Unocal, a California-based petroleum corporation, has gained permission from a Los Angeles judge to request that the United States State Department dismiss the human rights case lodged against Unocal by Burmese villagers. The judge granted permission based on a recent decision by the State Department to ask that a similar case against Exxon Mobil be dismissed. The State Department cited national security interests in the Exxon case, involving the war on terrorism in Indonesia.
