Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power (86 page)

3.
“A quixotic . . . exaggeration” and “circulating . . . diplomacy”: William Nessen, “Sentiments Made Visible: The Rise and Reason of Aceh’s National Liberation Movement,” in Reid,
Verandah of Violence.

4.
Lost contract to Bechtel: Kristen E. Schulze, “Insurgency and the Counter-Insurgency: Strategy in the Aceh Conflict, October 1976–May 2004,” in Reid, ibid. Doral Inc.: Interview with Nezar Patria. “lived long enough” and “mid-life crisis”: Nessen, in Reid, op. cit.

5.
Declaration of independence: Nezar Patria, “Islam and Nationalism in the Free Aceh Movement, 1976–2005,” International History Department, London School of Economics. “foreign oil companies . . . immediately”: Schulze, in Reid, op. cit. “They have Mobil Oil . . . support us”: Interview with Nezar Patria.

6.
Jakarta to Washington, March 12, 2001.

7.
Ransom of $100,000, “heightened concern”: Jakarta to Washington, March 7, 2001. Newspaper advertisement proposal, “not advisable”: Jakarta to Washington, February 23, 2001.

8.
Jakarta to Washington, March 9, 2001.

9.
Interview with Robert Gelbard (HC).

10.
“We’ll know it”: Jakarta to Washington, March 14, 2001.

11.
Jakarta to Washington, March 8, 2001.

12.
Interview with Ifdhal Kasim.

13.
BusinessWeek,
December 28, 1998.

14.
Ibid.

15.
“confusion and ambivalence”: Interview with Agus Widjojo.

16.
State Department findings: 2000 Country Reports on Human Rights, www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/eap/707.htm. “The companies . . . dilemma in Aceh”: Jakarta to Washington, July 7, 1999, obtained by the author from a source.

17.
Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights: www.state.gov.www/global/human_rights/001220_fsdrl_principles.html.

18.
“They just didn’t see the relevance”: Interview with Arvind Ganesan. “We don’t sign on”: Interview with an ExxonMobil executive.

19.
All quotations from ExxonMobil internal documents from excerpts cited in Memorandum & Opinion, August 27, 2008, and Plaintiff’s Memorandum, July 18, 2008,
John Doe I v. ExxonMobil
, op. cit.

20.
Plaintiff’s Memorandum, ibid.

21.
Interviews with individuals familiar with ExxonMobil’s Global Security department. Also, declarations of Ron Wilson, John Alan Connor, Michael Farmer, Robert Haines, and Lance Johnson,
John Doe I v. ExxonMobil,
op. cit.

22.
“nothing as dramatic,” “physical safety”: Interview with an individual involved with the issues in Aceh. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act dilemma and reviews: Interview with another individual involved.

23.
Memorandum & Opinion, op. cit.

24.
“Ludicrous”: Interview with an individual involved. “deployment . . . security affairs”: Memorandum & Opinion, op. cit.

25.
Mike Farmer: Excerpts from his deposition, Memorandum & Opinion, ibid. Document quotations: Ibid., and the Plaintiff’s Memorandum, op. cit.

26.
“Such a formal move”: Abuja to Washington, August 12, 2003 (W). Other quotations from interviews with two individuals involved.

27.
All quotations from Colin Powell-Alwi Shihab meeting: Secretary of state to Jakarta, March 16, 2001.

28.
Robert Haines, Karen Brooks, and Skip Boyce: Interviews with individuals familiar with the discussions. All quotations from Ron Wilson-Luhut Pandjaitan meeting: Jakarta to Washington, March 19, 2001.

29.
Interview with Robert Gelbard (HC).

30.
All quotations from the Banda Aceh meeting: Jakarta to Washington, April 12, 2001.

31.
“seemed to support . . . burials”: Interview with Nordin Abdul Rahman. “ExxonMobil land . . . unacceptable”: Interview with Munawar Zainal.

32.
Interview with Robert Gelbard (HC).

33.
All quotations from Skip Boyce’s meetings in Banda Aceh: Jakarta to Washington, April 26, 2001.

34.
Stockholm to Washington, June 11, 2001.

35.
Jakarta to Washington, June 19, 2001.

36.
Jakarta to Washington, August 23, 2001.

37.
Jakarta to Washington, July 11, 2001.

38.
Interview with Terry Collingsworth (BVH).

39.
Complaint,
John Doe I v. ExxonMobil,
op. cit.

CHAPTER FIVE: “UNKNOWN INJURY”

1.
Interview with Mandy Lindeberg. Design of Lindeberg’s study: “Estimate of Oil Persisting on the Beaches of Prince William Sound 12 Years After the
Exxon Valdez
Oil Spill,”
Environmental Science and Technology
, 2004.

2.
Interviews with Auke Bay scientists and ExxonMobil consultant David Page (MR).

3.
Agreement and Consent Decree, October 9, 1991.
State of Alaska v. Exxon Corporation,
and
United States of America v. Exxon Corporation
, A91-082 CIV and A91-083 CIV.

4.
Interview with Jeffrey Short.

5.
Ibid. See also, “Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Caged Mussels Deployed in Prince William Sound After the
Exxon Valdez
Oil Spill,” American Fisheries Society Symposium, 1996.

