posted at http://democraticunderground.com (source)
Democat (696 posts)
Jan-13-02, 05:43 PM (ET)

"Could UNOCAL hold key to Cheney defiance of GAO?"

I'm posting this to call out a point I made in another ongoing thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om;=13592&forum;=DCForumID35

I'm convinced that Cheney's refusal to hand over the energy docs has less to do with Enron, because that's public knowledge by now, and more to do with plans by UNOCAL Corp. (probably abetted by Halliburton) to reinvigorate its participation in the CentGAS project to build a pipeline thru Afghanistan.

In researching this I came across an interesting assertion in a gas & oil industry publication that UNOCAL backed out of CentGAS in 1998 due to Clinton's strikes against OBL! (although its PR machinery would have us believe it was due to concern for women's rights in Afghanistaan--yeah as if.) UNOCAL is on record as saying that it wants to get back into the Afghan pipeline action as soon as there is a stable govt in Afghanistan. Well, if I recall, Karzai had ties to UNOCAL. Can't get more stable than that!

I would not be at all surprised if Cheney's secrets that he is so zealously guarding include talks with UNOCAL reps. BTW, UNOCAL's v-p of International Relations is a former Bush Sr. official. I don't know if he still holds that position.

At this point I truly think the UNOCAL connection is the all-important one. Oh, and Halliburton worked hand in glove with UNOCAL in Burma: an ugly situation.

Let me know if you agree this is on the right track!

http://www.burmaforumla.org/news/cheney.htm
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UNOCAL responds to allegations of running forced labor camps in Burma:
http://www.unocal.com/uclnews/2000news/031000.htm
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1998 Statement by John Maresca, VP of Internat'l Relations, UNOCAL (Maresca was also George Bush Sr's ambassador to Cyprus, where, as we all know, there is a Cayman Island-style banking system)

http://www.house.gov/international_relations/105th/ap/wsap212982.htm
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Centgas looking for major new partner
12-02-99 A consortium formed to pipe Turkmen gas across Afghanistan to Pakistan is holding discussions with potential new leaders to steer it through a minefield of politics and war.
Sources within the consortium said the project leader Unocal, which withdrew from the Centgas project in November, was yet to be replaced and the second major shareholder, Saudi Delta Oil, had been made interim project leader.
"We are looking for a major partner, a company with an international standing and experience in such projects which could become the project leader," said an official of one of the consortium partners.
"There is a lot of interest, three to four companies have approached us and we are talking," he added.

The dilemma facing a potential partner is that the huge gas reservoirs of Turkmenistan and the waiting market of Pakistan are split by war ravaged Afghanistan.
While the gas supply and demand are clear factors in the viability of the project, the timing of when the gas can be transported through Afghanistan to link the two markets is unclear.
The Taleban militia, which controls about 90 % of the war-torn country, is recognised by only three nations as a legitimate government.

Unocal withdrew from the consortium trying to build the $ 1.9 bn 1,400 km pipeline from Turkmenistan's Baultabad gas fields to Pakistan's southern Multan city after U.S. cruise missile attacks on the suspected terrorist training camps of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
Unocal had a 46 % stake in the consortium which now groups six companies on an expense-sharing basis including the Government of Turkmenistan, Crescent Steel & Allied Products of Pakistan, South Korea's Hyundai Engineering , a unit of Japan's Itochu, CEICO and Indonesia Petroleum of Japan (INPEX).
The official denied reports saying that Unocal was interested in rejoining the consortium or that the Argentine-based company Bridas had shown interest in buying out Unocal's stake. "The withdrawal of Unocal is effective, there is no change of heart as far as I know. Though I can't comment for Bridas but they have not approached us nor are we holding any negotiations with them," the official said.

A senior official of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said the reports were wrongly attributed to the ministry and it was up to the consortium partners to decide if any company wanted to join them.
"There may be a number of companies interested to join the project but the government of Pakistan is not a consortium member so we can't say who should or can be part of the project," the ministry official said.
"We are interested to the extent that we need the gas," he added.

