Bush Calls off Bin Laden Hunt./was Bushies deal with Taliban then kill them

[Jim Baldauf]

Wayne sprech: >I don't want to be a spoil sport, but in the interests of
not-forming-another-urban-myth-conspiracy-thing...<

Nein:
Sie nicht bin eine shpoiler shport! (Sie bin keiner shpoiler shport?) Aber,
the issues treated in the book have been reported widely in foreign press
accounts. The authors were both high ranking French intelligence officers
and have now been deemed credible enough to warrant discussion by Richard
Butler and CNN news. Never is heard a discouraging word from these guys
unless it's buttoned down pretty well. I'll round up some of the other
accounts and post them ASAP, but I do think the story has by now risen above
the urban-myth-third-party-heresay status you rightly eschew.
Your Patriot
J.F. (Fritz) Baldauf
(Ol' J.W. Goethe would flip at my Deutsch! But my friends all speak French
and I must make amends!)

----- Original Message -----
From: Wayne Johnson <cadaobh2@brgnet.com>
To: Jim Baldauf <jfbaldauf@prodigy.net>; telebob x <telebob98@hotmail.com>;
<austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 7:29 PM
Subject: RE: Bush Calls off Bin Laden Hunt./was Bushies deal with Taliban
then kill them


> I don't want to be a spoil sport, but in the interests of
> not-forming-another-urban-myth-conspiracy-thing, exactly how is this been
> documented.  Circumstantialism and third party here say don't count.
>
> Enquiring minds want not to be falling into bad habits.
>
> Nun je quois.
>
> B.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: austin-ghetto-list-admin@pairlist.net
> [mailto:austin-ghetto-list-admin@pairlist.net]On Behalf Of Jim Baldauf
> Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 6:17 PM
> To: telebob x; austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
> Subject: Bush Calls off Bin Laden Hunt./was Bushies deal with Taliban then
> kill them
>
> Just in case the pipeline seems like old news, the real nugget in the link
> story below is that Bush called off the ongoing hunt for Osama (pre 9-11)
in
> order to do the pipeline deal, causing a senior FBI official to resign in
> protest. The official, John O'Neil, took a job as head of security for the
> World Trade Center where he was killed on his first day at work.
> jb
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: telebob x <telebob98@hotmail.com>
> To: <austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 12:52 PM
> Subject: Bushies deal with Taliban then kill them
>
>
>
> Actually I do not know if this is any bigger news than the fact that the
USA
> suffered yet another coup d'etat during the Bush "election", or that the
> Bush family is completely up to their hips with the Saudi Royal family
> including Ben Ladin's relatives, or whether it's OK or not for 5 companies
> with rotating directorships to own 80% of the media outlets in America. or
> whether....oh, you name it...
>
> Disgusted in CR
>
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
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> --
>
>
>
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