March 1996, prominent US senator Hank Brown, a supporter of the Unocal project, visited Kabul and other Afghan cities. He met with the Taliban and invited them to send delegates to a Unocal-funded conference on Afghanistan in the US. In the same month, the US also exerted pressure on the Pakistani government to ditch its arrangements with Bridas and back the American company.{The Taliban the US and the Resources of Central Asia]
March 1996 - October 1997, Iraq impeded inspectors from entering Iraqi
security service and military facilities, and it interfered with some UNSCOM
flights.
March 1996 March, 1996, Maj. Gen. Elfatih Erwa, then the Sudanese Minister of State
for Defense, offered to extradite bin Laden either to Saudi Arabia or the
United States. U.S. officials turned down the offer of extradition. 'The
Washington Post' article that reported this goes into some length quoting U.S.
officials attempting to explain exactly why they turned down the offer. The
officials are quoted explaining that the Saudis were afraid of a fundamentalist
backlash if they jailed and executed bin Laden, that they resented Sudan, that
the U.S. resented Sudan, that the U.S. didn't have sufficient evidence to put
him on trial. Everything, in fact, except the simplest explanation: that bin
Laden was a U.S. asset - either part of the CIA, or someone whom the CIA used.
Perhaps the 'Washington Post' writers were hinting at this explanation when
they wrote:
"And
there were the beginnings of a debate, intensified lately, on whether the
United States wanted to indict and try bin Laden or to treat him as a combatant
in an underground war." ('The Washington Post,')
Emphasis
on the word 'treat' as in 'pretend that he was.' In any case, the Sudanese
offer of extradition was turned down.
"[U.S.
officials] said, 'Just ask him to leave the country. Just don't let him go to
Somalia,' Erwa, the Sudanese general, said in an interview. 'We said he will go
to Afghanistan, and they [US officials!] said, 'Let him.'"
April 1996, Mobil announced that it had purchased from the Kazakh government a 25%
share in the consortium developing Tengiz. Given adequate export outlets,
Tengiz can reach peak production of 750,000 bbl/d_ by 2010.
DOE/EIA
Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00 Page 9
April 1996: In 1995,
the government of Sudan offers the US all of its files on bin Laden and
al-Qaeda, but the US turns down the offer. Bin Laden had been living in Sudan
since 1991. The Sudanese government collected a "vast intelligence
database on Osama bin Laden and more than 200 leading members of his al-Qaeda
terrorist network... [The US was] offered thick files, with photographs and
detailed biographies of many of his principal cadres, and vital information
about al-Qaeda's financial interests in many parts of the globe." In April
1996, the US again rejects Sudan's offer of the files [cooperativeresearch.org]
April 30, 1996 In the United States, President Clinton approves the sale of $227
million of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. At current oil
prices, roughly 12 million barrels would be sold. The Clinton Administration
hopes that the sale will lower gasoline prices in the United States, which are
at their highest levels in five years. (WSJ)
May 7, 1996 Tsunao Saitoh, who formerly worked at an HHMI-funded lab at Columbia
University, was shot to death on May 7, 1996 while sitting in his car outside
his home in La Jolla, Calif. Police also described this as a professional hit.
Howard
Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) funds a tremendous number of research programs
at schools, hospitals and research facilities, and has long been alleged to be
conducting "black ops" biomedical research for intelligence
organizations, including the CIA.
May 13, 1996: Ramsey Yousef is accused of having designed the bomb that blew up in
the World Trade Centre in 1993....His idea was to topple one of the twin towers
onto the other..... perhaps 50,000 people would have perished. ...Yousef placed
a bomb on a Philippines Airlines jet ...... testing a method he intended using
to destroy three US passenger planes at a later date. The Telegraph (U.K.
Electronic Edition) Issue 382
May 15, 1996, Foreign Minister Taha sent a fax to Carney in Nairobi, giving up on
the transfer of custody. His government had asked bin Laden to vacate the
country, Taha wrote, and he would be free to go." ('The Washington Post,' 3 October 2001)
Note:
"We said he will go to Afghanistan, and they [US officials!] said, 'Let
him.'"
Why
couldn't the U.S. government have accepted the Sudanese offer to extradite bin
Laden? Why couldn't they have jailed him, gotten together their best case and
put him on trial? What exactly did the U.S. government have to lose? The worst
that could have happened would have been that they failed to convict him and
had to let him leave the country... JUST LET HIM GO, OH, ANYWHERE. MAYBE TO -
AFGHANISTAN! [http://emperors-clothes.com/news/probestop-i.htm]
May 20, 1996 In New York, the United Nations and Iraq agree to U.N. Resolution 986,
which provides Iraq with the opportunity to sell $1 billion of oil for 90 days
for a 180-day trial period. Under the resolution, proceeds from the sale would
be used for humanitarian purposes. The agreement comes following months of
heated negotiations. Iraqi oil exports are expected to begin by the Fall of
1996, after a pumping station on the Iraq-Turkey pipeline is repaired and U.N
monitoring and aid distribution facilities are put in place. Shortly after the
agreement, the White House announces its decision to allow U.S. oil companies
to purchase Iraqi oil exports. (FT, PON, WSJ)
June 1996: Mr. Dale Watson was named Deputy Chief of the CIA at the
Counter-terrorist Center.
Mid 1996: Pakistan was not the only source of assistance (to the Taliban). Saudi
Arabia also provided substantial financial and material aid. Shortly after the
Taliban took control of Kandahar, JUI head Maulana Fazlur Rehman began to
organise "hunting trips" for royalty from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf
States. By mid-1996, Saudi Arabia was sending funds, vehicles and fuel to
support the Taliban’s push on Kabul. The reasons were two-fold. On the
political plane, the Taliban’s fundamentalist ideology was close to the Saudi’s
own Wahabbism. It was hostile to the Shiite sect and thus to Riyadh’s major
regional rival—Iran. On a more prosaic level, the Saudi oil company, Delta Oil,
was a partner in the Unocal pipeline and was pinning its hopes on a Taliban
victory to get the project off the ground.
June 24, 1996: The Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan signs a deal with Enron
"that could lead to joint development of the central Asian nation's
potentially rich natural gas fields." [Houston Chronicle, 6/25/96] The $1.3 billion
venture teams Enron with the state companies of Russian and Uzbekistan. [Houston Chronicle, 6/30/96]
July 8, 1996: The US government agrees to give $400 million to help Enron and a Uzbeki
state company develop natural gas fields in the Central Asian nation of
Uzbekistan. [Oil and Gas Journal, 7/8/96]
July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 bound for Paris, exploded shortly after
takeoff from New York's Long Island, killing all 230 people on board.
