from www.counterpunch.org (and Nina, too)
January 10, 2002
A Creeping Collapse in Credibility at the White House:
From ENRON Entanglements to UNOCAL Bringing the Taliban to Texas and
Controlling Afghanistan
By Tom Turnipseed
The Bush Administration's entanglement with ENRON is beginning to unravel as
it finally admits that Enron executives entered the White House six times
last year to secretly plan the Administration's energy policy with
Vice-President Cheney before the collapse of the Texas-based energy giant.
Meanwhile, even more trouble for our former-Texas-oil-man-turned-President i
s
brewing with reports that unveil UNOCAL, another big energy company, for
being in bed with the Taliban, along with the U.S. government in a major,
continuing effort to construct pipelines through Afghanistan from the
petroleum-rich Caspian Basin in Central Asia. Beneath their burkas, UNOCAL i
s
being exposed for giving the five star treatment to Taliban Mullahs in the
Lone Star State in 1997. The "evil-ones" were also invited to meet with U.S.
government officials in Washington, D.C.
According to a December 17, 1997 article in the British paper, The Telegraph
,
headlined, "Oil barons court Taliban in Texas," the Taliban was about to sig
n
a "�2 billion contract with an American oil company to build a pipeline
across the war-torn country. ... The Islamic warriors appear to have been
persuaded to close the deal, not through delicate negotiation but by
old-fashioned Texan hospitality. ... Dressed in traditional salwar
khameez,Afghan waistcoats and loose, black turbans, the high-ranking
delegation was given VIP treatment during the four-day stay."
At the same time, U.S. government documents reveal that the Taliban were
harboring Osama bin Laden as their "guest" since June 1996. By then, bin
Laden had: been expelled by Sudan in early 1996 in response to US insistence
and the threat of UN sanctions; publicly declared war against the U.S. on or
about August 23, 1996; pronounced the bombings in Riyadh and at Khobar in
Saudi Arabia killing 19 US servicemen as 'praiseworthy terrorism', promising
that other attacks would follow in November 1996 and further admitted
carrying out attacks on U.S. military personnel in Somalia in 1993 and Yemen
in 1992, declaring that "we used to hunt them down in Mogadishu"; stated in
an interview broadcast in February 1997 that "if someone can kill an America
n
soldier, it is better than wasting time on other matters." Evidence was also
developing which linked bin Laden to: the 1995 bombing of a U.S. military
barracks in Riyadh which killed five; Ramzi Yuosef, who led the 1993 World
Trade Center attacks; and a 1994 assassination plot against President Clinto
n
in the Philippines.
Back in Houston, the Taliban was learning how the "other half lives," and
according to The Telegraph, "stayed in a five-star hotel and were chauffeure
d
in a company minibus." The Taliban representatives "...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 marveled at his swimming
pool, views of the golf course and six bathrooms." Mr. Miller, said he hoped
that UNOCAL had clinched the deal.
Dick Cheney was then CEO of Haliburton Corporation, a pipeline services
vendor based in Texas. Gushed Cheney in 1998, "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 good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are
democratically elected regimes friendly to the United States. Occasionally w
e
have to operate in places where, all things considered, one would not
normally choose to go. But we go where the business is." Would Cheney bargai
n
with the harborers of U.S. troop killers if that's where the business was?
The Telegraph reported that Unocal had promised to start building the
pipeline and paying the Taliban immediately, with the added inducements and
a
donation of �500,000 to the University of Nebraska for courses in Afghanis
tan
to train 400 teachers, electricians, carpenters and pipefitters.
The Telegraph also reported, "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." In a paper prepared by Neamatollah Nojumi, at the Tufts
University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Nojumi wrote in August 1997
that Madeline Albright sat in a "full-dress CIA briefing" on the Caspian
region. CIA agents then accompanied "some well-trained petroleum engineers"
to the region. Albright concluded that shaping the region's policies was "on
e
of the most exciting things that we can do."
It's also exciting to the Bush Administration. According to the authors of
Bin Laden, the Hidden Truth, one of the FBI's leading counter terrorism
agents, John O'Neill, resigned last year in protest over the Bush
Administration's alleged obstruction of his investigation into bin Laden. (A
similar complaint has been filed on behalf of another unidentified FBI Agent
by the conservative Judicial Watch public interest group.) Supposedly the
Bush Administration had been meeting since January 2001 with the Taliban, an
d
was also reluctant to offend Saudi Arabians who O'Neill had linked to bin
Laden. Mr. O'Neill, after leaving the FBI, assumed the position of security
director at the World Trade Center, where he was killed in the 911 attacks.