The consortium official said the project was viable because of a confirmed buyer, Pakistan, which needed low cost natural gas to replace more expensive furnace oil used by its oil-fired power generation plants.
The seller, Turkmenistan, was also desperately seeking a buyer for the 30-year reserves after it lost its previous consumer, the Russian Federation, he added.
He said the project envisaged 1 bn cfpd supply to Pakistan which would be raised to 1.5 bn cfpd later.
An indicative tariff of 75 % of the international furnace oil price was set in September 1997, he said.

In a meeting between the foreign ministers of Turkmenistan and Pakistan in Islamabad last month, both sides said they remained interested in the project despite Unocal's withdrawal.
The official said a Taleban minister dealing with mining and energy was due in Islamabad soon and talks were likely to include the prospects for the project.
The ministry said a tripartite meeting between Pakistan, Turkmenistan and the Taleban was also planned in the next two months and would be discussed during the Afghan minister's visit.
Source:
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cnc91223.htm
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Here is the original announcement of the formation of CentGas in 1997:
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/news/ntc74801.htm
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Here's info. on UNOCAL's continued interest in Afghanistan despite pull-out from CentGAS. It revived contacts with Taliban in March 2000:
http://www.brecorder.com/story/S00DD/SDC24/SDC24288.htm
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EXCELLENT info on Unocal's revived interest in Afghan pipeline as of 2001 on this website that promotes the rights of Muslim women:

http://www.wluml.org/english/new-archives/wtc/at-stake/unocal.htm

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5. "here's more good stuff" It's heartening to know that there are other people out there who are doing the research on these crimes! Someone else posted the following in December over at the Newsmax discussion board:

Although I am not suggesting that the destruction of the WTC was part of a broad conspiracy centered around oil and gas, I sincerely believe that the Bush and Cheney administration has taken full advantage of the tragedy to advance their personal agendas.
"No matter how advanced our economy might be, no matter how sophisticated our equipment becomes, for the foreseeable future we will still depend on fossil fuels."
-Presidential candidate George W. Bush, Pontiac, Michigan, September 13, 2000.

"...all the bloodshed in Afghanistan was for the clarification of the world's energy map of the 21st century" - Turkish Daily News June 30, 1997

Although Afghanistan itself does not hold great mineral wealth, its location is critical to the movement of fuels in Central Asia, particularly in the area surrounding the Caspian Sea. Two pipelines across Afghanistan have been proposed -- one for oil and one for gas (Energy Information Administration). On February 12, 1998, John J. Maresca Vice President, International Relations, UNOCAL Corporation, testified before Congress as to why U.S. foreign policy in the region was interfering with economic opportunities:

"Today we would like to focus on three issues concerning this region, its resources and U.S. policy:

The need for multiple pipeline routes for Central Asian oil and gas.

The need for U.S. support for international and regional efforts to achieve balanced and lasting political settlements within Russia, other newly independent states and in Afghanistan.

The need for structured assistance to encourage economic reforms and the development of appropriate investment climates in the region. In this regard, we specifically support repeal or removal of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act.
Mr. Maresca was not just being a good, global corporate citizen; UNOCAL held a major interest in CentGas, an international coalition with the sole purpose of developing the energy in the region.

An interesting, but somewhat conspiratorial interpretation of UNOCAL's involvement and eventual departure from CentGas is presented here:

The Unocal-led initiative foundered in 1998, after the US cruise missile retaliation against Bin Laden's Afghan camps for the bombings of its African embassies. Brown University's William O. Beeman wrote in 1998 that ... " From the US standpoint, the only way to deny Iran everything is for the anti-Iranian Taliban to win in Afghanistan and to agree to the pipeline through their territory. The Pakistanis, who
would also benefit from this arrangement, are willing to defy the Iranians for a share of the pot."

Beeman continues, "Enter Osama bin Laden, a sworn enemy of the United States living in Afghanistan. His forces could see that the Taliban would eventually end up in the American camp if things proceeded as they had been. His(Bin Laden) bombing of US embassies in East Africa (since there were none in Afghanistan) was accompanied by a message for Americans to get out of ``Islamic countries.'' By this, he meant specifically Afghanistan.The American response was to bomb bin Laden's outposts while carefully noting that his forces were ``not supported by any state.'' This latter statement was an attempt to rescue the Taliban relationship, while at the same time giving the Taliban leaders the message that they must ditch bin Laden. For good measure, American missiles also took out a factory in Sudan - a smokescreen for the real target of their action...."(William O. Beeman is a Brown University anthropologist specializing in the Middle East. The piece first ran in The Providence Journal and was distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. Aug 1998.)

