By Rudo de Ruijter < rudoderuijter@wanadoo.nl> Netherlands
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/pipelinesto911wtc24aug06.shtml
August 24, 2006
Short Summary
This article is background to the US war against Afghanistan. It is about
oil, gas and pipelines around the Caspian Sea. To transport oil and gas from the
east side of the Caspian Sea, pipelines had been planned through Afghanistan.
Because a US company, UNOCAL, failed to control the Afghan route, the war was
prepared. When the military was ready to strike, the terrorists of 9/11 gave Bush
the pretext to start this war and obtain support from Congress, the U.S. population,
and the rest of the world.
Our politicians have shaped the idea many people have about our world. They have
divided our world into good and bad. Of course, they are always the good guys and
the the other ones they accuse of wrong doing are the bad guys. Simple, isn't it?
However, if we stick to the facts, and throw out all the information that comes from
unverifiable sources, our world looks very different. This research is not meant to
offend anyone. If you are pleased with the "official" version of our history, don't
read any further. Bush said the attacks of 9/11 was the reason to invade Afghanistan. [1] This article shows that the war was the logical result of an unsuccessful struggle,
by he U.S., to build and control pipelines through Afganistan, and that preparations
for this war took place before 9/11. In 2000, the neoconservatives said they needed some catastrophic and catalysing event. This article shows how this event may have taken place on September 11, 2001.
The 1993 WTC attack
The attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 eclipse
an earlier attack on the World Trade Centre in 1993. On January 20, 1993, William
(Bill) Clinton had become president. A month later, on February 26, an "immense
blast happened at 12:18 local time in the Secret Service's section of the car park
underneath and between what are New York's tallest buildings." [2]
BBC published the words of an eyewitness: "It felt like an airplane hit the
building." Apparently the explosion was intended to bring both WTC towers down. The
New York Times found out that the FBI was involved in the attacks. The FBI would
have infiltrated a group of terrorists, would have known about their intentions and
for some unknown reason let it happen. [3] Six people died and a hundred were
injured. [2]
Timeline 1989 - 2000
In this chapter I will present a timeline of Afghan events. I will also mention
events related to terrorism, which will become U.S. final pretext for war. Immediately after the attacks on September 11, 2001, U.S. officials accused Osama
bin Laden. Since the man would reside in Afghanistan, it provided a pretext for
George W. Bush to attack and invade Afghanistan.
Let's have a closer look at the situation prior to 9/11. As promised by Soviet
president Mikhail Gorbachev, the USSR had withdrawn its last soldiers from
Afghanistan on February 15, 1989. It was the end of ten years of war. It was also
the last war of the Soviet Union. A few months later, on November 9, 1989, the Berlin wall fell. The Iron Curtain
broke down. The people living on the other side of the curtain, of whom our leaders
had always pretended they were dangerous and ferocious, turned out to be as friendly
as us. With the concept of the Cold War, our leaders had divided our world and maintained
fear in our minds for over forty years. This terror, fabricated by our own
governments, was finally over.
Pipeline projects through Afghanistan
On December 25, 1991, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last
time. [4] The former Soviet republics become independent. Among them were the
countries around the Caspian Sea, all rich in oil and gas. [MAP:
http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/as.htm ]
Before, the oil and gas went through pipelines to their soviet neighbours, or were
exported via Russia to Europe. Now each country could sell its own oil and gas and
explore new markets. Buyers showed up from everywhere. In the beginning, the new leaders still had no experience with the world oil
business. One of the first deals of Turkmenistan was to auction an oil well for as
little as $100,000. [5] US companies showed up, too. The biggest challenge was to get the Caspian oil and gas to the world markets. The
problem? The region is land-locked. If you trust neither Russia on the North side of
the Caspian Sea, nor Iran on the South side, you need to build new pipelines. [MAP: http://www.treemedia.com/cfrlibrary/library/policy/bremmermap.html ]
Today, from the West side of the Caspian Sea, oil is pumped through several
pipelines towards the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea from where it can be
shipped. Big business on the East side of the Caspian Sea is still limited. To unlock oil and
gas from this side, pipelines have to be built through Afghanistan. Here, since the
early nineties, two pipelines - one for gas and one for oil - have been in project.
[MAP: http://www.treemedia.com/cfrlibrary/library/energy/greatgamemaps.html#map2 ]
The oil pipe should go South to the Indian Ocean, ending at the port of Gwadar in
Pakistan. The gas pipe would turn East to Multan in the middle of Pakistan. From
Pakistan an extension is planned to Bombay (Mumbai, India), where a U.S. company
with close ties with father and son Bush, Enron, has built a power plant. [6]
Contracts for pipelines are not just multi-billion dollar projects to build them.
The main contractor generally also buys and sells the oil or gas going through them.
With contracts he disposes of it, determines how much the supplier gets in return,
and what fee is paid to crossed countries. He determines who gets it, how much,
when, to what price and in which currency it has to be paid. In fact, he determines a lot in the economical developments of both the selling and
the buying countries. With Turkmenistan eager to sell its gas, Pakistan eager to buy
it and Enron in India hoping to see it arrive as soon as possible, the pipelines
through Afghanistan are of high interest.