July 18, 1996 The United Nations formally approves an Iraqi aid distribution plan, a
major step forward in the direction of allowing Iraq to sell oil under
Resolution 986. (DJ)
July 21, 1996: Officials of Al Hayat, a prominent Arabic-language newspaper, said they
received faxes in London and Washington early on Wednesday, warning of a
planned attack on an American target. The letter was signed by a group
identifying itself as the Movement of Islamic Change, the Jihad wing. [New York
Times]. This was learned shortly after TWA 800 was shot down it.....a
connection to Sheikh Rahman, and a threat that apparently the U.S. government
does not consider to be credible ?.
August 1996: Osama Bin Laden began issuing public calls for a jihad against the US
in August 1996 [The Taliban, the US and the resource of Central Asia]
August 13, 1996: Unocal and Delta Oil of Saudi Arabia come to agreement with state
companies in Turkmenistan and Russia to to build a natural gas pipeline from
Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan. [Unocal website, 8/13/96]
August 25, 1996 U.S. officials investigating reports that Islamic terrorists have
smuggled Stinger ground-to-air missiles into the United States from Pakistan.
Senior Iranian sources close to the fundamentalist regime in Tehran claimed
this weekend that TWA flight 800 was shot down last month by one of three
shoulder-fired Stingers of the type used by Islamic guerrillas during the
Afghanistan war. The sources said the missiles arrived in America seven months
ago... [Times of London]
September 22, 1996: More than 150 credible witnesses saw a missile destroy TWA 800.
"Some of these people are extremely, extremely credible," a top
federal official said. U.S. military experts, who debriefed them and
independently confirmed for the FBI that their descriptions matched
surface-to-air missile attacks.. Investigators are reviewing an anonymous
threat received after the October 1, 1995 conviction of radical sheik
Omar Abdel Rahman .... the threat was that a New York airport or jetliner would
be attacked in retaliation........ (The New York Post)
Three
high-speed objects were picked up on radar crossing the aircraft's flight path
just before it began its fatal dive. On June 18, 2000 the Chairman of the
Egyptian Civil Authority hand delivered a letter (Click for pdf file) to the Administrator of the
FAA requesting assistance in identifying these high-speed returns but was
denied the information he requested. (For similar reports of high speed objects
reported by other aircraft flying into and out of Kennedy airport please read The Tale of the Tapes.) Were these objects
missiles fired in the same sequence as that which brought down TWA 800? (See
the article "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever").
September 27, 1996: The Taliban conquer Kabul [AP, 8/19/02], establishing control over much of
Afghanistan. The oil company Unocal is hopeful that the Taliban will stabilize
Afghanistan, and allow its (gas) pipeline plans to go forward. In fact,
"preliminary agreement [on the pipeline] was reached between the [Taliban
and Unocal] long before the fall of Kabul." "Oil industry insiders
say the dream of securing a pipeline across Afghanistan is the main reason why
Pakistan, a close political ally of America's, has been so supportive of the
Taliban, and why America has quietly acquiesced in its conquest of
Afghanistan." [Telegraph, 10/11/96]
September 1996: Greased with over $1.8 million in contributions from the big three
utility companies, California lawmakers unanimously enact deregulation law.
Legislation promises competition, 20% decreases. Gov. Pete Wilson signs the
bill into law, saying that the landmark legislation is a major step in our
efforts to guarantee lower rates, provide consumer choice and offer reliable
service, so no one literally is left in the dark. We've pulled the plug on
another outdated monopoly and replaced it with the promise of a new era of
competition. ("Energy 'Crisis' Was A $71 Billion Hoax, And It's Not Over,
Report Says", http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/utilities/pr/pr002170.php3 )
October 11, 1996: The Telegraph publishes an interesting article about pipeline politics
in Afghanistan. Some quotes: "Behind the tribal clashes that have scarred
Afghanistan lies one of the great prizes of the 21st century, the fabulous
energy reserves of Central Asia." "'The deposits are huge,' said a
diplomat from the region. ‘Kazakhstan alone may have more oil than Saudi
Arabia. Turkmenistan is already known to have the fifth largest gas reserves in
the world.'" [Telegraph, 10/11/96]
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is one of the most important think-tanks
advising the US government, as well as many other governments abroad. CFR
members include the Pentagon's top advisers,
Currently:
Richard Perle, Henry Kissinger, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, ex-CIA
chief James Woolsey,
Richard
Perle is currently Head of the Defense Policy Board, Department of Defense
which advises the Pentagon. Perle is also Director of Hollinger Inc, Hollinger
Digital also owns Onset Technology which cooperates with spy messenger software
of Comverse and Odigo. Hollinger Inc. owns more than 400 newspapers worldwide
and controls almost 50% of the Canadian press. They are the third largest
newspaper chain in the Western world, after Gannett and Rupert Murdoch's News
Corporation. Chairman and CEO of Hollinger is Conrad Black who controls about
78% of Hollinger through a private holding company. Hollinger also owns the
Sydney Morning Herald, the Chicago Sun Times and the Daily Telegraph. On the board
of Daily Telegraph is Henry Kissinger, ex-CIA-Director James Woolsey, Newt
Gingrich, former Admiral David Jeremiah, Dan Quayle, former US-ministers James
Schlesinger and Harold Brown. On 26th of October Daily Telegraph tried to
promote the Iraq-October-anthrax theory: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2001%2F10%2F26%2Fwirq26.xml
Hollinger
and their board members, including Henry Kissinger, have connections to Sunday
Times, Chase Manhattan Bank, AT&T, American Express, J.P. Morgan Chase
& Co, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Hasbro and Israeli Yellow Pages.
Hollinger
also owns the Jerusalem Post. It's very convenient to follow Richard Perle’s
strategy, supported by his friends James Woolsey, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard
Armitage. Richard Perle was expelled
from Senator Henry Jackson's office in the 1970's after the National Security
Agency (NSA) caught him passing Highly-Classified (National Security) documents
to the Israeli Embassy. He later worked for the Israeli weapons firm, Soltam.