At the same time Unocal came under fire from international women's organizations for its courting of the Taliban, despite their notorious repression of women's rights. The women's rights issue, more than the embassy bombings, were used as an excuse to end the Unocal led consortium's deal with the Taliban. UNOCAL had entered a one million dollar contract with the University of Nebraska to train workers in Afghanistan specifically for pipeline construction. Women's organizations focused on this arrangement for protests.

Enter Dick Cheney and Halliburton. Dick Cheney delivered a speech entitled "Defending Liberty in a Global Economy," at the Cato Institute, a Conservative think tank, on June 23, 1998. At that time he was Halliburton CEO, owned shares of stock in Halliburton as of August 2000, and is said to have ongoing "financial interests" in the Caspian region:

Right now there are sanctions on Azerbaijan. We're not allowed to spend any U.S. government dollars in that country. That's not a response to what we perceive to be sound foreign policy in that part of the world. It's more specifically a reflection of a desire by Congress to respond to the concerns voiced by the Armenian-American community, which is bigger than the Azerbaijani-American community. As a result we currently have a prohibition against U.S. government money being spent in Azerbaijan....The problem in part stems from the view by my former colleagues on Capitol Hill that sanctions are the low-cost option. It is the cheap, easy thing to do. You don't have to appropriate any taxpayer's money. You don’t send any young Americans into combat....

An example that comes immediately to mind has to do with efforts to develop the resources of the former Soviet Union in the Caspian Sea area. It is a region rich in oil and gas. Unfortunately, Iran is sitting right in the middle of the area and the United States has declared unilateral economic sanctions against that country. As a result, American firms are prohibited from dealing with Iran and find themselves cut out of the action, both in terms of opportunities that develop with respect to Iran itself, and also with respect to our ability to gain access to Caspian resources. Iran is not punished by this decision. There are numerous oil and gas development companies from other countries that are now aggressively pursuing opportunities to develop those resources. That development will proceed, but it will happen without American participation. The most striking result of the government’s use of unilateral sanctions in the region is that only American companies are prohibited from operating there.

On October 27, 1997, the same time period in which the Unocal pipeline plan was in the works, a Halliburton press release announced
that "Halliburton has received a Letter of Intent from Petronas Carigali (Turkmenistan) SDN. BHD. to provide integrated drilling services for an exploration and appraisal program in the Caspian Sea beginning in late 1997. Halliburton, in conjunction with alliance partners, Dresser Industries and Western Atlas, will provide a combination of 10 services. Halliburton will be the lead contractor and project manager in addition to providing technical services. The value of the award is estimated to be U.S. $30 million for the total project. "This major new award will expand and solidify the HES presence in the Eastern Caspian and position the company well for both upstream and downstream projects which are rapidly developing in this emerging market," said Zeke Zeringue, president, Halliburton Energy Services. Halliburton Energy Services has been providing a variety of services in Turkmenistan for the past five years." (Independent Media).

Halliburton's dealings in six countries -Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Nigeria-show that the company's willingness to do business where human rights are not respected is a pattern that goes beyond its involvement in Burma:

Azerbaijan. Dick Cheney lobbied to remove Congressional sanctions against aid to Azerbaijan, sanctions imposed because of concerns about ethnic cleansing. Cheney said the sanctions were the result only of groundless campaigning by the Armenian-American lobby. In 1997, Halliburton subsidiary Brown & Root bid on a major Caspian project from the Azerbaijan International Operating Company.

Indonesia. Halliburton had extensive investments and contracts in Suharto's Indonesia. One of its contracts was canceled by the post-Suharto government during a purging of corruptly awarded contracts. Indonesia Corruption Watch named Kellogg Brown & Root (Halliburton's engineering division) among 59 companies using collusive, corruptive and nepotistic practices in deals involving former President Suharto's family.

Iran. Dick Cheney has lobbied against the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. Even with the Act in place, Halliburton has continued to operate in Iran. It settled with the Department of Commerce in 1997, before Cheney became CEO, over allegations relating to Iran for $15,000, without admitting any wrongdoing.