As America's New War now begins focusing on other "rogue nations," UNOCAL's
stars have magically aligned. About two months after the Houston parties,
UNOCAL executive John Maresca addressed the House Subcommittee on Asia and
the Pacific and urged support for establishment of an investor-friendly
climate in Afghanistan, "... we have made it clear that construction of our
proposed pipeline cannot begin until a recognized government is in place tha
t
has the confidence of governments, lenders and our company." Meaning that
UNOCAL's ability to construct the Afghan pipeline was a cause worthy of U.S.
taxpayer dollars.
Maresca's prayers have been answered with the Taliban's replacement. As
reported in Le Monde, the new Afghan government's head, Hamid Karzai,
formerly served as a UNOCAL consultant. Only nine days after Karzai's
ascension, President Bush nominated another UNOCAL consultant and former
Taliban defender, Zalmay Khalilzad, as his special envoy to Afghanistan.
When UNOCAL makes big bucks from the pipeline they should donate 50% of all
pretax profits to the 911 Fund. And they should also cut a very special chec
k
to the widow of FBI Agent O'Neill.
Tom Turnipseed is a civil rights lawyer in South Carolina. Visit Tom's
website at www.turnipseed.net
Oil and Gas and Heroin, Too, Hoorah! Hoorah Hoorah!
B
Baerwald
(view)
from www.counterpunch.org (and Nina, too)
January 10, 2002
A Creeping Collapse in Credibility at the White House:
From ENRON Entanglements to UNOCAL Bringing the Taliban to Texas and
Controlling Afghanistan
By Tom Turnipseed
The Bush Administration's entanglement with ENRON is beginning to unravel as
it finally admits that Enron executives entered the White House six times
last year to secretly plan the Administration's energy policy with
Vice-President Cheney before the collapse of the Texas-based energy giant.
Meanwhile, even more trouble for our former-Texas-oil-man-turned-President i
s
brewing with reports that unveil UNOCAL, another big energy company, for
being in bed with the Taliban, along with the U.S. government in a major,
continuing effort to construct pipelines through Afghanistan from the
petroleum-rich Caspian Basin in Central Asia. Beneath their burkas, UNOCAL i
s
being exposed for giving the five star treatment to Taliban Mullahs in the
Lone Star State in 1997. The "evil-ones" were also invited to meet with U.S.
government officials in Washington, D.C.
According to a December 17, 1997 article in the British paper, The Telegraph
,
headlined, "Oil barons court Taliban in Texas," the Taliban was about to sig
n
a "�2 billion contract with an American oil company to build a pipeline
across the war-torn country. ... The Islamic warriors appear to have been
persuaded to close the deal, not through delicate negotiation but by
old-fashioned Texan hospitality. ... Dressed in traditional salwar
khameez,Afghan waistcoats and loose, black turbans, the high-ranking
delegation was given VIP treatment during the four-day stay."
At the same time, U.S. government documents reveal that the Taliban were
harboring Osama bin Laden as their "guest" since June 1996. By then, bin
Laden had: been expelled by Sudan in early 1996 in response to US insistence
and the threat of UN sanctions; publicly declared war against the U.S. on or
about August 23, 1996; pronounced the bombings in Riyadh and at Khobar in
Saudi Arabia killing 19 US servicemen as 'praiseworthy terrorism', promising
that other attacks would follow in November 1996 and further admitted
carrying out attacks on U.S. military personnel in Somalia in 1993 and Yemen
in 1992, declaring that "we used to hunt them down in Mogadishu"; stated in
an interview broadcast in February 1997 that "if someone can kill an America
n
soldier, it is better than wasting time on other matters." Evidence was also
developing which linked bin Laden to: the 1995 bombing of a U.S. military
barracks in Riyadh which killed five; Ramzi Yuosef, who led the 1993 World
Trade Center attacks; and a 1994 assassination plot against President Clinto
n
in the Philippines.
Back in Houston, the Taliban was learning how the "other half lives," and
according to The Telegraph, "stayed in a five-star hotel and were chauffeure
d
in a company minibus." The Taliban representatives "...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 marveled at his swimming
pool, views of the golf course and six bathrooms." Mr. Miller, said he hoped
that UNOCAL had clinched the deal.
