Mike, I definetly appreciate your comments. I learned long ago, there's 2 things that the majority of Americans do not do, #1. Listen, #2. Read. Then there's the educated such as yourself, who justify their opinion and choose not to troll CNN as their "ultimate" news source.
Where should I start. Well, today I'll let you in on some information regarding US Interests in Afghanistan, where they stem from before 9/11, and why we should hold suspicion today. Please keep in mind ALL of the information i'm posting is FACTUAL, if you look at it, and choose not to believe it, WITHOUT doing your OWN research, you are merely being complicit with the majority of your population, returning to what we did as a kid, covering your ears when you don't want to hear the truth. It's a tough reality, but it's our duty to examine the evidence, and come to a conclusion, it's unfortunate the supposedly "bi-partisan" 9/11 Commission didn't do the same.
You might have heard of a company called "Unocal", if you haven't check it out
http://www.unocal.com/aboutucl/index.htm . More recently, however, in August of this year, Unocal and Chevron (which i'm assuming the majority of americans will be aware of) declared a merger, with Unocal becoming a Chevron sister company.
Unocal inked a deal in October of 1997,
http://www.unocal.com/uclnews/97news/102797a.htm to sign onto a project hence known as CentGAS (Central Asia Gas Pipeline Ltd.) Now, in order for CentGAS to complete its goal, it was absolutely necessary for part of the pipeline to be constructed through, Afghanistan. During this time, the U.S. Government was in close talks with Pakistani officials and the Taliban to see this happen, unfortunately, since the Northern Alliance headed by General Ahmed Shah Masood (If you aren't famaliar with this name you soon will be, and realize why it's relevant), still had a firm grasp on the province of Mazar-i-Sharif, which, CentGAS required to succeed in completing the pipeline project. Please note at this point, construction hasn't started. Now, here's where it starts to get interesting.
During the following year, July 1998, the Taliban finally succeeded in reclaiming the province of Mazar-i-Sharif, almost immeadiately following (there are numerous articles to backup my statement) CentGAS announced it was "ready to proceed". Ironically, as sure as the second hand on your clock moves, one month later, on August 7, 1998, US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania were attacked.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/ops/98emb.htm . Thereafter we know, the Clinton Administration, ordered attacks on al-Qaeda training camps based in Afghanistan.
Let's fast forward to July 2001. A 4-day meeting was held in Berlin (Sponsored by the United Nations) between three former, U.S. Officials, Tom Simons, Karl Inderfurth and Lee Coldren and Pakistani ISI (Intelligence), and also Russian intelligence officals, to discuss Afghanistan. Although, at this particular meeting, the Taliban was not present (boycotting due to a degrading relationship with the U.S.) they were informed through the Pakistani ISI of the meetings results. At the time, Pakistan's Foreign Secretary, Niaz Naik, was informed by the U.S. Officials present that military action to overthrow the Taliban in Afghanistan is planned to “take place before the snows started falling in Afghanistan, by the middle of October at the latest.” The goal is to kill or capture both bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar, topple the Taliban regime, and install a transitional government of moderate Afghans in its place.
However, with the crumbling relationship with the Taliban, the U.S. needed an ally, the Northern Alliance was that ally. Fast forward to Sept 9th, 2001, 2 days prior to 9/11, General Ahmed Shah Masood (Remember, Commander of the Northern Alliance) was killed by a supposed plot against him by al-Qaeda, a suicide attack. The accepted story explains two men disguised as journalists planned an interview with General Masood on Sept 9th, and he was subsequently assasinated. Ironically, little was known about the two gentlemen that carried out this plot, their country of origin was pure speculation. Their identities never revealed.
First when I started doing this research I tried to understand why General Masood was killed, what was the motive? Why would anyone, even the U.S., want him killed? He was as a matter of fact in charge of the most powerful rebel group in Afghanistan (Northern Alliance), which sought to overthrow the Taliban, the exact group the U.S. shared the same goal.
The evidence, my friends comes back to the CentGAS pipeline project. Remember the company I spoke about earlier our friends at Unocal? Well, General Masood had already signed a deal with an Argentina based oil-company, Bridas, when the Northern Alliance was finally able to take back power from the Taliban. Hence, Bridas, not Unocal, would be given the Afghanistan pipeline section of the CentGAS project. As you might imagine, losing a multi-billion dollar deal, did not sit well with Unocal, nor, the american government.
Motive for an assassination plot? I'll leave that up to you to decide. There are dozens upon dozens of documents that tie the Sept 9th 2001 assassination of General Masood to not al-Qaeda, but in fact members of the Pakistani ISI.
For those of you who are not yet convinced, then I present you with another case. Why, one week prior to 9/11, Sept 4th to be precise, were there meetings between Lt. General Mahmoud Ahmad, Director of the Pakistani ISI at the time (he later resigned under mysterious circumstances one year later, after serving only two years beside his close friend President Pervez Musharraf, which is mysterious in itself) and members of the Bush Administration including the President himself? Coincidence? I suppose so, along with all the other documentation I've presented so far.
Time for the icing on the cake. Both, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad chosen by President Bush, as part of a special envoy to Afghanistan, later promoted to US Ambassador to Afghanistan and now US Ambassador to Iraq were advisors to Unocal, during the mid to late 90's EXACTLY the same time in which Unocal inked the deal to sign onto the CentGAS pipeline project. *Ironically*, Dr. Khalilzad is also a member of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and was one of the signers of the January 26, 1998, PNAC Letter sent to US President Bill Clinton.
I only ask you to read what I've wrote with an open mind, whether Democratic or Republican.
Is this the type of world we want our children to grow up in?