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Occidental oil bombs civilians { January 9 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/communicate/newspages/article_full.cfm?eventid=547&pagetype='faculty_news'Occidental Oil organizes civilian bombing in Colombia
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/communicate/newspages/article_full.cfm?eventid=547&pagetype='faculty_news'
January 09, 2003
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
A CORPORATE COVER-UP?
By Douglass W. Cassel Jr.
In December 1998 Colombia's air force bombed the peasant hamlet of Santo Domingo, killing 17 civilians and wounding another 25. Serious questions have now been raised about the roles of two United States corporations in the bombing.
I recently discussed the cover-up by Colombia's air force. Four years after the bombing, no one has been brought to trial. Not until October did the Colombian attorney general suspend two of the bombers from active military duty for three months -- the maximum disciplinary penalty allowed. Today I turn to the roles of Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum, co-owner of a pipeline 30 miles from Santo Domingo, and Florida-based AirScan, an aerial security contractor.
Revelations of their involvement emerged in Colombian military court investigations, reopened after an unofficial tribunal of opinion, convened in Chicago by Northwestern University School of Law, reported that the bombing was done by the Colombian air force, not, as the military had claimed, by guerrillas.
In the reopened proceedings members of an air force helicopter crew repeated their earlier story that they had dropped two cluster bombs near -- but not in -- Santo Domingo. Now, however, they added that the targeting coordinates for the bombing came from three U.S. citizens piloting a surveillance plane for AirScan, which had contracted to provide security for the pipeline.
After initial reports by The Associated Press and San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times conducted an extensive investigation. According to the Times, here is what we know so far of U.S. corporate involvement.
Joined by a Spanish company with a minority interest, Occidental has a 50-50 partnership in the pipeline near Santo Domingo with Colombia's state oil company, Ecopetrol. After guerrillas repeatedly bombed the pipeline, Occidental sought help from both the Colombian military and a private contractor, AirScan, which it brought to Colombia in 1997.
Directly or through contractors, the oil company provided about $ 750,000 per year to the Colombian military. Most was in-kind, "non-lethal" aid, including troop transport helicopters, fuel, uniforms, cars, motorcycles, and use of company facilities at Cano Limon, 30 miles north of Santo Domingo. Occidental also gave about $ 150,000 a year in cash.
In 1997 the oil concern contracted with AirScan for aerial surveillance. Ostensibly AirScan was to provide only pipeline security; in fact, it routinely assisted Colombian military operations against guerrillas well removed from the pipeline. Concerned about liability, Occidental transferred AirScan's contract to Colombia's air force, which paid for it with funds from the pipeline partner, Ecopetrol.
On Dec. 13, 1998, the day of the bombing, the Colombian military -- including the bombers -- planned their operation near Santo Domingo in "Room G" of Occidental's Cano Limon oil complex. The military was briefed there by three U.S. crew members for AirScan, who then provided aerial surveillance for the mission, accompanied in their plane by a Colombian officer who served as air force liaison to Occidental.
According to the air force helicopter crew that dropped the bomb, their targeting coordinates came from the U.S. crew of the AirScan plane. If so, then U.S. citizens employed by a U.S. contractor, paid by Occidental's pipeline partner, using Occidental's facilities for planning, may have committed war crimes.
Both Occidental and AirScan deny responsibility. But many questions call out for investigation: What do the U.S. pilots have to say? What does the audio portion of their video surveillance tape reveal? What did Occidental or AirScan officials in Cano Limon know, and when did they know it? What efforts did they make to find out? What did they report to their home offices?
These questions are far from academic. Under the Alien Tort Claims Act, the Colombian victims may be able to sue Occidental and AirScan in U.S. courts for violating international law by bombing civilians. If the helicopter crew's testimony is true, AirScan may be directly liable for targeting the bombing. Occidental could be liable as an accessory. Among other legal theories, it could be held liable for the acts of other members of its joint venture and their agents -- Ecopetrol, AirScan and, arguably, the Colombian air force.
Occidental and AirScan may of course be innocent of any legal wrongs. But their "hear no evil, see no evil" approach to the bombing of civilians is not reassuring. At this juncture, one must ask whether anything less than a lawsuit against them will suffice to bring out the full truth. Human Rights By Douglass W. Cassel Jr. Cassel is director of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University's School of Law, where he also serves as a clinical associate professor. The views expressed here are solely those of the author.
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