<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD><TITLE></TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4134.600" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Robert Fisk writes daily and very convincingly about why this supposedly antiterrorist war is creating millions of "potential terrorists", as some prefer to call them. I just call them extremely pissed off people. Clearly US strategists are not as thick as they were in the Vietnam days and know that they are not getting anywhere near their avowed objectives. So what are their real aims? I guess you've read my posts here so without repeating myself, let me point you to some other material:</DIV> <DIV><BR>A backgrounder with a map of the pipeline routes:<BR></FONT><A target=_blank href="http://members.localnet.com/~jeflan/jfafghanpipe.htm"><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>http://members.localnet.com/~jeflan/jfafghanpipe.htm</FONT></A><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Here's something I wrote:<BR></FONT><A target=_blank href="http://nycap.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=1128&group=webcast"><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>http://nycap.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=1128&group=webcast</FONT></A><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><FONT color=#000000>Check out George Monbiot's October 23 article in The Guardian entitled "America's pipe dream: A pro-western regime in Kabul should give the US an Afghan route for Caspian oil" Of course there's also Arundhati Roy's article "War is Peace" which I'm sure you've seen.</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><FONT color=#000000></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Don't know if the links are still there but here's some news links about the invasion plans dating back to March:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><A href="http://www.indiareacts.com/Story33.htm"><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>http://www.indiareacts.com/Story33.htm</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV> <DIV><A href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1550000/1550366.stm"><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/</FONT></A><A href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1550000/1550366.stm"><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>south_asia/newsid_1550000/1550366.stm</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV> <DIV><A href="http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jir/jir010315_1_n.shtml"><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>http://www.janes.com/security/</FONT></A><A href="http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jir/jir010315_1_n.shtml"><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>international_security/news/jir/jir010315_1_n.shtml</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Centrasbat exercises in the "Stans" involving rapid deployment troops flown in from US, UK, Turkey: </FONT></DIV> <DIV><A href="http://www.angelfire.com/wi/kazakhstanelumin/usmilitaryinkaz.html"><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>www.angelfire.com/wi/kazakhstanelumin/usmilitaryinkaz.html</FONT></A><FONT size=2> </FONT></DIV> <DIV><A href="http://www.russiajournal.com/weekly/article.shtml?ad=3612"><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>http://www.russiajournal.com/weekly/article.shtml?ad=3612</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><A href="http://www.house.gov/international_relations/105th/ap/wsap212982.htm"><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>JOHN J. MARESCA, VICE PRESIDENT UNOCAL</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial size=2> in testimony before a House committee, February 12, 1998:"From the outset, we have made it clear that construction of our proposed pipeline cannot begin until a recognized government is in place that has the confidence of governments, lenders and our company. In spite of this, a route through Afghanistan appears to be the best option with the fewest technical obstacles. It is the shortest route to the sea and has relatively favorable terrain for a pipeline. The route through Afghanistan is the one that would bring Central Asian oil closest to Asian markets and thus would be the cheapest in terms of transporting the oil."</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><FONT color=#000000><FONT color=#000080></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><FONT color=#000000>Hakki Alacakaptan</FONT><BR><BR><BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From: owner-lbo-talk@lists.panix.com [</FONT><A href="mailto:owner-lbo-talk@lists.panix.com"><FONT face=Arial size=2>mailto:owner-lbo-talk@lists.panix.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>]On Behalf Of Doug Henwood<BR>To: lbo-talk@lists.panix.com<BR>Subject: RE: Note to the "ladder of force left"<BR><BR><BR>Hakki Alacakaptan wrote:<BR><BR>>Depends. Do you know that the Afghan invasion was planned as early as March<BR>>in line with the requests of Unocal and other oil interests from the US<BR>>Congress and are discounting the implications thereof, or have you never<BR>>heard about this?<BR>><BR>>At the risk of being obnoxious, may I stress that this war is not about<BR>>terrorism.<BR><BR>How do you know?<BR><BR>Doug</FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>