CFR
(Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting February 13, 1997
"World Energy Outlook and Opportunities for Oil and Gas Investment"
Speaker: Harald Norvik President and Chairman, Executive Board, Statoil Group
Presider: William F. Martin
"World Energy Outlook and Opportunities for Oil and Gas Investment"
Speaker: Harald Norvik President and Chairman, Executive Board, Statoil Group
Presider: William F. Martin
[www.cfr.org]
February 24, 1997 Qatar inaugurates the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporting
facility and formally launches Qatar Liquefied Gas Co., which will have total
output capacity of 6 million tons per year of LNG. The facilities are part of a
new $7.2 billion industrial zone which also includes a sea port with a capacity
to handle 25-30 million tons of LNG annually. Qatar plans to build more gas
liquefaction plants in the area to exploit its natural gas reserves of around
237 trillion cubic feet. (DJ)
CFR
(Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting February 27, 1997
"Business-Government Partnership in the Global Economy"
Speaker: Rebecca P. Mark Chairman and CEO, Enron International
Presider: Ivan Selin
[www.cfr.org]
"Business-Government Partnership in the Global Economy"
Speaker: Rebecca P. Mark Chairman and CEO, Enron International
Presider: Ivan Selin
[www.cfr.org]
1997: World oil supply increases by 2.25 million barrels per day in 1997, the
largest annual increase since 1988. Driving oil prices down further (to approx
$17 per barrel)
1997: Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski publishes a book
in which he portrays the Eurasian landmass as the key to world power, and
Central Asia with its vast oil reserves as the key to domination of Eurasia. He
states that for the US to maintain its global primacy, it must prevent any
possible adversary from controlling that region. Almost prophetically, he notes
that because of popular resistance to US military expansionism, his ambitious
strategy could not be implemented "except in the circumstance of a truly
massive and widely perceived direct external threat." [The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic
Imperatives, 1997 (the link is to excerpts of the book from a From
the Wilderness article)]
1997: Battelle Memorial Institute, a military contractor in Ohio, has
experience making powdered germs participated in a secret Central Intelligence
Agency program, code-named Clear Vision and begun in 1997, that used benign
substances similar to anthrax to mimic Soviet efforts to create small bombs
that could emit clouds of lethal germs. 1997
BioPort, from Lansing, Michigan (former Michigan Biologics Products Institute
MBPI) is founded by Fuad al-Hibri (Ex-Porton International UK) and Admiral
William Crowe, 76, former military chief under President Ronald Reagan. Their
main purpose is to develop anti bio-agents.
April 1, 1997: The Indian village of Katalwadi, at the forefront of protests against
Enron's Dabhol Power project, is attacked by Enron supporters armed with
swords, sharpened hoes (colloquially known as "choppers"), wooden
sticks, light bulbs filled with acid, and explosive soda bottles. Following the
attack, the police arrests and charge the anti-Enron villagers with criminal
offenses, including attempted murder, under the Indian Penal Code. The
perpetrators of the attack, however, are detained only briefly the following
day and are not charged with assault. 1997 sees a number of attacks on people
opposed to Enron's power plant. ("The Enron Corporation: Corporate
Complicity in Human Rights Violations",
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/enron/enron5-0.htm )
May 1997: Police beat and arrest nearly 180 protesters who are demonstrating
peacefully outside the Dabhol Power Corporation gates. ("The Enron
Corporation: Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Violations",
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/enron/enron5-0.htm )
May 16, 1997 A final agreement creating the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) is
signed by project participants: Russia (24 percent), Kazakstan 19%, Chevron
Corp. 15%, AO Lukoil/Arco Corp. 12.5 %, Mobil Corp. 7.5%, AO Rosneft/Shell
Corp. 7.5 %, Oman 7%, Agip SpA 2%, British Gas PLC 2%, Oryx Corp. 1.75%, and
Kazakstan Pipeline Ventures, a joint venture of Kazakstan's state oil company
and Amoco Corp. 1.75%. The Russian government plans to transfer its stake to
two Russian oil companies, AO Lukoil and AO Rosneft. CPC plans to begin
building a 932-mile pipeline to transport crude oil from the Caspian region to
Russia's Black Sea coast in 1998 and begin shipping around 558,000 barrels per
day of oil in 1999 (planned peak capacity is 1.4 million barrels per day). (DJ)
Agreements Signed in Historic Caspian Pipeline Consortium
Restructuring [Law Firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]
May 20, 1997 President Clinton signs an executive order barring new U.S. investment
in Burma (also known as Myanmar), effective May 21 and renewable annually. U.S.
companies have invested about $250 million in Burma, primarily in the oil and
gas sector. The biggest U.S. investor is Unocal, which is building (with
France's Total) a $1.2 billion pipeline from Burma's Yadana natural gas field
to an electric power plant in Thailand. (DJ)
June 1997: Maharashtra police raid a fishing village where many residents oppose
the Enron power plant.They arbitrarily beat and arrest dozens of villagers,
including Sadhana Bhalekar, the wife of a well-known protester against the
plant. They break down the door and window of Bhalekar's bathroom and drag her
naked into the street, beating her with batons. Bhalekar is three months
pregnant
at the time. ("Enron: History of Human Rights Abuse in India",
http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/01/enron_012302.htm )
Jun 4, 1997 Akin Gump Expands Russian Practice [Law Firm of
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]
Jul 1, 1997 Akin Gump Enhances Energy Practice in Brussels [Law
Firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]
Jul 11, 1997 Akin Gump Expands Corporate Technology Practice [Law
Firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]
July 17, 1997 A Federal grand jury in Manhattan is investigating whether a renegade
Saudi millionaire .... has been funneling money to terrorist groups in the
United States.... An official ... said that the money had been delivered to
groups in Detroit, Jersey City and Brooklyn ....He (bin Laden) was ... linked
to Ramzi Ahmed Yousef ...in the three years before the attack on the Trade
Center ..... Yousef lived in Pakistan in a house paid for by bin Laden, the
State Department report said.[New York Times]
July 1997 The U.S. State Department decided in July 1997 that proposed exports of
natural gas from Turkmenistan to Turkey via Iran did not technically violate
U.S. law. In addition, the State Department has opposed large-scale oil swaps
with Iran by U.S. companies. Officials from Turkmenistan and Pakistan and
representatives from Unocal and Saudi Arabia’s Delta Oil signed an agreement to
build the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan line. The 900+mile pipeline would
have cost between $2 billion and $2.7 billion, and would have carried
approximately 700 Bcf of gas from Turkmenistan’s Daulatabad gas field to the
central Pakistani city of Multan. [DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00]
July 1997: In the immediate aftermath of the Mazar-e-Sharif debacle, an abrupt
policy about-face, the Clinton administration ended its opposition to a
Turkmenistan-Turkey gas pipeline running across Iran. The following month, a
consortium of European companies including Royal Dutch Shell announced plans
for such a project. A separate deal struck by Australia’s BHP Petroleum
proposed another gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and eventually India. US
and Turkey jointly sponsored the idea of a "transportation corridor,"
with a major oil pipeline from Baku in Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey’s
Ceyhan port on the Mediterranean. Washington began to urge Turkmenistan and
Kazakhstan to participate in the plan by constructing gas and oil pipelines,
respectively, under the Caspian Sea, then along the same corridor. [The
Taliban, the US and the Resources of Central Asia]
July? 1997: Bush advisor, Karl Rove, arranges a job for Ralph Reed, former
executive director of the Christian Coalition, at Enron. ("Associates of
Bush Aide Say He Helped Win Contract",
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/25/business/25REED.html ) The Rove associates
say the recommendation, which Enron accepted, was intended to keep Mr. Reed's
allegiance to the Bush
campaign
without putting him on the Bush payroll. Mr. Bush, they say, was then
developing his "compassionate conservativism" message and did not
want to be linked too closely to Mr. Reed, who had just stepped down as
executive director of the Christian Coalition, an organization of committed
religious conservatives. At the same time, they say, the contract discouraged
Mr.
