ABSTRACT
The heckling began as soon as BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward, opened his mouth to address the US Congress at yesterday’s hearing. But the heckling also came from congressmen. Democrat Henry Waxman portrayed Hayward as “cavalier”, while Republican Michael Burgess expressed his fear that Hayward might be in charge of other oil wells around the world, suggesting that the BP chief executive was putting the world at risk. Photographs of oil-soaked pelicans are a reminder of our collective destructiveness and not just the damage done by BP. The congressional accusations have shown a determination to prove Hayward guilty before the trial has begun. Republican congressman Joe Barton apologised yesterday to BP for the £20 billion escrow account it has been asked to create. The witch hunt arises as a way of splitting off the conflict by investing it with the form of an external enemy.
