|| -----Original Message-----
|| From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
|| [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Voodoo Ergonomics
||
||
||
||
|| <If the Taliban can be neutralized, the Islamic guerillas in
|| the Caucasus
|| will be up against the wall, so no immediate threats will
|| remain for these
|| regimes.>
||
|| i couldn't quite assemble the various oil theories into a
|| logical thread.
Well it ain't easy, I'm working on it. See my posts RE: "Drawing the Enemy in Deep" A Speculation. I'd appreciate some help with the research, everybody(thanks, Michael).
|| it seems clear that the u.s. had supported the taliban on
|| behalf of unocal
|| et al.. but why, i have been wondering, did u.s. support for
|| the taliban
|| erode? why was a pipeline deal not consummated?
Reason 1: The Taliban are cavemen. They don't know what a business deal is. Unocal wined & dined them, the CIA tried to give them a college education, nothing worked. Reason 2: The guys who did S11 blew up US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Clinton responded by sending in cruise missiles. Targets were supplied by Pakistani ISI, who warned ObL to get out. The missiles missed, and Mullah Omar blew his top. The Unocal deal was off.
|| why has the u.s. been planning an
|| invasion of
|| afghanistan since last summer, and would the cia have been
|| meeting with bin
|| laden?
ObL is not and has never been a real target. The Taliban were ready to hand him over just before the embassies blew and the missiles flew (This report got out yesterday: http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2001/11/03/taliban_bin_laden/print.html ). Before that, Sudan offered to hand him over and the CIA pretended not to hear. At another time, the CIA was led to a Paki source that could pinpoint ObL's location at any time. They weren't interested.
||
|| what you say here, hakki, would seem to tie the loose ends
|| together. but
|| does the taliban really have so much influence that its
|| neutralisation would
|| cause islamic guerillas in the caucusus states to wither at the vine?
The Taliban supply the rear bases, and those are vital to a guerilla. The other vital thing is money, and ObL seems to have the Qaeda purse's strings, in which Saudi petrodollars jingle.
||
||
|| one other sticking point, though. it's fairly evident that the bush
|| administration would have no problem working with bin laden.
|| but i wonder
|| about the opposite. isn't bin laden supposed to be a man of
|| principle?
|| aren't the attacks on america designed to remove the infidels
|| from the holy
|| land? why would he stoop to deal-making?
You're right, he wouldn't. That's clearly no act. He's the ultimate blowback.
Hakki