Displaced (14 page)

Staffers milled about and interns took
advantage of the free drink and food. After the Senators left, they
would get loud and drunk. She saw Jay to one side trying to chat up
a young woman, she thought she remembered from the mail room. No
doubt inflating his importance in shaping the office foreign policy
decisions, and not a copier of the morning news clips. Thankfully
she only had a bit part in the proceedings. Brenda, her coworker
and the office expert on health care issues, hovered close to the
Senator’s elbow and smiled and chatted with the different
representatives from the drug firms.

“Can I please have your attention ladies and
gentlemen,” the junior Senator was speaking, a tall, telegenic man.
Shushes went out among the crowd and the din of conversation
halted. “I am pleased this evening to be able to support my
colleague and friend, Senator Bryant. And even though my support
may put me at risk of six more years of being the butt of his
jokes, I’m glad to do it,” he said smiling to the knowing laughter
in the audience. “We all know of the Senator’s commitment to viable
health care and ensuring that the means of research and development
are available in the future for the innovation of better, safer and
cheaper medicine and care,” said the Senator deftly hitting on the
key themes of the drug industry. “I’m sure you also know of the
Senator’s role in making anti retroviral medicines available for
those in lesser developed countries,” he said. Left unsaid was the
pharmaceutical industry’s opposition to the initiative, which was
only smoothed over by the Senator’s support for an expanded
prescription drug benefit. “So together with you, I’d like to
express my thanks to the Senator for his great leadership in
modernizing and improving health care.” All in the room applauded
and the two men shook hands.

Senator Bryant, the older distinguished
graying patron, thanked his younger colleague for his kind words
and thanked those in attendance. He made some general forgettable
remarks about the importance of fostering safe reliable health
care, echoing the remarks of his junior partner, remarks he had
made a hundred times before and did now with little effort. He
concluded his remarks by encouraging everyone to enjoy themselves.
At this point in the evening, Jennnifer’s thoughts turned to her
cat and her apartment and the walk home.

“Hey Jennifer,” David approached her from the
side, “have you met Nick Catan?”

“Hi Nick, how are you?”

“Hi Jennifer, great to meet you,” he said
shaking her hand.

“Jennifer is our foreign affairs expert.”

“Wow that’s terrific, what a great job that
must be.”

“Thanks, and thanks for this great
party.”

“Sure thing, we’re glad you could make it,”
he responded. “You know the drug industry has a number of programs
for providing cheap drugs to the third world, we ought to talk
about it sometime,” he said looking over her shoulder at the same
time. “I’d really like to sit down with you at some point and
discuss it,” he continued with enthusiasm.

“Okay, of course that’d be great,” she said,
“let me give you my card,” which she fished from her pocket.

“Great, I look forward to it, I’ll be in
touch, thanks again. I have to excuse myself, it was nice meeting
you.”

“It was nice meeting you too, Nick,” Jennifer
responded.

“See you Nick,” David said as the man waived
and moved on to the Senator as he was getting ready to leave. They
both watched as the Senator clamped his hand on Nick’s shoulder
like he was a long lost friend.

“I think I can comfortably say that I’m not
in much danger of hearing from him again,” Jennifer said to
Dave.

“Be careful, he might surprise you,” he
paused and then with a straight face, “you’re so cynical Jennifer,
anyone can see the man’s an altruist.”

“Uh huh, you’re right, how could I have
missed it.”

David nodded his head as if to say that’s
right. “Okay,” he said with finality, “I wanna get home. I’m taking
off, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay, see you,” she said and watched him
make his way to the door.

****

Two bells meant a vote was being called and
one bell and one light signaled a quorum call on the floor of the
Senate. Jennifer looked at the clock on the wall outside her office
unconcerned. One light was lit, a quorum call, the Senate was in a
temporary holding pattern. A number of procedural votes were
scheduled for the morning, but none for the afternoon when the
Senator was scheduled to fly back to the state.