Dick Cheney was then CEO of Haliburton Corporation, a pipeline services
vendor based in Texas. Gushed Cheney in 1998, "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 good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are
democratically elected regimes friendly to the United States. Occasionally w
e
have to operate in places where, all things considered, one would not
normally choose to go. But we go where the business is." Would Cheney bargai
n
with the harborers of U.S. troop killers if that's where the business was?
The Telegraph reported that Unocal had promised to start building the
pipeline and paying the Taliban immediately, with the added inducements and
a
donation of �500,000 to the University of Nebraska for courses in Afghanis
tan
to train 400 teachers, electricians, carpenters and pipefitters.
The Telegraph also reported, "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." In a paper prepared by Neamatollah Nojumi, at the Tufts
University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Nojumi wrote in August 1997
that Madeline Albright sat in a "full-dress CIA briefing" on the Caspian
region. CIA agents then accompanied "some well-trained petroleum engineers"
to the region. Albright concluded that shaping the region's policies was "on
e
of the most exciting things that we can do."
It's also exciting to the Bush Administration. According to the authors of
Bin Laden, the Hidden Truth, one of the FBI's leading counter terrorism
agents, John O'Neill, resigned last year in protest over the Bush
Administration's alleged obstruction of his investigation into bin Laden. (A
similar complaint has been filed on behalf of another unidentified FBI Agent
by the conservative Judicial Watch public interest group.) Supposedly the
Bush Administration had been meeting since January 2001 with the Taliban, an
d
was also reluctant to offend Saudi Arabians who O'Neill had linked to bin
Laden. Mr. O'Neill, after leaving the FBI, assumed the position of security
director at the World Trade Center, where he was killed in the 911 attacks.
As America's New War now begins focusing on other "rogue nations," UNOCAL's
stars have magically aligned. About two months after the Houston parties,
UNOCAL executive John Maresca addressed the House Subcommittee on Asia and
the Pacific and urged support for establishment of an investor-friendly
climate in Afghanistan, "... we have made it clear that construction of our
proposed pipeline cannot begin until a recognized government is in place tha
t
has the confidence of governments, lenders and our company." Meaning that
UNOCAL's ability to construct the Afghan pipeline was a cause worthy of U.S.
taxpayer dollars.
Maresca's prayers have been answered with the Taliban's replacement. As
reported in Le Monde, the new Afghan government's head, Hamid Karzai,
formerly served as a UNOCAL consultant. Only nine days after Karzai's
ascension, President Bush nominated another UNOCAL consultant and former
Taliban defender, Zalmay Khalilzad, as his special envoy to Afghanistan.
When UNOCAL makes big bucks from the pipeline they should donate 50% of all
pretax profits to the 911 Fund. And they should also cut a very special chec
k
to the widow of FBI Agent O'Neill.
Tom Turnipseed is a civil rights lawyer in South Carolina. Visit Tom's
website at www.turnipseed.net
January 10, 2002
A Creeping Collapse in Credibility at the White House:
From ENRON Entanglements to UNOCAL Bringing the Taliban to Texas and
Controlling Afghanistan
By Tom Turnipseed
The Bush Administration's entanglement with ENRON is beginning to unravel as
it finally admits that Enron executives entered the White House six times
last year to secretly plan the Administration's energy policy with
Vice-President Cheney before the collapse of the Texas-based energy giant.
Meanwhile, even more trouble for our former-Texas-oil-man-turned-President i
s
brewing with reports that unveil UNOCAL, another big energy company, for
being in bed with the Taliban, along with the U.S. government in a major,
continuing effort to construct pipelines through Afghanistan from the
petroleum-rich Caspian Basin in Central Asia. Beneath their burkas, UNOCAL i
s
being exposed for giving the five star treatment to Taliban Mullahs in the
Lone Star State in 1997. The "evil-ones" were also invited to meet with U.S.
government officials in Washington, D.C.
According to a December 17, 1997 article in the British paper, The Telegraph
,
headlined, "Oil barons court Taliban in Texas," the Taliban was about to sig
n
a "�2 billion contract with an American oil company to build a pipeline
across the war-torn country. ... The Islamic warriors appear to have been
persuaded to close the deal, not through delicate negotiation but by
old-fashioned Texan hospitality. ... Dressed in traditional salwar
khameez,Afghan waistcoats and loose, black turbans, the high-ranking
delegation was given VIP treatment during the four-day stay."