However, in 2001, the work in Afghanistan had not yet started. Since the withdrawal
of the Soviets in 1989, unrest was still in the country.
The Taliban: From ally to terrorist
The unrest in Afghanistan that blocked the business is worth mentioning. In 1992,
the pro-Russian president Mohammad Najibullah was ousted. In 1993, Burhanuddin
Rabbani became president, supported by the Tajik minority of the population. In 1994, the Pashtun, forming half of the population, challenged Rabbani. Because
the pipelines have to cross mainly Pashtun territory, their movement, the Taliban,
had support from the US and Pakistan. In March 1995, two companies, BRIDAS from Argentina and UNOCAL from the US, both
claimed to have obtained the contracts from the seller of the gas (Turkmenistan) and
the buyer (Pakistan). At that moment no deal had yet been signed with the Afghan
authorities.
In October 1995, President Niyazov of Turkmenistan signed an official agreement with
UNOCAL, but in February 1996, president Rabbani of Afghanistan signed an agreement
with BRIDAS for the main section of 875 miles through Afghanistan. [7]
UNOCAL's chances seemed compromised. Fortunately for UNOCAL, the Taliban wanted to
oust president Rabbani. In September 1996, they took Jalabad, Kandahar, and then
Kabul. President Rabbani fled to join the Northern Alliance. UNOCAL sighed with relief. It expressed support for the Taliban takeover, saying it
makes the pipeline project easier. (Unocal later said it was misquoted.)
Would BRIDAS now have lost the game? No. In November 1996, BRIDAS signed an
agreement with the Taliban and Gen. Dostum to build the pipeline. Unfortunately,
except from Pakistan and Saudi-Arabia, the Taliban government didn't obtain
international recognition. In April 1997, because work on the pipeline still had not started, the Taliban
announced it would award the contract to whomever starts first. However, UNOCAL
claimed there must be peace first.
In July 1997, Turkmenistan and Pakistan accepted a new delay and signed a new
contract with UNOCAL, saying they had to start the work within a year and a half. In December 1997, UNOCAL tried to become good friends with the Taliban and invited a
delegation to their head office in Sugarland, Texas, where they received a VIP
treatment while staying in the best hotels. [8] In Afghanistan, civil war went on. With no internationally recognized legal
representative of Afghanistan, the pipeline project seemed to be deadlocked. [9]
US-bombs on Afghanistan after US embassies are attacked in Africa
On February 4, 1998 and May 30, 1998, very heavy earthquakes shook the Northeast of
Afghanistan. They attracted a lot of international attention and many groups of
relief workers came into the North-East of Afghanistan to help. According to US
accusations, this was the moment that somewhere in this same region of Afghanistan, a
certain Osama bin Laden, would have been planning the bombings of two US embassies in
Africa, one in Nairobi (Kenya), and one in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania).
The bombings had a high impact in the press. 258 people were killed and some 5,000
injured. The bombings occurred on August 7, 1998, apparently for no specific reason.
[10] Apparently only president Clinton benefited from it. In the US, the Monica Lewinsky
affair had come to a height. The press and the public were excited and angry.
Clinton had stated under oath, that he had had no sexual relations with Monica
Lewinsky. Proof had come out he had. Clinton was close to the point of being
convicted of perjury. The bombings of the embassies drew people's attention to the drama in Africa.
Finally, on August 17, Clinton came away with the perjury charge by arguing that
oral sex was not a sexual relation. [11]
A few days later, August 21, 1998, the US military dropped bombs on Kandahar and other
targets in Afghanistan. Only afterwards Clinton explained to the journalists that
this was because of Osama bin Laden, who was supposed to be behind the bombings of
the US' embassies in Africa. [12] Unlike George W. Bush in 2001, Clinton did not invade Afghanistan. An invasion would
have given hope to UNOCAL to see the Afghan deadlock broken, but with the Lewinsky
affair still being argued, Clinton did not have enough credit for such a war. On August 28, 1998, UNSC resolution 1193 blamed the Taliban for the problems in
Afghanistan. [13] On November 5, 1998, a US Grand Jury indicted Osama Bin Laden. (Not for the bombings
of the embassies in Africa, but essentially for considering the US as his enemy.)
[14] & [15]
UNOCAL withdraws
In December 1998 UNOCAL withdrew from the pipeline consortium and, at least for the
outside world, the pipeline project seemed halted. [8]However, in January, 1999, Turkmenistan's foreign minister visited Pakistan, saying
the pipeline project was still alive. In February, BRIDAS had talks with leaders in
Turkmenistan, Pakistan and Russia.
In March, Turkmenistan's Foreign Minister Sheikh Muradov met with Taliban leader
Mullah Omar in Kandahar to discuss the pipeline. In April, Pakistan, Turkmenistan,
and the Taliban signed an agreement to revive the pipeline project. In May, a
Taliban delegation signed an agreement with Turkmenistan to buy gas and electricity.
