A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

BP gets a picture of its executives no company ever wants - its senior management swearing to tell the truth before Congress.

But there's one person who seems a bit out of place in that picture. He's the guy on the far left, Richard Woollam the former chief corrosion monitor for the company. You look at that picture and it's clear how out of place he is among the black suits, pressed shirts, and relatively thin men.

This other picture from the ADN, shows him in all his glory. He couldn't have sprung for a sport jacket?

I think BP should be glad he was present yesterday. By presenting such a diametrically opposite image to what the executives presented, refusing to testify, and then running away without speaking to anyone, he only confirms himself in the role that BP management wants him to play now: scapegoat.

I, for one, would be a bit more accepting of the scapegoat theory if I'd heard his name before his star turn yesterday. But it's somewhat hard to believe the BP executives when they pull a guy out of nowhere, parade him before the country, and then let him run away without actually explaining anything.