saw that at www.progressive.org this morning. Goes to prove that Bush and his bastard buddies will do absolutely anything, no matter how immoral it might look to others, to enrich their oil buddies a little more. This goes back much further tho. Many years ago, Unical did a study on getting oil out of Central Asia. The options were: 1. Go through Russia to the Black Sea - Once of the "Stans", I forget which one, did that, and the Russians were diverting a lot of the oil. 2. Go through China - Technically impossible. 3. Go through Afghanistan to Karachi - Bingo. Now it was time to arm bin Laden and the other Mujahadeen against the Soviets who were then occupying Afghanistan, and "liberate" the people. That is when the terrorist camps were born, and US special forces trained many of those who would graduate from them. Problem is, after the Soviets pulled out, the Afghanis became uncooperative. America and her allies then pulled all aid. bin Laden and his henchmen then became enraged at the US and, with the help of all those American weapons and expertise that Reagan, Bush, and others gave them, the terrorist camps were turned against US interests. Interestingly, the alleged carrot and stick the US offered last year, and described in the interview, namely a carpet of gold or a carpet of bombs, happened before 9-11. Were the greed and threats of Bush and his cronies the factor that pushed bin Laden over the edge to bomb the WTC? The evidence is starting to look pretty damn incriminating. --- In NewPacifica@y..., Mitchel Cohen <mitchelcohen@m...> wrote: > AMERICAN MORNING WITH PAULA ZAHN > Explosive New Book Published in France Alleges that U.S. Was in > Negotiations to Do a Deal with Taliban > Aired January 8, 2002 - 07:34 ET > > THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY > BE UPDATED. > > PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Time to check in with ambassador-in- residence, > Richard Butler, this morning. An explosive new book published in France > alleges that the United States was in negotiations to do a deal with the > Taliban for an oil pipeline in Afghanistan. Joining us right now is Richard > Butler to shed some light on this new book. He is the former chief U.N. > weapons inspector. He is now on the Council on Foreign Relations and our > own ambassador-in- residence -- good morning. > > RICHARD BUTLER, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good morning, Paula. > > ZAHN: Boy, if any of these charges are true... > > BUTLER: If... > > ZAHN: ... this... BUTLER: Yes. > > ZAHN: ... is really big news. > > BUTLER: I agree. > > ZAHN: Start off with what your understanding is of what is in this book -- > the most explosive charge. > > BUTLER: The most explosive charge, Paula, is that the Bush administration > -- the present one, just shortly after assuming office slowed down FBI > investigations of al Qaeda and terrorism in Afghanistan in order to do a > deal with the Taliban on oil -- an oil pipeline across Afghanistan. > > ZAHN: And this book points out that the FBI's deputy director, John > O'Neill, actually resigned because he felt the U.S. administration was > obstructing... > > BUTLER: A proper... > > ZAHN: ... the prosecution of terrorism. > > BUTLER: Yes, yes, a proper intelligence investigation of terrorism. Now, > you said if, and I affirmed that in responding to you. We have to be > careful here. These are allegations. They're worth airing and talking > about, because of their gravity. We don't know if they are correct. But I > believe they should be investigated, because Central Asian oil, as we were > discussing yesterday, is potentially so important. And all prior attempts > to have a pipeline had to be done through Russia. It had to be negotiated > with Russia. Now, if there is to be a pipeline through Afghanistan, > obviating the need to deal with Russia, it would also cost less than half > of what a pipeline through Russia would cost. So financially and > politically, there's a big prize to be had. A pipeline through Afghanistan > down to the Pakistan coast would bring out that Central Asian oil easier > and more cheaply. > > ZAHN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as you spoke about this yesterday, we almost > immediately got a call from "The New York Times." > > BUTLER: Right. > > ZAHN: They want you to write an op-ed piece on this over the weekend. > > BUTLER: Right, and which I will do. > > ZAHN: But let's come back to this whole issue of what John O'Neill, this > FBI agent... > > BUTLER: Right. > > ZAHN: ... apparently told the authors of this book. He is alleging that -- > what -- the U.S. government was trying to protect U.S. oil interests? And > at the same time, shut off the investigation of terrorism to allow for that > to happen? > > BUTLER: That's the allegation that instead of prosecuting properly an > investigation of terrorism, which has its home in Afghanistan as we now > know, or one of its main homes, that was shut down or slowed down in order > to pursue oil interests with the Taliban. The people who we have now bombed > out of existence, and this not many months ago. The book says that the > negotiators said to the Taliban, you have a choice. You have a carpet of > gold, meaning an oil deal, or a carpet of bombs. That's what the book > alleges. > > ZAHN: Well, I know you're going to be doing your own independent homework > on this... > > BUTLER: Yes. > > ZAHN: ... to see if you can confirm any of this. Let's move on to the whole > issue of Iraq. The deputy defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, at one time > was considered one of those voices within the administration... > > BUTLER: Yes. > > ZAHN: ... that was pushing for moving beyond Afghanistan. He seemed to back > off a little from that yesterday. > > BUTLER: Yes. > > ZAHN: What do you read through the tea leaves here? > > BUTLER: A very interesting report that the administration will focus on the > Philippines, Yemen, Somalia as places where there are al Qaeda cells. But > the word Iraq wasn't used by the man who was the chief hawk -- used as a, > you know, as a future target. So what I interpret from that is this: That > very likely our allies have been saying to us, this is too hard. This is > really serious. Be careful. Saddam is essentially contained at the moment. > Don't start, you know, a bigger problem either in the Arab world or in the > coalition by going after him. And Wolfowitz, it seems, has probably > accepted that. > > ZAHN: A quick thought on the Israelis intercepting this latest armed > shipment? What that means? You've got to do it in about 15 seconds. > > BUTLER: It's extraordinarily serious, because it seems to have been tied to > Yasser Arafat himself. It needs to be further investigated, but you know, > Paula, the potentiality that this could once again prove an impediment to > resume peace negotiations is really quite serious. > > ZAHN: Thank you as usual for covering so much territory. Richard Butler, > see you same time, same place tomorrow morning. > > BUTLER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). > > ZAHN: We appreciate your insights. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, > PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT > www.fdch.com. ------------------------ Yahoo! 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