Floyd flogs Bush over 'Copycat Killers' the Prez has inspired in Indonesia. The Aceh invasion follows a script pre-written by the Pentagon for Iraq, it seems. What's most interesting is the eerie similarity between the corporate crimes the U.S. condones in Aceh with those it actively supports in Burma.

In Aceh, it seems the good people at ExxonMobil are being accused of backing torture, rape and murder in pursuit of their daily crumb of profit and Bush is trying to defeat a lawsuit springing from these human rights crimes.

In fact, there has been an interesting confluence between the Bushists, ExxonMobil and war-ravaged Aceh. Last year, Bush intervened in the U.S. courts to quash a lawsuit filed by Aceh natives against the American oil company, which uses Indonesian troops as hired muscle to protect its operations against the local riff-raff. The Acehnese accused ExxonMobil of colluding with its hired hands in the murder, rape and torture of civilians. But Bush said the lawsuit would "harm American foreign policy interests." This certainly seems a bit of a stretch -- unless, of course, "American foreign policy interests" involve murder, rape and torture by corporate mercenaries. Surely Mr. Bush is not saying that -- is he?

Meanwhile, in another courtroom, Ashcroft has filed an amicus brief seeking to stifle a lawsuit brought by Burmese villagers alleging Unocal, another oil company crony, followed a similar dismal management style in their country.

Everyone apparently agrees that the villagers allegations are true, but Ashcroft is attacking the law that allows them to do anything about it.

In its brief, the Justice Department embarks on a wholesale attack on the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), the law underlying the villagers' claims. For over twenty years, since the landmark 1980 case of Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, courts have ruled that the ATCA permits victims of serious violations of international law abroad to seek civil damages in U.S. courts against perpetrators found in the United States.

The Justice Department's proposed interpretation of the law would radically narrow its scope. The law would be changed so dramatically, in fact, that as the Department itself acknowledges, it would be rendered "superfluous."

If one can judge people by the friends they keep then by all means let judge Bush and Ashcroft be measured by the pals who act in their stead.