[8]
Terror warning
On June 25, 1999, the US State Department announced: "As some of our embassies in
Africa have been under surveillance by suspicious individuals, we are taking the
precaution of temporarily closing our embassies in Gambia, Togo, Madagascar,
Liberia, Namibia and Senegal from June 24 through the 27th of June - that is
Sunday." [16]
The speaker seemed to have no idea where these countries are, considering the strange order of announcing them. Besides, the only African countries, where
incidents like attacks and hostage taking have been reported that year, are Sierra
Leone, Nigeria, Burundi and Ethiopia. None of these countries is on the list. [17]
On July 4, 1999, President Clinton issued an executive order prohibiting commercial
transactions with the Taliban. [18]
Back to Cold War budgets
On September 23, 1999, presidential candidate George W. Bush exposed his views on
the US military. He complained that since the end of the Cold War the Defence budget
had fallen 40 percent and that the army had never been in such a bad shape since
Pearl Harbor.
"As president, I will order an immediate review of our overseas deployments - in
dozens of countries. ... My second goal is to build America's defences on the
troubled frontiers of technology and terror."
Among his views of arms: "In the air, we must be able to strike from across the
world with pinpoint accuracy - with long-range aircraft and perhaps with unmanned
systems." [19]
On October 15, 1999, things were getting more serious for the Taliban. UN resolution
1267 against the Taliban threatened an aircraft ban and fund freezing, if Osama Bin
Laden was not handed over before November 14, 1999. [20] & [2]
On November 11, 1999, during a press conference, the Taliban minister of Foreign
Affairs said Osama bin Laden and the Taliban were unable to organize attacks like
those on the embassies in Africa and condemned these actions.
In 2000 the US had presidential elections. It was time to postpone delicate decisions.
On April 2, 2000, Richard Clarke, who had been appointed counter-terrorist
coordinator a few months before the attacks against the embassies in Africa (on May
22), predicted: "They will come after our weakness, our Achilles heel, which is
largely here in the United States." [21]
Curious No-Fly list
On April 21, 2000, something remarkable happened. As an antiterrorist measure, the
US Congress announced a single unified terrorist watch list, the TID (or Terrorist
Identities Database), into which all international terrorist related data available
to the US government - mainly the TIPOFF no-fly list - would be stored in a single
repository. In airports, this list is used to prevent suspected people from going on
board and from entering the US. [22]
However, the same day that Congress announces the unified TID list, the FAA created
a new and separate domestic no-fly list and put only six names on it. Two weeks
before 9/11, the list was expanded with six other names, making it a total list of
12 names.
Thanks to this separate list the hijackers of 9/11, using domestic flights, and not
listed among the 12 names, could board the planes without difficulties. On August
23, 2001, two names, later published as being two of the hijackers, had been added
to the official TID-list, which counted 60,000 suspects, but was discarded for
domestic flights. [23]
Neo-conservative ideas
This second chapter starts with September 2000, when the neo-conservatives present
their views. Their ideas will spread through the White House Administration with the
election of George W. Bush. Even before he enters the White House, two
imperialistic wars are on the agenda: Iraq and Afghanistan. Afghanistan gets the
priority.
In September, 2000, the neoconservative think tank Project for a New American
Century (PNAC) published their imperialistic views for the US. [24] In the document,
they warned that the process of transforming the US into "tomorrow's dominant force"
would likely be a long one in the absence of "some catastrophic and catalysing event
- like a new Pearl Harbor". [25]
After 9/11, to those who would not yet have understood the benefits of the events at
Pearl Harbor in 1941, Bush would explain: "The four years that followed transformed
the American way of war" and "even more importantly, an American President and his
successors shaped a world beyond a war." And, to make sure that people understood
that 9/11 was just like Pearl Harbor, he would add "September 11th, 2001 - three
months and a long time ago - set another dividing line in our lives and in the life
of our nation." [26]
Many PNAC members would become members of the Bush administration. Those members
include Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and
Richard Perle. [27]
On October 12, 2000, three weeks before the presidential elections, the US
population was shortly reminded of the terrorist threat in the world. The US Navy
destroyer USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden was rammed with an inflatable raft
with explosives and was damaged. Published detail: it looked as if the raft was
coming to help the warship to moor to a buoy. [28] Message: you can trust nobody.
On November 7, 2000 the elections took place. George W. Bush or Al Gore would become
President. The counting gave an extremely close result. The results in the State of
Florida became decisive, but the counting was and remains far from clear.
The opponents fought in many different courts until December 13. It turned out that
in Florida, 180,000 votes had been thrown out of the counting. This way Bush led by
less than 600 votes. Partial recounts resulted in much lower estimates. Finally, all
recounts could not be executed within the time limit set by the intervening Supreme
Court. This is how Bush won the elections. [29]
Dictator
A few days later, on December 18, speaking at the Capitol, Bush joked about his new
relationship with some congressional leaders: "If this were a dictatorship, it would
be a heck of a lot easier....just so long as I'm the dictator." [30] Just a slip of the tongue? Not really. In July 1998, about governing Texas, he said
already: "A dictatorship would be a lot easier." [31] And on July 26, 2001, speaking
once again about his struggles with Congress he repeated: "a dictatorship would be a
heck of a lot easier." [32]
Well, for the ambitious plans of the neoconservatives, the US Congress was a major
hurdle to clear. The budget of the military had shrunk by 40 percent after the Cold
War and with the wars they had in mind they would need a lot more money. How would they get the budget they wanted? If the US would be attacked, there would
be no problem. They would receive all the budget, political support and public
sympathy they needed. But, as written in their document, without a new Pearl Harbor
things would go slowly. [25]
When Bush started his presidency, many neoconservatives considered Iraq as the first
target to hit. In their document of September 2000 they had named Iraq as a "potential rival" of the US. [24]
First Target Iraq
Iraq has the world's second largest oil reserves. The country was exhausted. It had
tried to conquer Iran from 1980 to 1988, had invaded Kuwait in 1990, had been
defeated by Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and a subsequent UN embargo had brought
the Iraqi economy to a standstill and the population to the edge of starvation.