6.
Salmon study: “Sensitivity of Fish Embryos to Weathered Crude Oil: Part II. Increased Mortality of Pink Salmon (
Oncorhynchus gorbuscha
) Embryos Incubating Downstream from Weathered
Exxon Valdez
Oil,”
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry,
1999. Damage to fish hearts, future research, single-generation effects: Interviews with Jeffrey Short and Stanley “Jeep” Rice. Financial damages: Interview with Craig Tillery, deputy attorney general, state of Alaska (MR).

7.
All quotations, interview with Jeffrey Short.

8.
Ibid.

9.
“PCB Exposure in Sea Otters and Harlequin Ducks in Relation to History of Contamination by the
Exxon Valdez
Spill,”
Marine Pollution Bulletin
, June 2010. Interview with Jeep Rice.

10.
Interviews with Peter Hagen, Jeffrey Short, Jeep Rice, and Mandy Lindeberg.

11.
Anchorage Daily News,
January 31, 2002.

12.
Interview with Jeffrey Short.

13.
Interview with David Page (MR).

14.
All quotations from interviews with Jeffrey Short and David Page (MR).

15.
Ibid.

CHAPTER SIX: “E.G. MONTH!”

1.
Interview with Frank Ruddy.

2.
This summary is drawn from three overlapping accounts of Equatorial Guinea’s short, brutal history: Roberts,
The End of Oil;
Ghazvinian,
Untapped;
and Maass,
Crude World.

3.
Quotations and details: Len Shurtleff, “A Foreign Service Murder,”
Foreign Service Journal
, October 2007.

4.
10 percent: Teodoro Obiang Nguema quoted in SecState to Yaounde, September 14, 2001. Except where indicated, the author obtained the State cables quoted in this chapter through a Freedom of Information Act request.

5.
Roberts,
op. cit.; Ghazvinian, op. cit.; and Maass, op. cit.

6.
Interview with Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

7.
Interview with Frank Ruddy.

8.
“Thanks”: Interview with Teodoro Obiang Nguema. That Juan Olo negotiated without bankers or lawyers: Interview with an adviser to Obiang.

9.
Documents, including extensive internal Riggs memos and e-mails, obtained and published by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, July 15, 2004. Hereafter “Riggs documents.”

10.
Yaounde to Washington, July 13, 1999, obtained by the author.

11.
Abuja to Washington, September 9, 2005 (W).

12.
“We should put”: Interview with the adviser to Obiang. Five thousand dollars: Riggs documents, op. cit.

13.
Riggs documents, ibid.

14.
SecState to Monrovia, February 24, 2001; Yaounde to Washington, March 2, 2001.

15.
SecState to Yaounde, March 2 and March 16, 2001.

16.
SecState to Yaounde, March 16, 2001. Africa Global appears to have wound down its operations. Calls to a Louisiana public affairs firm that manages the name plate on its Web site were not returned.

17.
All quotations, SecState to Yaounde, April 12, 2001.

18.
Ibid. Also SecState to Madrid, July 27, 2001.

19.
All quotations, SecState to Yaounde, September 14, 2001.

20.
Yaounde to Washington, October 28, 2002.

21.
Yaounde to Washington, January 30, 2003.

22.
All quotations, Yaounde to Washington, January 29, 2002.

23.
Ibid.

24.
Wall Street Journal,
January 10, 2006.

25.
Up to $3 million in cash; “The president . . . P.R. firm”: Riggs documents, op. cit.

26.
Riggs documents. Plane features: Roberts,
The Wonga Coup.

CHAPTER SEVEN: “THE CAMEL AND THE JACKAL”

1.
“Poor to non-existent . . . corruption”: N’djamena to Washington, February 8, 2006, from a State Department cable released to the author in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. All other quotations from Christopher Goldthwait’s collection of letters, which were made available to the author by Ambassador Goldthwait. Hereafter “Goldthwait letters.”

2.
Fifteen hundred doctoral degree holders:
Fortune
, April 16, 2001. Chari floodplain: ExxonMobil PowerPoint slides, released by Esso Chad. Upstream skills groups and reorganization: Interview with a former ExxonMobil scientist.

3.
“Visit of Chad President,”
State Department Bulletin
, 1987
.

4.
English translation of the 1988 convention made available to the author by Ian Gary. “You don’t have time . . . he wanted”: Interview with Salibou Garba.

5.
Rosemarie Forsythe as prodigy: LeVine,
The Oil and the Glory
, p. 211. Forsythe’s role: Interviews with oil industry and former Clinton administration officials. April planning exercise: Interviews with ExxonMobil executives.

6.
Interviews with ExxonMobil executives, ibid.

7.
“The good Lord didn’t see fit”: Dick Cheney, Cato Institute, June 23, 1998. Simeon Moats: Interviews with former government and intelligence officials who consulted with Moats after he joined ExxonMobil. Hank Cohen and quotations: Interview with Hank Cohen.

8.
All Tom Walters quotations: Testimony Before House Subcommittee on Africa, April 18, 2002. Rex Tillerson quotation:
New York Times
, May 16, 2001.