URL: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/000640
Date: 2002-10-06T21:28:33-06:00
Ted Rall: My Government Went to Afghanistan and All I Got Was This Stupid
Pipeline[1]
Summary: The US begun planning courting the Taliban for permission to build an
oil pipeline since 1997. We even flew Mullah Omar to Texas to try and convince
him. After it was clear that wouldn't work, we threatened to bomb them and
begun attacking on a smaller scale for a year before 9-11. We already planned
to invade two months before the attacks. While it's not clear they knew about
9-11 it certainly provided a convenient cover for their plans.
Three days after we started bombing, we begun official work on the pipeline
Karzai, the Afghanistan president we installed (who incidentally used to work
for the oil company Unocal and was a former Talib) focused on the pipeline
rather than rebuilding his torn country. Yet, the entire pipeline is unworkable
because it's too expensive and will be sabotaged by warlords and Pakistan.
Bin Laden was essentially a venture capitalist: he funded attacks but didn't
carry them out. It's far more likely that an Egyptian group, Islamic Jihad,
carried out the attacks. If we wanted to stop the terrorists, we should have
gone after them. If we wanted to stop anti-Americanism, we should have gone
after Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Instead, our bombing created the perfect
opportunity for Bin Laden to escape. Nor did we bother to stabilize
Afghanistan, the country is as ruined as ever.
"Unfortunately, our government seized the moment as well, not to do good or
right, but to take advantage--of our grief, of our naivete, of our lust for
justice and vengeance. They did it to line the pockets of themselves and their
friends, to gain political and economic advantage for a tiny coterie of
influential people. In doing so, they endangered the rest of us. They took
advantage of our ignorance about Islam, Caspian Sea oil and remote Central
Asia. I have faith that the fundamental goodness of the American people will
cause them to see what was done in their name, and to do something about it."
[1] http://www.comicbookgalaxy.com/pipeline0.html