Reed, a
prominent operative who was being courted by several other campaigns, from
backing anyone other than Mr. Bush.
August 1997: The CIA creates a secret task force to monitor Central Asia's politics
and gauge its wealth. Covert CIA officers, some well-trained petroleum
engineers, travel through southern Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and
Turkmenistan to sniff out potential oil reserves. [Time, 5/4/98]
August 4, 1997 The FBI has linked two suspects in a Brooklyn suicide-bombing plot to
the militant Mideast group Hamas. Palestinian security officials think the two
suspects could be members of a new group, financed by Saudi dissident Osama bin
Laden, which takes its orders from Hamas or another Islamist group. (The
Brooklyn group knew that their colleagues had brought down TWA 800 and told
their story to the FBI. It preferred not to believe them .... ) TIME.com
August 9, 1997 Swissair Flight 127 nearly hit by an unidentified flying object,
possibly a missile, near the area off New York where a TWA airplane crashed in
1996. The 747 was cruising at 23,000 when the pilot interrupted an address to
passengers to report the near miss by a round white object, says a report by
the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. [Canadian Press] The captain and
co-pilot said an oblong and wingless object shot past at great speed - only
fifty metres away from their Boeing Seven-Four-Seven. The American air traffic
authorities said it was probably a weather balloon. The U.S. preferred a
"balloon" to a "rocket" explanation despite the pilots
objections ..... [Neue Zuricher Zeitung]
October 1997 Unocal set up the Central Asian Gas Pipeline (CentGas) consortium to
build the (natural gas) pipeline. Construction was scheduled to begin in 1998.
[DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00 Page 64[
October 27, 1997: Halliburton, (a company with future Vice President Cheney as CEO)
announces a new agreement to provide technical services and drilling for
Turkmenistan, a country in Central Asia. The press release also mentions that
"Halliburton has been providing a variety of services in Turkmenistan for
the past five years." On the same day, a consortium to build a pipeline
through Afghanistan is formed. It's called CentGas, and the two main partners
are Unocal and Delta Oil of Saudi Arabia. [Halliburton press release, 10/27/97, CentGas press release, 10/27/97]
provide
them, must embrace and reflect the challenges facing our clients in the new
marketplace. Our clients need innovative approaches and tools for success and
with the merger of Gail and her group into our energy section, we offer just
what is needed." Ms. Watkins built her practice focused on the regulatory
and policy needs of several industries, including electricity,
telecommunications and natural gas, before federal and state agencies. While
the technical aspects of the industries are different, Ms. Watkins believes
that emerging technology and markets suggest a convergence of these and other
regulated industries. Another component of Akin Gump's energy practice that
attracted Watkins is the energy transactional work headed by Jim Langdon of the
firm's Washington office. Langdon's
primary focus is on international energy transactions and he has recently been
involved in high-profile, international energy deals with European, Central
Asian and Russian components. (Jim Langdon – specializing in Oil dealings
in the Caspian Sea region was also one of Bush’s Pioneers (campaign
contributors)
Mr.
Moore's practice has solidly and notably embraced the regulatory and
transactional needs of the natural gas industry. While Langdon went east in
international energy circles, Moore's international experience has been
concentrated in Central and South America. "Charley and Jim have
tremendous experience and resources. My international work has focused
primarily on Mexico, but I believe forward-looking legal services for regulated
industries must include the global marketplace. Akin Gump clients will benefit
greatly from our unique, comprehensive and multifaceted services," Ms.
Watkins commented.
Currently,
Ms. Watkins represents Western Resources in its application to merge with
Kansas City Power and Light Company, and her previous electric utility merger
experience complements that which the firm gained from its work on the Cinergy
and First Energy merger transactions. Along with Western Resources and other
electric utility and gas industry clients, Watkins also represents several
telecommunications industry entities. Glenn E. Johnson focuses on oil and
gas development and gas pipeline regulatory work before the Railroad
Commission of Texas, in addition to the associated litigation and appellate
work. Mr. Johnson entered private practice in 1976 and served from 1977 until
1979 as a Hearings Examiner in the Gas Utilities Division of the Railroad
Commission. He is board certified in administrative law by the Texas Board of
Legal Specialization. A frequent speaker before industry groups, he was
appointed by Governor George Bush in 1996 to the Interstate Oil and Gas
Compact Commission.
Becky M.
Bruner is joining the Washington office as of counsel. She has over 10 years of
experience working in both state and federal agencies on energy regulatory
matters. From 1994 through 1996, she served as legal adviser to FERC
Commissioner (now Chairman) James J. Hoecker. Prior to that, she was a trial
attorney with the electric litigation section of the FERC. Ms. Bruner also
spent three years as a trial attorney and hearings examiner at the Public
Utility Commission of Texas.
Catherine
J. Webking also concentrates in administrative law matters, representing clients
before the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Railroad Commission of
Texas. Before law school, Webking was a production engineer with Mobil Oil
Corporation. She received her J.D. with honors in 1991 from the University of
Texas, where she was elected to Order of the Coif. She earned her B.S. in
chemical engineering from Texas A&M University in 1985.
Akin Gump
Chairman Bruce McLean stated, "Historically, one of Akin Gump's strengths
has been our full-service energy practice devoted to all aspects of the
domestic and global markets. With the addition of Gail's regulated industries
practice group, we expand our integrated approach to the energy industry's
rapidly changing environment, resulting in enhanced services to our
clients."
November 1997, During US Secretary of State Madeline Albright’s visit to Pakistan she
denounce the Taliban’s policies towards women as "despicable" and
warned Pakistan that it risked international isolation. Washington began to
exert pressure on Pakistan over the Taliban’s involvement in the heroin trade
and the dangers of "Islamic terrorism".