Iraq. Dick Cheney cites multilateral sanctions against Iraq as an example of sanctions he supports. Yet since the war, Halliburton-related companies helped to reconstruct Iraq's oil industry. In July 2000, the International Herald Tribune reported, "Dresser-Rand and Ingersoll-Dresser Pump Co., joint ventures that Halliburton has sold within the past year, have done work in Iraq on contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq's oil industry, under the United Nations' Oil for Food Program." A Halliburton spokesman acknowledged to the Tribune that the Dresser subsidiaries did sell oil-pumping equipment to Iraq via European agents.

Libya. Before Cheney's arrival, Halliburton was deeply involved in Libya, earning $44.7 million there in 1993. After sanctions on Libya were imposed, earnings dropped to $12.4 million in 1994. Halliburton continued doing business in Libya throughout Cheney's tenure. One Member of Congress accused the company "of undermining American foreign policy to the full extent allowed by law."

Nigeria. Local villagers have accused Halliburton of complicity in the shooting of a protester by Nigeria's Mobile Police Unit, playing a similar role to Shell and Chevron in the mobilization of this 'kill and go" unit to protect company property. Dick Cheney has been a strong advocate for preventing or eliminating federal laws that place limits on Halliburton's ability to do business in these countries."

The evidence is certainly compelling. The U.S. is very interested in the Caspian Sea area and getting their fingers in that enormous till of money. I like this bit of commentary, again from (Independent Media.:

So where are we in the post WTC disaster period? The Bush-Cheney administration has taken full advantage of the shock and horror aroused in the US populace by this disastrous attack. On every front they are moving to implement a draconian conservative agenda. Whether passing anti-democratic domestic laws in the name of fighting terrorism, or to mobilizing the military to fight "terrorism" abroad, they move full speed ahead with their political program.

The focus on Afghanistan compels our notice. After all, the Middle East is full of people and governments that have no love for the US. The right wingers of William Buckley's National Review call for war to the finish against Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Other mention Iran.

But Bin Laden and the Taliban get the scapegoat's tail. Is this based on a real case, with hard evidence? Or is it simply because Bin Laden et al open the way for the full military might of the US armed forces to be committed to make the Caspian and Central Asian region safe for the US led oil and gas pipelines?

I think the evidence is overwhelming. The Bush administration plans to use the WTC attack as an opportunity to use the US military as pipeline police, with the current goal of splitting the government of Pakistan and the Taliban from the Islamic militants led by Bin Laden. If they can accomplish this, the way might be cleared for the Afghanistan pipeline project, and the basis for further penetration into the oil rich former Soviet republics established.

Source:
http://www.newsmax.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/001908.html

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10. "Hah! Found the Enron angle"

I knew there had to be an Enron fix on this:

Enron, the biggest contributor to the Bush-Cheney campaign of 2000,
conducted the feasibility study for a US$2.5 billion trans-Caspian gas
pipeline which is being built under a joint venture agreement signed in
February 1999 between Turkmenistan, Bechtel and General Electric Capital
Services.

http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/2001-November/000760.html

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11. "The Argentina connection"

http://www.worldpress.org/specials/pp/pipeline_timeline.htm

1999
January - Turkmenistan's foreign minister visits Pakistan; says pipeline project still alive.

February - Carlos Bulgheroni, co-chairman of Bridas, visits Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia for talks with leaders.

March - Turkmenistan's Foreign Minister Sheikh Muradov meets with Mullah Omar in Kandahar to discuss pipeline.

April - Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Taliban sign agreement to revive pipeline project.

May - Taliban delegation signs agreements with Turkmenistan to buy gas and electricity

I'm wondering if this was Argentina hoped would save their economy? When, where and how did this go down the tubes? Were they muscled out of the way by Halliburton/Enron/Cheney?

This bears closer inspection.

O Brave New World that has such people in it.
Two plus two does equal five, for very large values of two.
@files = grep /^20/, readdir MYDIR; # change next century

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12. "Don't forget Condi Rice"

(She) was a vice-preseident at Unocal and brokered the whole Turkmenistan pipeline deal (and also has had an oil tanker named after her)