Pat Shannan's MUSINGS
You Figure It Out
Franklin Roosevelt said a mouthful when he uttered, "Nothing happens in politics by accident. If it happened, it was planned that way."
While the Russkies were immersed in bullets, bayonets, and shrapnel in Afghanistan - the decade of the 80s - the USA supported Bin Laden and the Taliban and viewed them as freedom fighters against the Russians. As late as 1998, the U.S. was putting its money where its mouth was by paying the salary of every single Taliban official in Afghanistan.
The engineering wizards tell us that there is more oil & gas in the Caspian Sea area than in Saudi Arabia - some six trillion bucks worth - but a massive pipeline through Afghanistan is necessary to get the black gold out.
UNOCAL, a giant American Oil conglomerate, wanted to build a 1000 mile long pipeline from the Caspian Sea through Afghanistan to the Arabian Sea. The company spent a few bazillion $$ on geological surveys for pipeline construction, while at the same time courting the Taliban for support in allowing the construction to begin. The negotiations matured to near-success in 1998, it must be assumed, when all of the leading Taliban officials were in Texas attempting to finalize the deal.
But for some unknown reason, the confab hit a stonewall, and in 1999, the Taliban not only backed off but chased UNOCAL out of the country and awarded the pipeline project to an Argentine company. ("Thanks for your research data.")
One of UNOCAL's vice presidents, John Maresca, in a testimony before Congress, said that no pipeline would be built until the Taliban is gone and a more friendly government is established. He made no mention of just exactly how UNOCAL intended to interfere with the Afghan's contract with Argentina.
In the year 2001, the world's news propagandist began to inform us that Taliban was made up of the most evil people in the world. In July of that year, secret plans were being laid in Washington to invade Afghanistan. Now ain't that weird? Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would proceed by the middle of October.
The plan leaked and warnings began to seep in from guess whom? Conspiracy nuts? Hardly. These actually came from some honest FBI agents. Not extinct but a rare find today.
The first known caveat came from FBI agent Robert Wright. He tried to warn his superiors six months before September 11th that Americans were in danger of terrorist attacks at home. No one listened to Wright and it didn't get much news coverage.
Wright spoke out again at a press conference in Washington, D.C. in May. He accused the FBI of intentionally thwarting investigations of known terrorists. But instead of making national news, Wright's story was again downplayed, and, more disturbingly, the FBI tried to block his new book, Fatal Betrayals of the Intelligence Mission.
Wright also said, in tears, live on C-Span, that John Ashcroft threatened him for months to shut his mouth.
The manager of the Radical Fundamentalist Unit at the FBI Headquarters, David Frasca, ignored the warnings of upcoming terrorist attacks from two field agents, independent of each other: Kenneth Williams in early July and Coleen Rowley in August.
Immediately after the 911 attack, President Bush and all of Cabinet members jumped on the bandwagon to publicly castigate Osama bin Ladin, but none offered any proof. When queried for evidence, their response was, "It's a secret." Hmmm.
Even the Taliban officials offered to find Osama bin Laden, arrest him, and turn him in to the American tribunal, if only the USA would show them some proof of his guilt. Nope. That wasn't important. Instead, the U.S. ignored that request and bombed, and the oil thirsty Bush Brigade began its war in Afghanistan as planned, even though none of the alleged hijackers was an Afghan.
In 2002, the Taliban became somewhat persona non grata (presumably, along with the Argentine pipeline company) and President Bush appointed a special envoy to represent the USA in its dealing with the new Afghan government. Lo and behold! It is the former chief consultant to UNOCAL, and the leader of that new government formerly worked for UNOCAL.
("Nothing happens in politics by accident . . .")
On January 31, 2002, the U. S. quietly announced that it would support the construction of the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline. Ten days later Pakistani President Musharref and Karrzai, (Afghanistan - UNOCAL) announced an agreement to build the proposed gas pipeline from Central Asia to Pakistan via Afghanistan. (Irish Times 02/10/02)
Does anyone remember that the Bush family fortune was acquired through international oil dealings over the past seventy years, beginning with Grandpa Prescott? George W. Bush's Secretary of the Interior was the president of an oil company before going to Washington. Former CIA Director and President George Bush, Sr. now works with the Carlyle Group specializing in gigantic oil contracts around the world. Carlyle whiz-bang Frank Carlucci is the former Secretary of Defense.
Carlyle has counted George Soros (CFR), Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud of Saudi Arabia, and Osama bin Laden's estranged family among its high-profile clientele. The bin Laden family were shareholders in Carlyle until shortly after 9/11.
Condoleezza Rice worked for Chevron before going to Washington, and after achieving her new status as a Bush's NSA advisor, Chevron honored Condoleezza's name in perpetuity by naming its newest supertanker after her.
Big Dick Cheney (see Tranceformation of America by O'brien/Phillips) worked for the giant oil conglomerate Haliburton and was honored with a $34 million farewell gift before becoming Vice President. Haliburton, incidentally, is in the business of constructing pipelines worldwide.
Bush's war on terrorism is as phony as Lincoln's war on slavery.