November 26, 1997: An industry newsletter reports that Saudi Arabia has
abandoned plans to have open bids on a $2 billion power plant near Mecca,
deciding that the government will build it instead. What's interesting is that
one of the bids was made by a consortium of Enron, the Saudi Binladen Group
(run by Osama's family), and Italy's Ansaldo Energia. [Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections, 1/22/98]
December 4. 1997 Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Nizar Hamdoon warns Iraq will not allow oil to
flow during a third six-month phase of the U.N.'s oil-for-food sale until the
U.N. approves aid distribution. The U.N. Security Council approves a third
six-month phase following the end of the second six-month phase. Like the first
two phases, the third phase allows Iraq to sell up to $1.07 billion of oil in
each of two 90-day periods. However, the sales level may be increased by the
Security Council in January 1998 after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
reports on Iraq's needs. The next day Iraq stops pumping oil into the
Iraqi-Turkish pipeline at the end of the second six-month phase of the United
Nations (U.N.) oil-for-food program. (WP, NYT)
December 4, 1997: Representatives of the Taliban are invited guests to the Texas
headquarters of Unocal to negotiate their support for the (gas) pipeline.
Future President Bush Jr. is Governor of Texas at the time. The Taliban appear
to agree to a $2 billion pipeline deal, but will do the deal only if the US
officially recognizes the Taliban regime. The Taliban meet with US officials,
and the Telegraph reports that "the US government, which in the past has
branded the Taliban's policies against women and children 'despicable,' appears
anxious to please the fundamentalists to clinch the lucrative pipeline
contract." A BBC regional correspondent says "the proposal to build a
pipeline across Afghanistan is part of an international scramble to profit from
developing the rich energy resources of the Caspian Sea." [BBC, 12/4/97, Telegraph, 12/14/97] FTW The Taliban visited UNOCAL's Houston refinery
operations. Interestingly, the chief Taliban leader based in Kandahar, Mullah
Mohammed Omar, (now on America's international Most Wanted List), was firmly in
the UNOCAL camp. His rival Taliban leader in Kabul, Mullah Mohammed Rabbani
(not to be confused with the head of the Northern Alliance Burhanuddin
Rabbani), favored Bridas, an Argentine oil company, for the pipeline project.
But Mullah Omar knew UNOCAL had pumped large sums of money to the Taliban
hierarchy in Kandahar and its expatriate Afghan supporters in the United
States. [The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]
Unocal
executives fête Taliban ministers at their homes in Texas. (" Oil barons
court Taliban in Texas",http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=006576086753008&rtmo=lzoPFokt&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/97/12/14/wtal14.html
; "Taleban in Texas for talks on gas
pipeline",http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/west_asia/newsid_37000/37021.stm
)
"The
Islamic warriors appear to have been persuaded to close the deal, not through
delicate negotiation but by old-fashioned Texan hospitality. Last week Unocal,
the Houston-based company bidding to build the 876-mile pipeline from
Turkmenistan to Pakistan, invited the Taliban to visit them in Texas...The
Taliban ministers and their advisers stayed in a five-star hotel and were
chauffeured in a company minibus...The men, who are accustomed to life without
heating, electricity or running water, were amazed by the luxurious homes of
Texan oil barons. Invited to dinner at the palatial home of Martin Miller, a
vice-president of Unocal, they marvelled at his swimming pool, views of the
golf course and six bathrooms. After a meal of specially prepared halal meat,
rice and Coca-Cola, the hardline fundamentalists - who have banned women from
working and girls from going to school - asked Mr Miller about his Christmas
tree." November 1997, a Taliban delegation was feted by Unocal in Houston,
Texas and met with State Department officials during the visit. [The Taliban,
the US and the Resources of Central Asia]
Dec. 9, 1997: The Enron executive committee approves a buyout -- that includes a
corporate guarantee of $633 million -- of the interest of the California public
employees pension fund in the JEDI partnership. ("Enron Directors Backed
Moving Debt Off Books
",http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64820-2002Jan30.html )
December 14, 1997: It is reported that Unocal has hired the University of Nebraska to
train 400 Afghani teachers, electricians, carpenters and pipefitters in
anticipation of using them for their pipeline in Afghanistan. 150 students are
already attending classes. [Telegraph, 12/14/97] Unocal, with the support of
Washington, continued to actively woo the Taliban leaders who, in an effort to
obtain the most lucrative deal, were playing the American company off against
Bridas. Unocal provided nearly $1 million to set up the Centre for Afghanistan
Studies at the University of Omaha as a front for an aid program in
Taliban-held Kandahar. The main outcome of the company’s "aid" was a
school to train the pipefitters, electricians and carpenters needed to
construct its pipelines. {The Taliban, the US and the Resources of Central
Asia]
1998: Pennzoil-Quaker State Company was formed with merger of Pennzoil and
Quaker State. Simultaneous with the Pennzoil-Quaker State merger, the Pennzoil
Company's marketing, manufacturing and fast oil change businesses (Pennzoil
Products Group) is spun off and renamed the PennzEnergy Company
1998: Officials at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah said that in
1998 scientists there turned small quantities of wet anthrax into powder to
test ways to defend against biowarfare attacks.
January 1998: DOE Publishes Strategic Plan for
Hydrogen "Dependence
of foreign energy sources is expensive. We suffer trade deficits and use our
military to protect our energy supply abroad. Environmentally, the Nation is
being forced to react to the need for cleaner urban air and—global climate
change. –The solution is a clean, sustainable, domestic energy supply. Hydrogen
can be one of the answers. ---lowering the cost of technologies to produce
hydrogen directly from sunlight and water –"
As the 1998-99 low petroleum price
crisis demonstrated, both state and federal governments need to act to
reduce regulatory costs on domestic production" [ IPAA Americas Oil and Gas
Producers – From Cheney Task Force notes]
February 1998. Zawahiri's al-Jihad formally joins forces with Osama bin Laden and the
global Islamist terrorist threat truly emerges. al-Zawahiri, the key
personality of global jihad. Fascist Islamism has seized the ideological
initiative in the Muslim world against which traditional Islam has so far
proved an impotent, indeed often unwilling, opponent. Young Muslims everywhere
are captivated by Zawahiri Islamism and jihad to which they attribute selfless
idealism and in which they admire ruthless determination. It will be a long
war. Bin Laden declaring it the religious duty of all
Muslims "to kill the Americans and their allies - civilians and military
... in any country in which it is possible [cooperativeresearch.org]
February 12, 1998: Unocal Vice President John J. Maresca - later to become a Special
Ambassador to Afghanistan - testifies before the House of Representatives that
until a single, unified, friendly government is in place in Afghanistan the trans-Afghani
pipeline will not be built. He suggests that with a pipeline through
Afghanistan, the Caspian basin could produce 20 percent of all the non-OPEC oil
in the world by 2010. [House International Relations Committee testimony, 2/12/98]
FTW
February 24, 1998: Five years after the first bombing on the WTC, Dale Watson testified
about an old plan, called Project Bojinka, which originally was about
"simultaneously plant devices on flights" - "The terrorists of
tomorrow will have an even more dizzying array of weapons and technologies
available to them..."
http://web.archive.org/web/19990502221624/http://www.fbi.gov/congress/wtc.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/19990502221624/http://www.fbi.gov/congress/wtc.htm
Watson was
concerned about "chemical, biological, and nuclear materials within the
criminal and terrorist communities. These weapons of mass destruction represent
perhaps the most serious potential threat facing the United States
today..."