Since 1996, the Oil For Food program of the UN had brought some relief for the Iraqi
people. The country had been disarmed. Extensive weapon inspections had concluded
the country formed no threat anymore. Well, at least, not military. In 2000, Saddam
had still found a trick to hit the main pillar of US hegemony, the dollar. He
started to sell his oil in euros, instead of dollars. [http://www.raisethehammer.org/index.asp?id=252 , see: Dollar Hegemony]
Afghanistan back on the agenda
However, not even a week after George W. Bush had been declared winner of the
elections, Afghanistan was back on the international agenda. UN SC resolution 1333
of December 19, 2000, imposed the sanctions the UN had promised more than a year
before, if the Taliban would not hand over Osama bin Laden before November 14, 1999
(aircraft ban and funds freezing). [33]
Afghanistan in the Caspian context
Geopolitically, Afghanistan had become a more urgent target. Since 1996, the US had
experienced severe setbacks in their ambition to control gas and oil on the East
side of the Caspian Sea and was loosing influence. The lack of control over
Afghanistan was leading to severe complications.
As mentioned earlier, the problems had started in February 1996, when Afghan
president Rabbani signed a contract with UNOCAL's competitor BRIDAS for the
construction of the gas pipeline through Afghanistan, between Turkmenistan and
Pakistan. [8] In March 1996, the US tried to block this deal, putting pressure on
Pakistan and telling them they should grant exclusive rights to UNOCAL. This
resulted in a diplomatic clash with the Pakistani government. [8]
Still, in the same month, Pakistan officially agreed to allow a proposed Iranian
pipeline to run over Pakistani territory on its way to India, thus enabling Iranian
gas sale to India. The gas would come from Iran's giant South Pars Field in the
Persian Gulf and cross the South of Iran
from West to East through a pipeline still to be constructed. [34]
Meanwhile, in February 1996, Turkmenistan had showed it did not want to depend
exclusively on the delayed Afghan pipeline project and had signed a contract with
Turkey to supply Turkmen gas via a pipeline to be constructed along the North coast
of Iran. If necessary, Turkey would be able to absorb all the Turkmen gas. [34]
Iranian-Libyan Sanctions act
With these two aforementioned Iranian pipelines, the Afghan pipelines would become
more or less useless. To prevent the construction of the Iranian pipelines the US
Congress passed the Iranian-Libyan Sanctions act, [35] threatening anyone who would
help Iran to construct them, and forbid transactions with Iran of $ 4 million or
higher. That was on June 18, 1996.
Nevertheless on August 30, 1996 Turkey signed a 20-year deal to buy gas from Iran.
[34] & [36] The Turkish president would be punished for his Islamic solidarity by a
military coup forcing him to resign. That was on June 18, 1997. [37]
With the Iranian-Libyan Sanctions act in place, another US company, Enron, expanded
its activities in the region. In Uzbekistan, Enron had obtained a contract for 11
gas fields. In April 1997, George W. Bush himself had intervened to help Enron
obtain Uzbeki contracts. [38] Enron counted on a US controlled pipeline through
Afghanistan to export a part of the Uzbek gas to its power plant in India. [39]
The US threatened sanctions and blocked the completion of the Turkish pipeline
connection to Iran, therefor the gas deliveries from Iran to Turkey were delayed
several years. In August 2000, Iran and Turkey agreed the gas deliveries would start
on July 30, 2001, which would be a few days before the expiration date of the
Iranian-Libyan Sanctions act. [40]
Despite the Iranian-Libyan Sanctions act, the construction of the northern pipeline
had started on the East side of Iran. With Iranian funding, Iran and Turkmenistan
opened an international pipeline connection of 200 km by the end of 1997. [36]
Subsea shortcut avoiding Iran
To frustrate further development of the Iranian pipeline to Turkey, the US came up
with an idea for an alternative route from Turkmenistan, crossing the Caspian Sea to
Azerbaijan and from there to Turkey. Enron did the study for this project. [39] By that time it appeared as if the Afghan pipeline project would be abandoned. In
June 1998, Enron withdrew from its Uzbek gas projects [41] and in December UNOCAL
withdrew from its consortium for the Afghan pipeline. [8] The US threats did not prevent big companies like Shell and Total from signing deals
with Iran for exploration of oil and gas. [42] Nevertheless, Shell withdrew from its
pipeline project in Northern Iran. [43] The undersea pipeline crossing the Caspian Sea now existed on the drawing table, but
in the waters the five surrounding countries (Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan, and Iran) had not yet come to an agreement about each other's borders,
and thus about the ownership of oil fields. As long as this would last, according to
an existing agreement of 1940, Russia and Iran would have to agree with the pipeline
project first. And they did not. [44]
In 2000, the Turkmen president had blamed the US for the delay in the trans-Caspian
pipeline and had resumed gas deliveries to Russia. [45] That May, president Putin
had even come to Turkmenistan to offer extended deals for several years. [9] Meanwhile, in Kazakhstan, the oil from the Tengiz field (world's sixth largest oil