Jennifer had drafted and submitted her
memorandum on the mining industry’s request and the American
Service-Member’s Protection Act. The memo had survived Dave’s edit
largely intact. Her arguments and prose had been unemotional
appealing instead to the intent of the law and political common
sense. She highlighted the political risk of being seen as
obstructing the prosecution of war criminals. She argued that it
was a proposition that could blow up in their faces down the road,
which she thought would gain traction with her politically risk
adverse boss.

Although the memo was complete and well
supported, she wasn’t satisfied. She felt she was missing
something. Why would the mining industry feel threatened by the
ICC, she thought. It was no great leap that members of the industry
did business with countries with questionable human rights records
and even dictators who may be wanted by the Court. Sudan came to
mind. A direct link between the industry and the Court would prove
the case, she thought. The Senator would think twice before being
associated with a company linked to war crimes.

She flipped through the papers on her desk in
search of the Association’s brochure. One of the advantages of
being disorganized was that it was less likely that something would
be thrown out. She identified the folder by its glossy blue cover
with a futuristic abstract above the inscription, “Mining for
America’s Future.” She pulled out the insert listing a dozen mining
companies and a number of subsidiary companies. Over twenty in all,
researching each of them would take too long. She had a better
idea, she’d start with the lawyers and work backwards. She had the
card right here, Mr. Edward Talbot of Jones, Case, and Wadell. In
the meantime, she had the perfect intern assignment.

“Hey Jay,” she mouthed and waived through the
glass separator at Jay standing in the mail room with a stupid grin
on his face. She caught his attention and waived at him to come
into her office.

“Hey Jay,” she said as he walked through the
open door, “how ya doin?”

“Fine,” he said wary of her friendliness.

“Did you have fun last night?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Did you get really wasted?” she said in a
joking patronizing way.

“Yeah, as a matter of fact I did.”

“I’d say the evening was a grand success
then,” she said. “Hey Jay, listen friend, I’ve got an assignment
for you, a real assignment, not photocopying.” She hoped a
sufficient build up would create some enthusiasm. “I need some
research. I have a list of companies, mining companies, and I need
you to research them. I’ve got the list here, I’ll make you a
copy,” she said interrupting herself. “What I’m looking for is
articles about these companies doing business in foreign countries
and any problems they’ve had.”

“What kind of problems,” he asked before she
had the chance to finish.

“I’ll tell you,” she continued, “problems
like corruption, corruption in dealing with government officials, I
think that should be your main focus. Allegations that a company
engaged in corrupt practices, maybe bribed someone or engaged in
fraud or maybe was linked to unsavory characters. I’m thinking like
warlords or maybe criminal guerilla groups, something like that.
Does that make sense?” she asked. She had only limited hopes for
Jay’s success, but he needed something to do and she was
responsible for his internship. If it turned into a waste of time
well no great loss, she thought.

“Yeah, I think I get it,” he said, “give me
the folder and I’ll make a copy.”

“Oh and Jay, only use reliable sources, I’m
not interested in conspiracy theories from blogs.”

“Sure, I got it, no problem.”

That should keep him busy, she thought, and
while he was doing that she would start with the lawyers and try
and trace backwards. She typed “Edward Talbot” into the Martindale
Hubble search query and came up with a listing identifying him as a
partner in his firm with a specialization in land use law that had
broadened into representing the mineral extraction industry. He was
an active lobbyist on behalf of the industry and had experience in
the application of the foreign corrupt practices act. She read his
bio that described an east coast pedigree with degrees from U Penn
and Yale which he used to become an expert in the mining
industry.

A Lexis/Nexis search revealed numerous
mentions in articles in which he was quoted for his expertise in
association with mining and corruption issues. One in particular
caught her attention, a report from the BBC regarding a protection
services company that contracted with the United Nations. Armor
Group Inc., was listed on the AAMI brochure as providing logistical
and other services to industrial mining companies. According to the
report, the director of Armor Group was paying bribes to a UN
procurement officer for inside information and preferred access to
contracts for servicing the UN’s peacekeeping missions. The
director was also accused of selling information from his UN
contact to other companies doing business with Armor Group. “When
the dust settles and all the facts come to light, it will be shown
that no improper payments were made,” Edward Talbot was quoted as
saying. The article did not report the resolution of the case, but
another related report stated that Armor Group and the United
States Government had come to a settlement worth seventy million
dollars. Armor Group was linked to a number of mining companies
operating in different parts of Africa.

