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WAR PROFITEERING
Thanks to the ineffective UN "Oil for Food" program, ChevronTexaco
loaded millions of gallons of oil from Iraq for processing at the
Richmond refinery in 2002. Instead of addressing the humanitarian
crisis in Iraq caused by over a decade of sanctions and bombing
the 'Oil for Food' program has resulted in profitable oil sales
and contracts for multi-national corporations, including ChevronTexaco,
ExxonMobil and Cheney's own, Halliburton. According to ChevronTexaco's
own spokesman, "We still have an interest in Iraqi crude."
Former CEO, Ken Derr said it best when he said, "Iraq possesses
huge reserves of oil and gas - reserves I'd love Chevron to have
access to."
WHO GETS THE OIL? CHEVRONTEXACO TIES TO U.S. BACKED IRAQI NATIONAL
CONGRESS
ChevronTexaco stands to gain from the new Iraqi government. The
U.S. tax-payer funded Iraqi National Congress, the London-based
Iraqi opposition party, is very likely to have a key role in the
new government of Iraq. Multi-millionaire, Ahmed Chalabi, who leads
the INC, has made very clear their intentions to provide a leading
role for US multi-national oil corporations, specifically ChevronTexaco
and ExxonMobil, in the future of Iraqi oil. "American companies
will have a big shot at Iraqi oil," according to Chalabi, frontrunner
to be installed as the new leader of a U.S. led Iraq. (Washinton
Post, 9/15/02: In Iraq War Scenario, Oil is Key Issue)
The UK Guardian reported that the Iraqi National Congress met with
executives of three US oil multinational, including ChevronTexaco,
to negotiate the carve-up of Iraq's massive oil reserves. (11/3/2002)
Even CBS's 60 Minutes reported meetings between the INC and ChevronTexaco,
reporting in March, 2002, that Chalabi is working, "with the
president's and vice president's friends in the oil industry, promising
executives of both ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil preferential treatment
in a post Sadam Iraq."
WHO CALLS THE SHOTS? CHEVRONTEXACO TIES TO WAR PLANNERS AND WAR
POLICY
Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor and super-hawk of the
Bush Administration is a former director of ChevronTexaco and continues
to maintain strong ties to the company. Chevron and Texaco executives,
prior to the company merger, advised Vice President Dick Cheney
on energy policy, both directly through the Energy Task Force and
through the companies close ties to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Council on Foreign Relations is a foreign policy think tank
with intertwining interests between industry and government. CFR
provides policy advice to the Bush Administration, including an
Iraq policy "road-map" jointly developed with the right-wing
policy group, "The James Baker III institute for Public Policy."
James Baker III, of course, was Secretary of State for Bush Sr.
and an architect of the first Gulf War. ChevronTexaco is a consistent
funder of CFR, including $27,500 in 2001, and a significant portion
of a $3.2 million CFR endowment this year. ChevronTexaco director
Carl Ware sits on the board of CFR, as does former Chevron director
and current Natinal Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice and former
ChevronTexaco Vice-Chairman Richard H. Matzke. Clearly, the company
has found many ways to get its voice heard on access to Iraqi oil.
(sources: Business Wire 7/23/2002, ChevronTexaco 2001 Annual Report
of Contributions- Civic & Community, Capital Research Center
website www.capitalresearch.org and The Council on Foreign Relations)
TOXIC TERRORISM IN RICHMOND, CA
The ChevronTexaco refinery in Richmond spews a deadly array of toxins
into the air, water, and land, including cancer-causing dioxins,
on the largely African American, South East Asian and Latino communities.
Since 1999, there has been a 20% increase in toxic emissions in
Richmond and most of the increase can be attributed to the Chevron
Refinery, the largest polluter in the city. The Refinery and plant
have had hundreds of accidents, including major fires, spills, leaks,
explosions, toxic gas releases, flaring and air contaminations inflicting
severe illnesses including asthma and deadly cancers, on the people
of Richmond. Despite decades of requests, demands, lawsuites and
protests, Chevron has continued to place executive salaries and
corporate profits over the health and safety of the community and
workers.
WAR ON COMMUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD
Between 1971 and 1991, Texaco extracted more than 1.5 billion barrels
of oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon, devastating one of the most biologically
fragile places on earth by destroying rainforests and creating massive
oil spills. In order to save millions of dollars, Texaco simply
dumped 20 billion gallons of highly toxic wastes from its operations
into the pristine rivers, forest streams and wetlands, ignoring
industry standards. Now, ChevronTexaco denies the effected peoples
of Ecuador their right to compensation, and instead is trying to
get back into Ecuador for a new round of devastation.
Over nearly 40 years of operations in Nigeria, ChevronTexaco has
propped up military regimes and military forces, flared billions
of cubic feed of natural gas, and dumped millions of pounds of toxic
waste into waterways. Frequent oil spills, combined with the acid
rain from flaring and the dumping of toxic drilling waters into
rivers has severely depleted fish stocks, which the people of the
delta rely on. When people protest to demand clean up and compensation,
ChevronTexaco responds by providing helicopters and boats to the
Nigerian police and military to attack communities. The company
has actually been implicated in the murder of Nigerians protesting
its operations.
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