field) was going to be pumped via Russia to the Black Sea. [46]
Wealthy actors and influences
George W. Bush
On January 20, 2001, George W. Bush was sworn in as president of the US. He is the
son of ex-president George H.W. Bush. The family is from Texas and has close ties
with the oil and energy related companies there. These companies have contributed a
lot to Bush's election campaign. Companies contributing to election campaigns is a common phenomenon in the US. The
financial support for a candidate's campaign determines how much marketing they can
afford and, ultimately, their chances to win an election. Of course, when these
companies invest a lot of money, they expect something in return when their
candidate wins, such as nominations within the administration, influence for big
business orders or favourable laws and amendments. [47]
Enron
Enron had been the biggest contributor of the Bush 2000 election campaign. [48] In
fact, the company had generously contributed to both father and son's election
campaigns since 1985. Enron's chairman, Kenneth Lay, had close personal contacts
with the Bushes. He had even been a sleeping guest at the White House. [49] During
these years, Enron had expanded from a regional energy supplier to a giant
multinational company, and the seventh biggest in the US.
Although loaded with debts caused by its giant investments abroad, Enron always
showed splendid results. How? In 1997 the Securities and Exchange Commission had
exempted Enron from the Investment Company Act of 1940 that prohibits US companies
from leaving debt from overseas projects off the books. [47] At the same time Andy
Fastow, Enron's senior vice president of finance, had started his "creative"
financing. [50]
Since 1993, in India, Enron had invested $ 2.9 billion for a power plant near
Bombay. Originally it had counted on cheap supply of gas from Turkmenistan via the
planned pipeline through Afghanistan. The power plant project had turned into a
nightmare. Enron had faced severe criticism over their contemptuous way of doing business. They
had experienced severe opposition from the local population after hiring police
officers to beat down protests of opponents. Charges had been filed against the
company for human right violations. [39]
Last but not least, Enron's deliveries to the regional electricity company were
invoiced more than double the price of power from other suppliers.[51] Taking into
account the real cost beared by the regional electricity company, Enron's price was
even 700 percent higher. [52] The regional electricity company could not pay Enron's
bills anymore. As retaliation, in January 2001, Enron had cut the power to 200
million people in Northern India, while demanding three times the normal price. [53]
(Around the same time, Enron was provoking power cuts in California as well, to
force higher prices. [54])
In 1997 Enron had started gas projects in Uzbekistan, for which George W. Bush had
had personal contacts with the Uzbek ambassador. As soon as the Bush administration was in place, vice president Cheney would reward
Enron for their support during the elections. Enron's chairman, Kenneth Lay, had a
wish list that was almost entirely included in Cheney's proposals for the new US
energy policy. [55] Cheney also intervened to help Enron collect a $64 million debt
for its power plant near Bombay, during a meeting with Indian opposition leader
Sonia Ghandi in Washington on June 27 2001. [56]
Enron - BinLaden
Enron had also connections with the construction firm BinLadin from Saudi Arabia,
with which it constructed a power plant in the Gaza strip. (The power plant would
not be finished before Enron's bankruptcy in December 2001.) [57]
Binladen - Carlyle
The wealthy bin Laden family is well known to the Bush family. Salem bin Laden
supplied part of the money for George W. Bush's first oil company, Arbusto, in 1978.
[58] His father, George H.W. Bush, joined the Carlyle group after being US'
president, [59] and developed relations with the BinLadin company. [60] He met the
family in November 1998 and in January 2000. [61]
Bin Laden also invested in the Carlyle group. H.W. Bush still met with Shafig bin
Laden, Osama's brother, on September 10, 2001, the day before the attacks, at the
annual investor conference of the Carlyle Group. [62] Like Enron, Carlyle had grown
tremendously.
In the early 1990s son Bush had been member of the board of a catering service
company for airliners. [60] Carlyle had bought the catering company. Although the
catering service crashed, Carlyle grew to be an important defence contractor in the
US. [61] A bunch of well-known former politicians, including George W. Bush father,
former UK Prime Minister John Major and former president of the Philippines Mister
Ramos, are making a lot of money from the "war on terror". [59]
Osama
There is a terrible lot of information available about bin Laden's son, Osama.
However, almost all of it comes from sources that cannot be verified, like comments
by unknown people who would have known him or met him. Other stories are based on
allegations by people who have big business interests in the "war on terrorism",
like the Bush. One step further, you find the comments by officials "convinced" that
everything that has been said about Osama is true.
