Oil tycoons on the submarine
The list of civilians aboard the USS Greeneville doesn't reveal a fundraising scandal, but it does underscore the link between money and access to power.
By Daryl Lindsey
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February 21, 2001 | WASHINGTON -- Texas oil money will buy you access to more than just Washington environmental policy. Apparently, it will also get you a seat on the USS Greeneville. If you're lucky, the sub's captain might even let you have a go at the controls.
Following its initial investigation of the sinking of Japanese fishing vessel Ehime Maru, the Navy finally released Saturday a list of civilians who were aboard the USS Greeneville the day it rammed into the Ehime Maru, killing nine passengers, including four Japanese students.
As we get further away from the accident, it's becoming obvious that the press (including Salon) may have overblown the role in the incident of contributors to a nonprofit organization seeking to preserve the USS Missouri as a Pearl Harbor memorial: Only four of the submarine's civilian guests have been shown to have direct links with that organization. Still, the list does reveal much about the connections among money, politics and power.
The main criticism lodged against the Navy so far has been that it allowed civilians at the controls of a nuclear submarine -- a powerful and lethal weapon with great capacity for accidents or destruction. The purported scandal within the scandal is the presence of contributors to the USS Missouri Memorial Association, of which former President George Bush is honorary chairman. And two civilian passengers who were aboard the Greeneville seem to tie the threads together.
These two passengers, John Hall and Todd Thoman, told NBC's "Today" last week that they were allowed to participate in the emergency surfacing procedure that resulted in the accident. The New York Daily News reported Friday that Hall is a Texas oilman who has been "a player in several multimillion-dollar gas and pipeline deals."
In addition to their oil ties and their turns at the wheel, Hall and Thoman have another tie that goes to the heart of the Greeneville controversy. The Honolulu Advertiser reports that the company they run, Fossil Bay Resources, donated $7,500 to the Missouri Memorial Association, although the check was returned after the delay of a planned fundraiser.
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