After about forty minutes, Jennifer had
uncovered a lot of smoke but no fire. She decided to change tactics
once again, starting with the ICC and see if any of its cases would
lead back to a particular company. The most compelling cases or
most hopeful for her purposes were fixed in Africa. A review of the
ICC docket identified cases involving warlords in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Sudan and Uganda. Some of the cases involved
outstanding arrest warrants. Any number of companies, she knew,
were involved in mineral extraction and export from the Congo,
perhaps also Sudan, but she associated Sudan with oil. She narrowed
her search to companies doing business in the Congo, but this was
far from conclusive. She would need something more definite to make
her case, not just inference based on circumstantial evidence.

She received a call from Bill in the
Committee office wanting to speak with her about the Senator’s
position for funding of public diplomacy for Iran. Bill needed an
answer by the end of the day and she was forced to put aside her
research materials to track down the Senator. She was able to catch
him before he left to return to the state and he confirmed his
support for funding. By the time, she got back to her desk and
passed the message along to Bill, the morning was over and she had
little to show for her efforts.

Loathe to waste anymore time on a wild goose
chase, she decided to cut the process short and call the Court
directly. The Court’s webpage provided a contact number for
government liaisons, which she thought sounded hopeful. She
considered a pretext, not wanting to simply call the Court and ask
if they had any cases involving mining companies. A legal question,
she thought, ought to help her get connected to someone who might
actually help her.

She dialed the number and heard the pickup on
the other end. “Communications office, how may I help?” a woman’s
voice said in accented English.

“Uhm hello, my name is Jennifer Gruning,
legislative counsel for U.S. Senator Bryant,” using her most
professional title. “I was hoping, I could speak with an attorney
on staff in your office about some information about the Court,”
she stumbled.

“Well perhaps I can help you, what is your
question?” came the curt response. I don’t want to speak to someone
in public relations, Jennifer didn’t say.

“Well my questions are procedural ones,”
Jennifer said trying to be as complicated as possible. “We are in
the process of marking up the Foreign Affairs Reauthorization Bill
in the Senate and some questions have come up as to the
jurisdiction of the Court over US entities and the obligations of
signatory countries under treaty law.”

There was a pause on the line, “well the
United States is not a member to the Rome Convention, so the Court
does not have jurisdiction over the United States,” came the
reply.

“Well yes of course, I know that,” now it was
Jennifer’s turn to be curt. “But the United States has been a
signatory and I believe even if you rescind that status, there are
still certain obligations under treaty law.”

Another pause, “well I think most of our
lawyers are in a meeting right now,” sounding annoyed.

“If you could check, I’d really appreciate
it.”

“Can you hold for a moment please?”

“Sure,” and the phone clicked to holding.
Jennifer held the phone to her ear and drew geometrical figures on
scratch paper as she waited.

“Alex Moore, how can I help you?” brusque and
confident in what she took to be a Scottish accent.

“Uh hello Alex, I’m Jennifer Gruning,” and
she provided a replay of the question that she contrived for the
woman who answered the phone.

“Well it’s an interesting question,” Alex
said launching into a loquacious response in contrast to the woman
who picked up the call. “You’re right,” he said, “even a country
that signs and rescinds its signature could have an obligation
under treaty law; however, it’s a pretty attenuated and not well
defined obligation. Nevertheless,” he continued, “a state that
rescinds its signature may have an obligation to not oppose or do
anything that would interfere with the implementation or
enforcement of the treaty in question. However, if that state
clearly asserts its intent not to ratify the treaty, then no, the
state has no obligation regarding the treaty.”