On the other extremity, there is the image Osama draws of himself in an interview by
CNN reporter Peter Arnett in 1997. According to this interview he is, first of all,
a man of faith, who understands people who fight against the US soldiers that came
to steal the oil and who attacked the Islamic religion. He denies having organized
any attacks against the US himself. [63] (Many people will remember a videotape with
"Osama's confession", that he knew about the attacks of 9/11 in advance, which
turned out to be a fake. [64])
Osama would become Bush's key excuse to invade Afghanistan. On September 17, 2001
Bush would declare Osama bin Laden was wanted "dead or alive". [65] Why did Osama bin Laden stay in Afghanistan? Here too, different sources give
different stories. He had already been in Afghanistan during the eighties, helping
the mudjahedeen fight against the Soviet occupation (as did the US). Back in Saudi
Arabia in 1989, he had opposed the king's alliance with the US.
When his passport was confiscated, he at first fled back to Afghanistan, and then
settled in Sudan in 1992, where all Muslims were welcome after a regime change the
year before. In 1994, because of his support to fundamentalist Muslim movements,
Saudi Arabia revoked his citizenship and froze his funds. [66] After the assassination attempt against Egyptian president Mubarak in Ethiopia on
June 26, 1995, Sudan was accused of being behind it. The relations between Egypt and
Sudan deteriorate in the current of 1995.
At this point, let us jump to Afghanistan. In February 1996 things went wrong for
the US pipeline project in Afghanistan. President Rabbani of Afghanistan contracted
the Argentinean BRIDAS instead of UNOCAL for the construction and exploitation of
the gas pipeline. For the US, to get the pipeline project back in the hands of
UNOCAL, Rabbani would have to disappear. But who could be accused if Rabbani were
killed?
Back to Sudan. March 8, 1996, the US suddenly asked Sudan to extradite Osama. It did
not specify to which country. Since the Saudis took his passport and nationality
away, Osama had few options. On May 18, 1996, he left Sudan and returned to
Afghanistan. [67] Years afterward, many people were still wondering why he had not been arrested at
that occasion.
In Afghanistan, events would take a different turn. From March 20 to April 4, 1996,
Taliban leaders had held a shura (meeting) and concluded with a jihad against
Rabbani. [68] Osama arrived on May 18, but would not get involved. On September 27,
the Taliban conquered Kabul and president Rabbani fled and joined the Northern
alliance. At that moment things must have looked hopeful for the UNOCAL pipeline
project. Unfortunately for them, in November 1996 BRIDAS signed a new contract with
the Taliban.
Ultimately this would lead to the Taliban being evicted from power. Clinton would
not attack Afghanistan after the US embassy bombings in Africa in 1998, maybe thanks
to Monica Lewinsky. Bush did, after "the catastrophic and catalysing events" of
9/11. After having used the presence of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan as his key excuse
to invade the country, Bush would state, on March 13, 2002, he wasn't truly that
concerned about Osama bin Laden. [69]
Karzai
After the US conquest of Afghanistan (or at least of its capital), UNOCAL's advisor
Hamid Karzai would be appointed Chairman of the interim administration of
Afghanistan. On June 16, 2002, even before there was an elected president, Karzai
would sign an official agreement with Turkmenistan and Pakistan for a gas pipeline
through Afghanistan. [70] But even if the gas pipeline would come too late to transport Turkmen gas to
Pakistan, Afghanistan remains an interesting booty. It has its own gigantic gas
field south of the Turkmen field, near Mazar e Sharif. It has also several oil
fields and coal. Furthermore, in the 1970s British geologists had already found 1600
locations with minerals.
Preparations for 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan
Timing of the attacks
As noticed above, the timing for the attacks on the US embassies in Africa helped
Clinton, as it drew away the attention from his threatening conviction of perjury in
the Monica Lewinsky affair, and focused on the common enemies: the terrorists. The invasion of Afghanistan would have to wait for the next US president. Between
1998 and 2001 there was enough time to plan everything carefully. Below we will
notice, that the attacks of 9/11 occurred at the very moment everything was in
place. The only thing missing was a pretext to get support from Congress, from the
US population and the rest of the world?
Military preparations
For the US to invade Afghanistan at the other side of the world was a delicate
operation. Step by step the US had pushed its influence and control in the former
Soviet republics. US oil and gas related companies had started up activities in
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and the U.S. military had gained
influence in the region, challenging Russia and China in their backyards.
