By Kenneth J. Theisen, 3/16/07
Last year I reported the arrest and prosecution of Javed
Iqbal of Staten Island, New York. (See “Is your “Cable Guy” an
Enabler of Terrorists?”) He was arrested and charged with conspiring to violate
the International Emergency Economic Powers Act because he provided television
customers in the New York
area with access to al Manar, the television station run by Hezbollah, an
alleged terrorist group. The Justice
Department considered this a victory in its war on terror. Cutting off support,
particularly financial support, for terrorists has been one of the tools used
by the U.S.
in the so-called war on terrorism.
But contrast the Iqbal case to a recent settlement
by the
same Justice Department in another “support of terrorism case”.
Yesterday Chiquita Brands International announced it will pay a $25
million fine
after admitting it gave $1.7 million to the United
Self-Defense Forces of Colombia AUC is
a right-wing paramilitary group which was designated as a terrorist
organization in September 2001 by the U.S. government. The Justice
Department in papers it filed
yesterday accused several of Chiquita’s high-ranking corporate honchos
of
funneling the money to AUC. Justice
Department court filings indicate that payments were
approved by senior executives at Chiquita and then the payments were
disguised
as other expenses on the company’s books. (AUC) between 1997 and 2004.
In a Chiquita legal memorandum dated
February 2003, but filed yesterday with the court documents, lawyers for the
company wrote, “Bottom line: CANNOT MAKE THE PAYMENT.” But despite this warning, the company
continued to finance AUC.
It is
not clear how AUC utilized this money, but AUC is responsible for several of Columbia’s most notorious
massacres and runs one of the largest cocaine exporting operations in the
world. It also operates a kidnapping
operation and has been linked to Columbian government death squads.
But do
not expect any company officials to go to prison or even pay any personal
fines. These are corporate executives
that wear suits, not some working class guy who installs TV satellites.
They
will not face tribunals as “enemy combatants” or be tortured in secret prisons
run by the CIA. They not only will not be denied the right to an attorney like
those that face military tribunals, but they have their attorneys paid by the
company that then takes the cost off their corporate taxes. Chiquita will write off the fine as the cost
of doing business and likely hike the price of bananas to cover the costs.
So
Chiquita gave a million and change to some terrorists. Big deal! At
least it was not hooking up people’s TV sets to watch a “terrorist”
station. And the Chiquita executives are headquartered in Ohio, a
state that helped George W. steal his second election. It is likely
the executives even voted for Dubya. God bless America where the
average corporate executive can count on the Justice Department
enforcing the law in an evenhanded manner for all those who “enable
terrorism”.