At the same time, U.S. government documents reveal that the Taliban were
harboring Osama bin Laden as their "guest" since June 1996. By then, bin
Laden had: been expelled by Sudan in early 1996 in response to US insistence
and the threat of UN sanctions; publicly declared war against the U.S. on or
about August 23, 1996; pronounced the bombings in Riyadh and at Khobar in
Saudi Arabia killing 19 US servicemen as 'praiseworthy terrorism', promising
that other attacks would follow in November 1996 and further admitted
carrying out attacks on U.S. military personnel in Somalia in 1993 and Yemen
in 1992, declaring that "we used to hunt them down in Mogadishu"; stated in
an interview broadcast in February 1997 that "if someone can kill an America
n
soldier, it is better than wasting time on other matters." Evidence was also
developing which linked bin Laden to: the 1995 bombing of a U.S. military
barracks in Riyadh which killed five; Ramzi Yuosef, who led the 1993 World
Trade Center attacks; and a 1994 assassination plot against President Clinto
n
in the Philippines.
Back in Houston, the Taliban was learning how the "other half lives," and
according to The Telegraph, "stayed in a five-star hotel and were chauffeure
d
in a company minibus." The Taliban representatives "...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 marveled at his swimming
pool, views of the golf course and six bathrooms." Mr. Miller, said he hoped
that UNOCAL had clinched the deal.
Dick Cheney was then CEO of Haliburton Corporation, a pipeline services
vendor based in Texas. Gushed Cheney in 1998, "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 good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are
democratically elected regimes friendly to the United States. Occasionally w
e
have to operate in places where, all things considered, one would not
normally choose to go. But we go where the business is." Would Cheney bargai
n
with the harborers of U.S. troop killers if that's where the business was?
The Telegraph reported that Unocal had promised to start building the
pipeline and paying the Taliban immediately, with the added inducements and
a
donation of �500,000 to the University of Nebraska for courses in Afghanis
tan
to train 400 teachers, electricians, carpenters and pipefitters.
The Telegraph also reported, "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." In a paper prepared by Neamatollah Nojumi, at the Tufts
University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Nojumi wrote in August 1997
that Madeline Albright sat in a "full-dress CIA briefing" on the Caspian
region. CIA agents then accompanied "some well-trained petroleum engineers"
to the region. Albright concluded that shaping the region's policies was "on
e
of the most exciting things that we can do."
It's also exciting to the Bush Administration. According to the authors of
Bin Laden, the Hidden Truth, one of the FBI's leading counter terrorism
agents, John O'Neill, resigned last year in protest over the Bush
Administration's alleged obstruction of his investigation into bin Laden. (A
similar complaint has been filed on behalf of another unidentified FBI Agent
by the conservative Judicial Watch public interest group.) Supposedly the
Bush Administration had been meeting since January 2001 with the Taliban, an
d
was also reluctant to offend Saudi Arabians who O'Neill had linked to bin
Laden. Mr. O'Neill, after leaving the FBI, assumed the position of security
director at the World Trade Center, where he was killed in the 911 attacks.
As America's New War now begins focusing on other "rogue nations," UNOCAL's
stars have magically aligned. About two months after the Houston parties,
UNOCAL executive John Maresca addressed the House Subcommittee on Asia and
the Pacific and urged support for establishment of an investor-friendly
climate in Afghanistan, "... we have made it clear that construction of our
proposed pipeline cannot begin until a recognized government is in place tha
t
has the confidence of governments, lenders and our company." Meaning that
UNOCAL's ability to construct the Afghan pipeline was a cause worthy of U.S.
taxpayer dollars.
Maresca's prayers have been answered with the Taliban's replacement. As
reported in Le Monde, the new Afghan government's head, Hamid Karzai,
formerly served as a UNOCAL consultant. Only nine days after Karzai's
ascension, President Bush nominated another UNOCAL consultant and former
Taliban defender, Zalmay Khalilzad, as his special envoy to Afghanistan.
When UNOCAL makes big bucks from the pipeline they should donate 50% of all
pretax profits to the 911 Fund. And they should also cut a very special chec
k
to the widow of FBI Agent O'Neill.
Tom Turnipseed is a civil rights lawyer in South Carolina. Visit Tom's
website at www.turnipseed.net