Already in 1997, north of Afghanistan, the US had considerably expanded its military"cooperation" with Kazakhstan, which forms the buffer with Russia. [71] In 1999,
closer to Afghanistan, the US expanded its presence in Kyrgyzstan [72], and in
Uzbekistan, one of Afghanistan's direct neighbours. [73] In April 14-15, 2000, Uzbek
and US troops conducted joint military exercises. [74]
East of Afghanistan the US administration has strong ties with the Pakistani
intelligence service. Its director, Lieutenant-General Mahmoud Ahmad, was with U.S.
officials the week before and during the attacks of 9/11. [75] On the west side,
F-15s were based in Saudi-Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey and the Fifth fleet was
permanently based in the Persian Gulf. [76] For the war in Afghanistan, huge transports of troops and material had to be
organized well before the invasion. On November 7, 2000, the day all US-citizens
were occupied with the election of their president, the UK announced its biggest
military exercise since the Gulf War, operation Swift Sword (Saif Sareea in Arabic),
involving 24,000 troops and a lot of heavy material. [77]
The exercise took place on the coast of Oman, a strategic location, since all oil
tankers from the Persian Gulf region (Saudi-Arabia, the United Arabic Emirates,
Qatar, Quait, Iraq and Iran) have to cross the Gulf of Oman. Here the UK maintains a
War Material Storage. [78] The exercice had been scheduled from September 15 until
the end of October 2001, [79] The UK would start moving troops and material to Oman
in August 2001.[80] The UK participated in the invasion. [81]
From October 8 until the end of October, 2001 another military operation was
planned in Egypt: NATO Operation Bright Star. It was the world's largest exercise
including more than 11 Nations, and more than 70,000 troops (among which 23,000
from the US) participating. [82] Among several other "coincidental" military moves towards Afghanistan, we notice
that on July 23, 2001, the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was sent out from remerton
(on US West coast) to the Arabian Sea. It arrived just in time to launch the first
air strikes on Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. [83]
Diplomatic preparations
On the diplomatic front, to lower the risk of upsetting China, on June 19 2001, Bush
had proposed to attend the APEC summit in Shang Hai and was expected to meet
president Zemir between October 15 and October 21 2001. [84] & [85] (Bush's meeting
with presidents Zemir and Putin took place on October 20, 2001) [86]
Besides, in 2001 China was completing its bilateral agreements with all 37 WTO
members to become a full WTO-member. China wanted to become member since many years.
China's bilateral agreement with Mexico would be the last and this would complete
China's membership. [87] In July 2001 Bush would polish his relations with Mexico,"lobbying" against US unfair import restrictions on Mexican trucks. [88]
This was probably not only to get the Mexicans in the right mood to sign with China,
but also because Mexico would be a member of the UN Security Council in 2002 and
2003. China reached its bilateral agreement with Mexico and became a WTO member on
September 13, 2001. [89]
Bush's unmanned systems
In the summer of 1999, a number of US embassies on the African continent were closed
for the weekend because of suspicious people hanging around. [16] A few days later
Clinton had issued its order prohibiting commercial transactions with the Taliban.
[18] A few months later George W. Bush presented his ideas of defence "on the
troubled frontiers of technology and terror."
He said, "In the air, we must be able to strike from across the world with pinpoint
accuracy - with long-range aircraft and perhaps with unmanned systems." [19]
In September 1999 Bush still said "perhaps". He was still considering. This was at a
time when the market for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) for both military as well
as civil aviation was rapidly developing. [90] By 2001 there were more than 60 types
of UAVs world wide, from small models to big planes. [91]
At the time of Bush's speech in 1999, the US was developing the Global Hawk [92], a
military UAV with a wing span comparable to a Boeing 737, which had made its first
flight from Edwards Air Force Base, CA on 28 February 1998. [93] After Bush became
president, on April 23, 2001 the Global Hawk made a historical first unmanned test
flight to Australia. [94]
9/11
Not all of the material about 9/11 has been released to the public. Some of the reliable evidence has been confiscated by the CIA. [95] Statements of officials
often turned out to be contradictory. And, in particular about possible advanced knowledge, the White House has confiscated dozens of documents from the 9/11 Commission. [96] It doesn't make truth finding easier.
The official version of the events on 9/11 involves a very high number of
coincidences that facilitated the "success" of the attacks. A nationwide military exercise, Global Guardian, originally planned for
November 2001, is in full swing, creating confusion between exercises and real-world
events. [97]
1. A large-scale military exercise, Vigilant Guardian, is taking place and
involves all of NORAD, that normally sends fighter jets after civil airplanes
several times a week, when flight control operators report incidences. [97]
2. The Vigilant Guardian exercise simulates an air attack on the United
States. [97]
3. NORAD is also running a planned real-world operation named Operation
Northern Vigilance, for which many NORAD fighters are located in Alaska and Canada.
[98]
4. Operation Northern Vigilance also creates false blips on radar screens at
least until the second plane crashes into the World Trade Centre. [99]
5. In Washington a planned National Reconnaissance Office exercise involves a
scenario of an airplane as a flying weapon. [97]
6. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is flying across the Atlantic on
the way to Europe. [97]
7. The Federal Emergency Management Agency Director is at a conference in
Montana. [97]
8. FAA hijack coordinator, who has to contact the National Military Command
Centre in case of hijacks, is in Puerto Rico and cannot be reached. [97]
9. All of the FBI's anti-terrorist and top special operations agents are,
together with the members of the CIA's anti-terrorist task force, on a training
exercise in Monterey, California. [97]
10. For the day of 9/11, the commander of the National Military Command Centre
had requested to be replaced by someone without experience.[97]