Feb. 28, 1998 Unocal VP International Relations addressed US House of
Representatives clearly stating that the Taliban government should
be removed and replaced by a government acceptable to his company. He argued
that creation of a 42 inch pipeline across Afghanistan would yield a Western
profit increase of 500% by 2015.
Early 1998: Bill Richardson, the US Ambassador to the UN, meets Taliban officials
in Kabul (all such meetings are technically illegal, because the US still
officially recognizes the government the Taliban ousted as the legitimate
rulers of Afghanistan). US officials at the time call the pipeline project a
"fabulous opportunity" and are especially motivated by the
"prospect of circumventing Iran, which offered another route for the
pipeline." [Boston Globe, 9/20/01]
March 1998 Unocal announced a delay in finalizing the pipeline project
due to Afghanistan's continuing civil war
March 2, 1998 Security Council agreement, threatening "the severest
consequences" if Iraq reneged. Iraq allowed presidential site inspections
April 10, 1998: Jerome Hauer met with Barbara Rosenberg on April 10, 1998, at a
"roundtable on genetic engineering and biological weapons" under
President Clinton. The small group of outside experts and cabinet members
included: William Cohen (at the time Secretary of Defense), CIA boss George
Tenet, Craig Ventner (Celera), Joshua Lederberg (Rockefeller University,
Defense Science Board), Thomas Monath (Oravax/Acambis, former CDC and
USAMRIID), Jerome Hauer, and Barbara Rosenberg.
[http://www.fas.org/bwc/news/anthraxreport.htm]
1998: (exact date?)Officials at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah said
that in 1998 scientists there turned small quantities of wet anthrax into
powder to test ways to defend against biowarfare attacks. 1998 paper study on
anthrax in the mail was one secret project. (Dr Rosenberg is making the
astonishing suggestion that there may have been a deadly follow-up by somebody
else. Last time she questioned the investigation, she was attacked by the FBI
and the White House. But she says she's prepared to speak out again because
she's so afraid of what might happen next.) The CIA have told Newsnight they
totally reject Dr Rosenberg's theory and say they were unaware of ANY project
to assess the impact of anthrax sent through the mail.
1998 (exact date?) BioPort signed
a new contract with the US government. They have to develop vaccines against anthrax and have 3 years time for that
to finish the production. The vaccines should be available in 2001. They got a
$50 million contract for developing AVA (Anthrax Vaccine Absorbed) for 2.5
million US Soldiers 1998, the BioPort Corporation was founded for the express
purpose of buying the Michigan Biologic Products Institute from the State of
Michigan. MBPI was the only firm in the U.S. making Anthrax vaccine, and their
sole client was the U.S. government. Until recently, BioPort has not been able
to deliver any vaccine due to continuous problems with the FDA in areas such as
sterility, contamination, as well as improper procedures and record keeping.
BioPort now has on its Board of Directors Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr. In October 1985 Crowe was appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He retired from that position in 1989 and was appointed US Ambassador to Britain. Admiral Crowe, a long-time member of the Council on Foreign Relations, was given ownership of 22.5% of BioPort's stock without investing any money. Crowe's role at the company was to facilitate cooperation and good relations with government agencies and to secure military contracts from the Department of Defense.
BioPort now has on its Board of Directors Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr. In October 1985 Crowe was appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He retired from that position in 1989 and was appointed US Ambassador to Britain. Admiral Crowe, a long-time member of the Council on Foreign Relations, was given ownership of 22.5% of BioPort's stock without investing any money. Crowe's role at the company was to facilitate cooperation and good relations with government agencies and to secure military contracts from the Department of Defense.
1998 (exact date?) The OraVax
company (Bioweapon Vaccines) had been likewise linked to shady backroom
dealings with Clinton administration officials in 1998 regarding government
orders for a yet to be tested West Nile Virus vaccine. (source: . Dr. Leonard
Horowitz, a Public health consumer advocate and author of Death in the Air:
Globalism, Terrorism and Toxic Warfare (Tetrahedron Publishing Group;
1-888-508-4787),
http://www.baltech.org/lederman/816proof.html
"....The role of Oravax, the commercial vaccine manufacturer directly
connected to the major players in this issue-the CDC, the Ft. Dietrick
bio-warfare lab, Plum Island, former OEM chief Jerry Hauer and Mayor
Giuliani-remains unexamined in the media yet Oravax stands to make billions
from its West Nile Virus vaccine if WNV hysteria continues to spread. That
Oravax was developing a WNV vaccine before the 1999 outbreak, that its VP went
to Washington with Jerry Hauer and the head of Rockefeller University in 1998
to pressure President Clinton to stockpile billions of dollars worth of
vaccines or that according to the NY Times, Oravax's stock value had lost 90%
of its value-making a mosquito-born epidemic the only chance of company
survival-are clues of significance that might prove a financial angle to
WNV...."
May 11, 1998 India announces that it has conducted three underground nuclear tests,
the country's first since 1974. The tests were conducted simultaneously 330
miles southwest of New Delhi, near the Pakistani border. The Indian government
indicates that the three tests included a thermonuclear device, commonly known
as a hydrogen bomb. Two days later, on May 13, 1998, India announces that it
has conducted two more underground nuclear tests in the same desert range. (WP)
(DJ)
May, 1998, Osama bin Laden publicly discusses
"bringing the war home to America." [cooperativeresearch.org]
May 1998, Jerome Hauer started working at the OEM (Office for Emergency
Management) in New York. In the same year, Hauer and (future) anthrax suspect
Hatfill both supported the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) as experts in
their respective fields. The CFR is one of the most important think-tanks
advising the US government, as well as many other governments abroad. CFR
members include the Pentagon's top advisers, Richard Perle, Henry Kissinger,
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, ex-CIA chief James Woolsey,
biosciences specialist Joshua Lederberg, and many others. On May 28, 1998,
Hatfill and Hauer spoke together at the same CFR meeting about "Building
a 'Biobomb': Terrorist Challenge" http://www.cfr.org/public/resource.cgi?meet!102
1998 (exact date needed) Jerome Hauer convinced New York Mayor Rudi
Guilliani to develop a vaccine against the West Nile virus - almost one year
before this virus broke out in New York. To this end, Hauer introduced Col.
