As a reminder of why we fight in Afghanistan the following was gleaned from news articles.

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1995 - Unocal signs agreements allowing the oil giant to build an oil and gas pipeline across Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan to serve potential Asian markets.

Oct. 1997 - Unocal and other oil companies form Central Asia Gas Pipeline, Ltd. (CentGas) in preparation for building the trans-Afghanistan pipeline.

Oct. 1997 - US Congress passes a resolution declaring the Caspian and Caucasus region to be a "zone of vital American interests".

Dec. 1997- Unocal execs host Taliban representatives at their corporate headquarters in Sugarland, Texas to seal the CentGas pipeline project. Taliban are invited to Washington DC for meetings with Clinton Administration energy officials.

Jan. 1998 - Dick Cheney, CEO of Halliburton (an oil services company) says: "I cannot think of a time when we have had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian."

Feb. 28, 1998 - John Maresca, VP for International Relations at Unocal speaks before US House of Representatives, stating that the Taliban government of Afghanistan should be removed and replaced by a government that is acceptable to UnoCal, adding that it could increase Unocal profits 500% by 2015. (Maresca's full testimony is worth reading - it's an eye-opener):

http://www.ringnebula.com /Oil/Maresca_testimony_USHouse_1998.htm)

May 15, 2001 - Regarding the the Unocal pipeline deal, a Bush government official delivers an ultimatum to the Taliban: "Either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold (Unocal's pipeline), or we bury you under a carpet of bombs." (source: Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie in "Forbidden Truth")

June 2001 - US Ambassador Barbara Bodine prohibits Deputy FBI Director John O'Neill from entering Yemen to investigate al-Qaeda links to the USS Cole attack.

July 2001 - Niaz Naik, former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, tells the BBC that the US was planning military attacks on the Taliban long before the 9-11 attacks, and that the US desires "to topple the Taliban regime and install a transitional government of moderate Afghans in its place"

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm)

Aug. 22, 2001- Deputy Director O'Neill resigns in disgust over Bush Administration obstruction of FBI investigations into al-Qaeda. (New Yorker 1/14/02)

July - Sept. 2000 - Pakistani Intelligence Chief (ISI) Mahmoud Ahmad instructs British-born Saeed Sheikh in Pakistan to wire $100,000 to two Florida bank accounts held by 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta. (Dawn News

10-9-01, World Net Daily 1-30-02, Times of India 08-1-03, inter alia)

Sept. 4, 2001 - Gen. Ahmad meets with top Bush officials in Washington.

Sept. 11, 2001 - Gen. Ahmad meets with Rep.(later FBI Director) Porter Goss (R-FL) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ). Porter Goss subsequently serves as co-chairman of the "Joint Intelligence Committee Investigating the 9/11 Attacks."

Oct. 31, 2001 - Bush drafts an executive order sealing the presidential records of the Bush and previous administrations.

Dec. 22, 2001 - The US-backed interim government headed by Hamid Karzai takes office. Karzai is a former Unocal consultant and CIA asset.

Dec. 31, 2001 - Bush appoints Zalmay Khalilzad as Special Envoy to Afghanistan. Khalilzad is also a former Unocal consultant.

Jan. 29, 2002 - CNN reports "President Bush personally asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to limit the congressional investigations into the events of 9/11/01"

Feb 8, 2002 - Afghanistan's interim ruler Hamid Karzai and the president of Pakistan agree to revive plans for the trans-Afghanistan pipeline.

May 13, 2002 - Mohammad Razim, Afghanistan's minister for Mines and Industries, reports that Unocal is rumored to be "the lead company" to build the pipeline.

February 14, 2002: Israeli news Ma'ariv reports: "If one looks at the map of the big American bases created [in Afghanistan], one is struck by the fact that they are

completely identical to the route of the projected (Unocal) oil pipeline to the Indian Ocean." Ma'ariv also notes: "Osama bin Laden did not comprehend that his actions serve American interests. If I were a believer in

conspiracy theory, I would think that bin Laden is an American agent. Not being a believer, I can only wonder at the coincidence." [Chicago Trib, 3/18/2002]

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"Is there any man, is there any woman, let me say, is there any child here who does not know that the seed of war in the modern world is industrial and commercial rivalry? (Woodrow Wilson, 1919)