11. For FAA's new National Operations Manager, it is the first day on the job.
[98]
12. The hijackers can board without trouble, since the official no-fly list is
only used for international flights and, curiously, not for domestic flights. [22] &
[23]
13. Informed a few minutes after the start of the first hijack (Flight 11),
American Airlines top management decide to "keep it quiet". [97]
14. Boston flight controllers do not follow normal procedures and waste time by
contacting various military bases, instead of NORAD. [97]
15. After NORAD is finally informed, two F-15s will remain on the ground and
only take off when Flight 11 had already crashed into the WTC. [97]
16. For various reasons F-16s will only arrive on the scene after the last
plane has crashed. [97] & [99]
17. A decision is taken to ground not only civil airplanes, but also all
military planes. [99]
18. The presumed hijacker pilot of flight 77 was not able to fly a Cessna
without difficulty in August, but succeeded to spiral down a Boeing 757 and hit the
Pentagon a few meters above the ground on September 11. [100]
19. The President doesn't give any orders responding to the attack until just
before the last plane crashes. [97]
Above, I only mentioned those coincidences that facilitated the success of the
attacks. If I were to build a story on such series of coincidences, no one would
believe me. Well, I would not either. Keeping the things in their context, it makes
more sense to look at them as facts, and not as coincidences. All released details show that the attacks of 9/11 were carried out with military
precision. However, the hijackers on the planes would have been improvised pilots
without the extraordinary skills needed to fly in the way that has been reported.
[101] & [102]
In addition, they would not have been intelligent enough to foresee the reactions
triggered by their actions. Apparently they had so little political awareness, that
they had not heard about the neoconservatives waiting for such a "catastrophic and
catalysing event" to speed up US conquests. The success of the plan relied on a lot of advanced knowledge of the situation that
day, like the confusion offered by planned military exercises and the scenarios
played by them, like the confusion offered by fake radar blibs, like traffic
controllers lacking of primary radar images in specific areas, like the absence of
several experienced officers in the command chains responding to the hijacks, like
the absence of armed jet fighters to frustrate their plans.
All this seems more likely to be the work of a more influential and well trained
organization, an organization willing to provide the justification for the
neoconservatives' conquest plans, with Afghanistan as the first target. It does not seem likely to me, that such an organization would let the success of
its operation depend on the improvised skills of the hijackers. It makes more sense
to suppose the hijackers were not in control. (In spite of an overheard phrase in
the cockpit of the fourth plane, having been translated as "Pull it down" and by officials interpreted as "Crash the plane" [102]) It seems more likely the operation
was conducted on the "troubled frontier of technology and terror", and that
technology had taken over the controls.
Transponders
The two types of planes used, the Boeing 757 and 767, can be controlled remotely.
Robert Ayling, a former boss of British Airways, suggested in the Financial Times a
few days after 9/11, that those aircraft can be commandeered from the ground and
controlled remotely in the event of a hijack. [13] On 9/11 the remote control would
have been in the hands of the wrong people.
If we look closer to the remote control scenario, we notice that if the published
details about the transponders are right:
1. the transponder of the second 767 is turned off shortly after the first 767
crashes.
2. the transponder of the second 757 is turned off shortly after the first 757
crashes.
So, it looks as if one remote pilot handled the two 767s one after the other, and
another remote pilot handled the two 757s one after the other. ([104] 9/11
Commission Report, P.32, 8:47 & 9:41)
It has also been reported that a C-130 military cargo plane was tailing flight 77
when it crashed into the Pentagon. The same C-130 was behind flight 93 when it
crashed. Did the plane play a role? Or was it just a coincidental tourist, flying
around while all other planes had been ordered to land? [101], [105], [106]
The hijackers hijacked?
Although the official story expects us to believe the hijackers wanted to fly into
the WTC and the Pentagon, the released pieces of cockpit conversations offer no
indications to support this theory. Although mountains of stories and
counter-stories have been published about the hijackers, I did not find a single
verifiable element.
If the hijackers were to support some Arabic or Islamic cause, they would probably
have been in a stronger position if they had returned to airports with four planes
and hundreds of US citizens in their might. They could have negotiated the release
of political prisoners. They could have demanded a retreat of US forces from Saudi
Arabia. They could have pleaded any cause they were after.
Did the hijackers really have in mind to strike the WTC and the Pentagon or were
they overruled by the organization that had "contracted" them? Will we find out?
According to the official story, all radio contact and overhearing of cockpit
conversations stopped before the planes made their final approach to the WTC and the
Pentagon. If the hijackers were to create the biggest possible spectacle, wouldn't
they have shouted a last accusation against the US? Or a last glorious prayer to
Allah? Or were they surprised and in panic when they flew into the buildings?
Conclusion
The Afghan pipelines are only one step in US political moves to take over the
influence in the oil and gas rich former Soviet republics. Consuming 25 percent of
the world oil consumption, their imperialism is first of all about energy. Today the
US already relies for over 60 percent on foreign oil, a percentage that is quickly
increasing. The neoconservative ideas to transform the US into a "dominant force" do
not come out of nowhere.
The thought that they needed a "catastrophic and catalysing event" was not just
motivated by the personal financial benefits several of them get from the war
industries. It was also a sign of panic of a nation facing drying up oil wells and
preparing itself to conquer foreign oil wells until the last drip is gone.
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