

Exxon started pushing its touchy-feely " we're

so good to the environment " Save

the Tiger PR campaign (how could these nice

people ever do those awful things

the Aceh accuse them of?). The company has

recently also donated millions of

dollars to malaria research. So

self-sacrificing! Especially, since malaria will

be a major problem and (God forbid!) expense

for the company as it deploys

workers into new unexploited mosquito-laden

forests in Indonesia. But a look

through the company's history reveals one

clear point: this monster does nothing

that is not completely motivated from

self-interest.

In any case, the merger hasn't abated the

carnage centered around the North

Aceh facility. Last year, a human rights

worker named Jafar Siddiq Hamzah, who

was born in Aceh and lived for a while in

Queens, NY, began receiving death

threats after he started investigating

Mobil's transgressions. Soon after, he

was kidnapped. A month later, his tortured,

mutilated body was found, along with

those of four other human rights workers.

Within days of this tragedy, Safwan

Idris, a promising candidate for Aceh

governor, was found murdered as well.

Human rights investigators have condemned the

company and the U.S. for their

complicity, direct or indirect, in the

bloodbaths. Indonesian Democracy Japan

has asserted that the U.S. " by association, is

guilty of major human rights

violations. "

No wonder they don't want us on the UN human

rights commission.

But human rights apparently pale in

comparison to the stakes for which

Mobil and the Indonesian government are

playing. Through the 1990s, one-fourth

of all Mobil's global revenue came from the

North Aceh facility. One corporate

VP calls the facility " the jewel in the

company's crown. " If so, it is like the

gory Hope diamond. Meanwhile, the Indonesian

government scoops in an estimated

$2 billion per year from the plant.

Things have, if one can imagine it,

gotten worse in the past year and a

half. On October 20, 1999, Wahid was elected

the new President of Indonesia by

the People's Consultiuve Assembly (not by the

PEOPLE, mind you). Almost

immediately, Wahid sought to pass legislation

to release foreign firms like

ExxonMobil from regulatory approval

requirements. Then, on February 28, 2000,

just four months after being named Pres.,

Wahid appointed Henry Kissinger, one

of the original authors of the nation's

ongoing woes, as his advisor. On the

same day, in fact the same hour (undoubtedly

because the two things are so

intimately intertwined), Wahid announced half

a dozen new appointments to

Pertanima and the mineral industry - an

industry close to Indonesian gold mine

majority stock holder Kissinger's " heart " (or

the black hole where one may once

have been).

All sorts of deadly games are being

played out now, games which, since Bush

was elected, have become increasingly more

vicious.

Let's back track and look at these

games. In March of 2000, a US embassy

report states that LNG gas fields in Northern

Sumatra are being played out and

that by 2001, some production will be

discontinued. The same report mentions

major new LNG and oil projects that are being

planned for other areas, including

Irian Jaya (the same area where Kissinger's

mine is located). In addition, U.S.

interests have expressed their intention to

double coal output in Sumatra in the

next five years.

Now, put those pieces and recent

developments together and what you come up

with is truly Machiavellian. Here's how the

game goes:

First, you create a crisis in the LNG

situation in North Aceh by making it

appear that terrorists are escalating and

threatening the security of the energy

supply. (Hey, blaming terrorists worked for

Kissinger and the CIA in 1966 to

get rid of Suharno, in Timor in 1975, in

Chile, in the Congo, in

Bangladesh.it's a great scam). But better

make sure the U.S. government doesn't

step in and muck things up.

Second, start threatening higher energy

prices

Third, shut down your LNG operation and

scream about needing more security,

while keeping your eye on other places you'd

REALLY like to exploit, like the

waters off North Aceh where a rich oil reserve

has been found. Almost no one but

you knows your Aceh facility is on the way out

anyway.

Fourth, play the terrorism card to its

end and stand aside wringing your

hands as rebels are massacred, thereby

daunting any other rebels who might try

to make life difficult for you in other areas

you plan to exploit.

Just like clockwork, the above scenario

has unfolded. In February and

March, 2001, ExxonMobil began complaiing of

escalating terrorism by GAM. GAM,

on the other hand, which has never had any

trouble claiming credit for its

incursions against the military or Mobil when

they WERE guilty, denies the

charges. In early March, Exxon security claims

an Aceh rebel lobbed a hand

gredande into the facility - mysteriously, I

could find no record or a death or

injury from this " attack. " Tengku Sofyan Daud,

deputy of GAM, was angered by the

charge. " We never threatened the company and

we never told them to close down

the plant. "

On March 8, ExxonMobil closes down the

plant and around the same time,

Wahid threatens to jack up fuel prices.

Meanwhile, in early March, G.W. Bush

expresses his support for the Indonesian

military's tough stance against the

rebels, while, Colin Powell makes it plain he

does not want to link human rights

issues to arms sales (I mean, what POSSIBLE

link could there be between the two,

right?). By April, Wahid has called for an

all-out assault on the Aceh natives,

this time specifically targeting civilians. As

the bodies mount up, ExxonMobil

officials stand on the sidelines wringing

their hands and saying and doing

nothing - condoning the slaughter by their

very inaction.

Since February, at least 400 Aceh

civilians have bee murdered, some, like

the baby in Part I, horribly. Meanwhile, on

its website, Pertanima reassures

prospective oil entrepreneurs that the current

" unrest " is temporary and won't

affect their ability to do business. The same

site echoes the National Security

Council's 1953 statement in which it indicates

it will take " appropriate action "

to insure companies are unimpeded.

Most frightening to me - as it should be

to all Americans - is that our

country is now RUN by oil executives - men

from the very same club to which the

ExxonMobil's Indonesian robber barons

belong.men with, it is becoming obvious,

the very same attitude. In a reined-in repeat

of the Suharno Coup and post-coup

corporate feeding frenzy in which Suharto

richly rewarded all those who aided

him, the Bush-Cheney consortium has lost no

time handing out the prizes, seeking

to reduce regulations, promoting wholesale

drilling, creating a phoney energy

crisis and driving up fuel prices, stalking

unspoiled wildlands and even trying

to push for legislation to allow the fed to

seize private land for energy

interests. The series of coincidental fires at

oil refineries and the rolling

blackouts aren't so different from

mysteriously lobbed hand-grenades.

And lest we overlook it, the basic Bush

energy plan appears to have been

taken almost it for tat from the Baker

Institute's " Strategic Energy Policy

Changes for the 21st Century " report - a

report created by a task force that

includes two dozen major oil/energy moguls and

also Kissinger Associates. (now

McCarty Kissinger)

How can the behemoths (as one Indonesian

writer described the American

corporate-fueled government) be stopped? The

question that screams to be asked

is: Why are the stockholders silent on the

crimes of the company in which they

hold a material interest? For that matter, why

are there still any stockholders

in Exxon at all, in the face of such crimes?

Is money so important that nothing

- however evil - matters any more?

It is time for the Democrats, as the

only opposition party to the new

leadership, to realize that compromise is not

only impossible with these robber

barons, it would be suicidal.