Thomas Monath of Oravax (now Accambis) to Guliani and organised a business
deal. [The Fly on the Wall 0802 News Special, August 13, 2002, 5:10 pm]
June 19, 1998 The United Nations (U.N.) Security Council unanimously approves a
resolution allowing Iraq to spend $300 million on spare parts for its oil
industry. The funding is intended to help Iraq increase oil exports under the
fourth phase of the U.N.'s oil-for-food program. The spare parts are expected
to expand Iraq's oil export capacity from 1.6 million barrels per day to 1.8
million or 1.9 million barrels per day. (NYT) (DJ)
June 23, 1998: Future Vice President Cheney, working for the Halliburton energy
company, states: "I can't think of a time when we've had a region emerge
as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian. It's almost
as if the opportunities have arisen overnight." The Caspian Sea is in
Central Asia. [Cato Institute Library, Chicago Tribune, 8/10/00]
June 24, 1998 OPEC agrees, to another round of oil production cuts. (Recent oil prices
fallen to lowest levels in a decade). OPEC to cut production by 1.355 million
barrels per day, effective July 1, 1998, bringing the group's total reductions
since March 1998 to 2.6 million barrels per day. Together with promises from
non-OPEC nations such as Russia, Oman, and Mexico, world oil producers have
pledged to cut world-wide production by approximately 3.1 million barrels per
day. (WP) (WSJ) (NYT)
June 1998 (B): Enron's agreement to develop natural gas with the government of
Uzbekistan is not renewed. Enron closes its office there. The reason for the
"failure of Enron's flagship project", inability to get natural gas
out of the region. Uzbekistan's production is "well below capacity"
and only 10% of its production is being exported, all to other countries in the
region. The hope was to use a pipeline through Afghanistan, but
"Uzbekistan is extremely concerned at the growing strength of the Taliban
and its potential impact on stability in Uzbekistan, making any future
cooperation on a pipeline project which benefits the Taliban unlikely." A
$12 billion pipeline through China is being considered as one solution, but
that wouldn't be completed until the end of the next decade at the earliest. [Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections, 10/12/98]
July 1998: Dale Watson was appointed Inspector Deputy Assistant Director of the
National Security Division (NSD), FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C
July 1998: "Surprisingly, just a few weeks before the U.S. Embassy bombings
in Africa, the book tells us...'In July 1998 Prince Turki had visited Kandahar
and a few weeks later 400 new pick-up trucks arrived in Kandahar for the
Taliban, still bearing their Dubai license plates.''' (Quoted in 'The creation
called Osama,' by Shamsul Islam. Can be read at
http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/creat.htm
http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/creat.htm
Aug. 4, 1998 -- McCarthy, Crisanti & Maffei, Inc. (MCM), global financial
analysis firm merged with and Cambridge
Energy Research Associates (CERA), a provider of strategic knowledge to the
global energy industry. The combined company will have in excess of $70 million
in revenues in 1997 and will be known as Global
Decisions Group. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Dr. Daniel Yergin, President of
CERA is a leading authority on energy and international politics, as well as
the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power. His forthcoming
book, The Commanding Heights: The
Battle Between Government and the Marketplace That is Remaking the Modern World,
August 1998 Iraq refused to implement an UNSCOM plan for completing its work and
barred UNSCOM from inspecting new facilities.
August 7, 1998: Terrorists bomb the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The bomb in Nairobi,
Kenya kills 213 people, including 12 US nationals, and injures more than 4,500.
The bomb in Dar es Salaam kills 11 and injures 85. The attack is blamed on
al-Qaeda. [PBS Frontline, 2001]
August 9, 1998: Northern Alliance capital Mazar-e-Sharif is conquered by the Taliban,
giving them control of 90% of Afghanistan, including the entire pipeline route.
CentGas, the consortium behind the gas pipeline that would run through
Afghanistan, is now "ready to proceed. Its main partners are the American
oil firm Unocal and Delta Oil of Saudi Arabia, plus Hyundai of South Korea, two
Japanese companies, a Pakistani conglomerate and the Turkmen government."
However, the pipeline cannot be financed unless the government is officially
recognized. "Diplomatic sources said the Taliban's offensive was well
prepared and deliberately scheduled two months ahead of the next UN meeting"
to decide if the Taliban should be recognized. [Telegraph, 8/13/98]
August 10, 1998 The State Department received information on June 12 that bin Laden was
threatening "some type of terrorist action in the next several
weeks". Was one of these attacks related to another Swissair incident in
mid-June 1998 which Bobet revealed was reported to Swissair but not to the
American authorities? In this case the pilots didn't have to duck... The UFO
Research Coalition Report on Swissair 127 ISBN 1-928957-00-5 (1999) Page 26 In
July 1998, Bobet advised us that Swissair had experienced another UFO sighting
in the vicinity of JFK International Airport in mid-June. The airplane had been
airborne only several minutes, and was en route to Zurich. All three cockpit
crew members saw the object. No report was made to Air Traffic Control
authorities at the time, and apparently no notification of U.S. authorities was
made subsequently. Only Swissair management was briefed by the crew. But there
was a similar incident in England also in mid-June which did involve ducking
...
[International
News Electronic Telegraph]
Aug. 20, 1998 Clinton ordered cruise missile attacks (75-80) on Afghanistan and
Sudan targets--after bomb attacks on embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam
[The US] blamed the bombings on Osama bin Laden, the former Saudi who it
accuses of backing many attacks on US targets. It said that the pharmaceutical
plant in Khartoum was linked to Mr bin Laden and was used to produce chemical
weapons. The US was forced to admit within hours that the plant was not a
Sudanese government facility, but a private factory belonging to Salah Idris, a
Saudi businessman. But it then said that Mr Idris was himself linked to
terrorism and to Mr bin Laden
http://www.independent.co.uk/stories/B0405918.html August 1998, the Clinton
administration launched cruise missiles against Osama bin Laden’s training
camps at Khost in Afghanistan [The Taliban, the US and the Resource of Central
Asia]
Sudanese
factory owner Salah Idris then hired the powerful and prestigeous law firm of
Akins, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld to fight back. Even more interesting is
that Bob Strauss of this very firm had been nominated in 1991 by, then
President George Bush, to be Ambassador to the Soviet Union and then Russia
after the collapse. Very interesting that a firm with strong connections to
Bush and oil interests would get this case)
Note: Richard Clarke, Adviser to the
President (George W. Bush 2001-?) for Cyberspace Warfare. Clarke, who was
originally with the State Department during the elder Bush's Administration,
was demoted for covering up Israeli violations of the Arms Exporting laws. In
August 1998, Clarke was one
of the key figures who planted false
information about Sudan's involvement in the East Africa U.S. Embassy
bombings, which led to U.S. cruise missile attacks on a Sudanese pharmaceutical
company in Khartoum. Clarke shopped in disinformation from British-Israeli
covert operations stringer Yosef Bodansky that targetted Sudan. ~ Source:
Patrick Martin and Michele Steinberg
Hunting Bin Laden Frontline Interview with Milt
Bearden
Frontline:
The US Government is saying that when Osama bin Laden was in the Sudan, they
have now been able to link him to everything from the World Trade Center
bombing in terms of supporting various people ... to apparently the Riyadh bombing as well as the Khobar bombing. That he was an active terrorist
on the ground, in Khartoum, being allowed to operate openly by the government
of the Sudan.
