I'm Shocked, Shocked, I Tell You!!! Oil Company Execs Lied?

Remember the Cheney secret energy task force in 2001? Remember how Dickie fought tooth and nail to deny access to the documents of its meetings? Well, gee, it seems like all of us conspiracy nutwads were right after all about the composition of the task force and the fact that they had shit that they knew damn well to cover up.

A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.

The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being debated.

Now even though oil lobby butt-boy Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska made sure these liars weren't sworn in when they testified before Congress, there still may be a wet-ass hour for some oil big shots when they learn something about the law.

The executives were not under oath when they testified, so they are not vulnerable to charges of perjury; committee Democrats had protested the decision by Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) not to swear in the executives. But a person can be fined or imprisoned for up to five years for making "any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or representation" to Congress.

You see, the evidence is none other than Secret Service records, probably as close to an unimpeachable source as you could want, and it contrasts significantly with the testimony of five oil bigwigs.

Toward the end of the hearing, [New Jersey Senator Frank] Lautenberg asked the five executives: "Did your company or any representatives of your companies participate in Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001?" When there was no response, Lautenberg added: "The meeting . . . "

"No," said Raymond.

"No," said Chevron Chairman David J. O'Reilly.

"We did not, no," Mulva said.

"To be honest, I don't know," said BP America chief executive Ross Pillari, who came to the job in August 2001. "I wasn't here then."

"But your company was here," Lautenberg replied.

"Yes," Pillari said.

Shell Oil president John Hofmeister, who has held his job since earlier this year, answered last. "Not to my knowledge," he said.

Deny, lie, cover-up, then lie some more, denying the reality, finally slipping into cognitive dissonance as the lie becomes truth in self-inflicted Orwellian brainwashing. That's how your Republican-big business fascist axis spins.