Pipeline dream
The emerging connection between oil plans and the 9-11 attacks

Some months ago, a book was published in France entitled 'Osama bin Laden: The Forbidden Truth.' The authors, Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasique, described a connection between the September 11th terrorist attacks and a stalled plan to build a pipeline to exploit the vast natural gas fields along the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan. Their story pointed damning fingers at American petroleum companies and the Bush administration, citing instances where U.S. anti-terrorism efforts were thwarted in order to smooth the way for the pipeline deal.

Brisard and Dasique were paid little mind by the American news media. Many of their allegations were based upon conjecture, circumstantial evidence, and the words of a dead man named John O'Neill. Their argument seemed plausible enough – the interests of the Bush administration and the energy industry are, in essence, one and the same - but without proper corroboration, there was nowhere for the story to go.

In the last 100 hours, however, the substance behind Brisard and Dasique's accusations has been amply augmented.
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thanks to This Modern World

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Bush Was Told of Hijacking Dangers

President Bush and his top advisers were informed by the CIA early last August that terrorists associated with Osama bin Laden had discussed the possibility of hijacking airplanes, according to reliable sources.

The information, given to Bush as part of his daily intelligence report, lacked specific details about how the terrorist plans would be carried out, the sources said. The White House said last night that law enforcement agencies were quietly placed on alert as a result of the intelligence.
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What did he know and when did he know it?

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Hypocritical hyperbole
Bush condemns Castro while chumming up to real despots
by molly Ivins

President George Bush's foreign policy is starting to look like a running gag on "Saturday Night Live." How inept can he get?

On Tuesday, Bush teed off on Castro of Cuba, saying he "ought to have free elections," "ought to have a free press" and "ought to free his political prisoners." All of which is dandy, except Bush was standing right next to one of our more questionable allies in the "war on terrorism," the prime minister of Malaysia.

Malaysia is also in serious need of free elections, a free press and freed political prisoners. Mahathir Mohamad is a far more brutal ruler than Castro ever dreamed of being. He's been in power since 1957 (love those free elections) and the subject of denunciations by human-rights groups the entire time. He's actually senior to Castro in the long- running dictator sweepstakes and far ahead on bloodshed points. Him -- we're offering him whatever he wants.
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