|| -----Original Message-----
|| From: Doug Henwood
|| 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.
||
|| 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...
|| (...)
Speak of the devil waddaya know, just when we were saying it never got in the mainstream US media. And hello, and who's our debunker? Richard Butler, the very guy who orchestrated the provocations against Iraq - denounced by his UNSCOM coworker Scott Ritter - to force them to break off the inspections and allow bombing to resume. http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/unmovic/2001/0720ritt.htm
The conspiracists are the ruling classes, Doug. If you meant conspiranoids, that's the lefties, deluded marginal freaks who see exploitation and repression where there is nothing but the rule of law and democracy among equals.
Hakki