Milt
Bearden: ... Nothing I have said suggested Osama bin Laden is not a component
in international terrorism. I challenge the fact that Sudan [is] always assumed
to be a component in all of the current international terrorism. I think any of
those statements that you made should have been trumped at about the time the
Sudanese said, "Okay, this is a bad guy, we'll kick him out." And
they took that step which was very visible, absolutely documentable, and they
did it. ...
Frontline:
You're not saying Osama bin Laden is not a terrorist or is not an enemy of the
United States?
Milt
Bearden: Osama bin Laden has chosen to make himself an enemy of the United
States. He has issued these disputable fatwahs, these Islamic proclamations, to
kill all ... Americans and Jews. Therefore, he's made himself a component, and
I think that the United States is absolutely justified in taking out Osama bin
Laden. But to oversimplify it by linking him to every known terrorist act in
the last decade is an insult to most Americans. And it certainly doesn't
encourage our allies in this to take us very seriously. Osama bin Laden is a
legitimate target for the United States, period. But then, to completely
reinforce it with all of these insupportable accusations, I think is a
disservice and an oversimplification
Frontline:
And you think that we're a target just simply because we're a superpower.
Milt
Bearden: Partly, but we're also a superpower who insists on being perceived by
the least fortunate of the Islamic world as being somehow against them. It is
not missed in Friday prayers that we sent 75 million dollars worth of missiles
flying against the two poorest Islamic countries in the world, Afghanistan and
Sudan. I spent too many years living in the shadow of one mosque or another not
to take what happens at Friday prayers seriously. And that's what's going on.
...
Frontline:
Because so much of what we hear about Osama bin Laden comes out of his
Afghanistan experience, I'm trying to get this straight, he was mostly a
philanthropist and a financial contributor, and a minor combat figure, who
happened to dabble in combat?
Bearden:
What I can say is that the hype that surrounds Osama bin Laden--most of it
generated by the US media and backed up by statements that verge on hyperbole
from the United States government--that this man was literally swinging through
the valleys of the Hindu Kush with a dagger in his teeth and single-handedly
driving out the Soviet army, this did not happen. The Afghan people did that.
The Arab role in the combat situation on the ground was minimal to nonexistent,
period. And to suggest otherwise is simply to either gloss over history or to
create history for your own reasons.
Frontline: I can imagine someone out there watching saying. "This is the CIA talking." You're not going to admit that you created the most dangerous public enemy in the world.
Frontline: I can imagine someone out there watching saying. "This is the CIA talking." You're not going to admit that you created the most dangerous public enemy in the world.
Bearden:
You bet I would. If I could look you in the eye and say, "Trust me, Osama
bin Laden was my guy. If it wasn't for the CIA he wouldn't be anything then, he
wouldn't be anything today," if I could say that with a straight face, I
think that would speed up the process of removing Mr. bin Laden as a source of
great, great concern for the United States. I can't say that because it's
simply not true. You can find nobody who is familiar with the situation in
Pakistan and Afghanistan in those years that would say bin Laden played any
role other than the fund-raiser. ...
Frontline:
We've talked to people that say not only was bin Laden in combat, but there are
photographs of him with a helmet on, a rifle, commanding troops.
Bearden:...
Afghanistan, the jihad, was one terrific photo op for a lot of people. I will
give you that he possibly was engaged in a battle in 1987 where the Saudi
contingent and the Gulf Arab group carried off their role reasonably well. I
have said that. ... But to carry that beyond ... that series of battles, I
simply won't go along with [that] regardless of how many pictures someone can
cough up showing bin Laden with a walkie talkie or bin Laden with a Kalishnakov.
Anybody that goes in can get a photo op in Afghanistan in those years. ...
Frontline: So, really what we're looking at is some fact but a lot of fiction.
Frontline: So, really what we're looking at is some fact but a lot of fiction.
Bearden:
There's a lot of fiction in there. But we like that. It's the whole Osama bin
Laden mythology. It's almost part entertainment. We don't have a national
enemy. We haven't had a national enemy since the evil empire slipped beneath
the waves in 1991. And I think we kind of like this way. We like this whole
international terrorist thing oddly enough at a time when it probably is
changing its character dramatically.
August 22, 1998, Unocal announced that CentGas had not secured the financing necessary
to begin the work, and on August 22, 1998, Unocal suspended construction plans
due to the continuing civil war in Afghanistan. Unocal stressed that the
pipeline project would not proceed until an internationally recognized
government was in place in Afghanistan. While the governments of Turkmenistan
and Pakistan, as well as the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, have continued
discussions on the route, there does not seem to be any near-term likelihood
that it will be built. (DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00 Page 64)
Unocal
cancels plans to exploit massive natural gas deposits in Turkmenistan.
("Hell to pay",http://www.willpitt.com/WillPitt.htm ) Utilities begin
taking steps to divest themselves of power generation plants. Rates they can
charge consumers are capped until the utilities complete that task, expected in
2002. ("Chronology of California's power crisis",
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/04/06/state1705EDT0232.DTL
)
August 1998 Five months after ascending to CFO of Enron, Andrew Fastow pays
$289,000 for 68 wooded acres with a cabin near Norwich, Vt. The mortgage will
be paid off in March 2000. ("Architects of Enron's rise bred its
demise",
http://chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0201200329jan20.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed
)
August 14, 1998 The Senate and House passed a resolution, S.J.Res. 54 (P.L. 105-235,
signed), declaring
Iraq in
"material breach" of the ceasefire.
September 2, 1998 Swissair jet from JFK crashes off Nova Scotia not far from the city of
Halifax A Saudi Arabian prince was among those killed in the Swissair plane
crash off Canada. The English-language Saudi Gazette quoted a Swissair source
confirming that Prince Bandar Bin Saud Bin Saad Abdul Rahman al-Saud was among
the 229 passengers and crew killed when the plane plunged into the Atlantic
near Nova Scotia (September 5, 1998
The Hindu Online)
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