[Peace-discuss] Bush and his Taliban deal?
Al Kagan
akagan at uiuc.edu
Thu Jan 10 14:51:22 CST 2002
from http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0201/08/ltm.05.html
AMERICAN MORNING WITH PAULA ZAHN
Explosive New Book Published in France
Alleges that U.S. Was in Negotiations to Do
a Deal with Taliban
Aired January 8, 2002 - 07:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS
FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT
BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND
MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Time to check in
with ambassador-in- residence, Richard
Butler, this morning. An explosive new book
published in France alleges that the United States
was in negotiations to do a deal with the
Taliban for an oil pipeline in Afghanistan.
Joining us right now is Richard Butler to
shed some light on this new book. He is the former
chief U.N. weapons inspector. He is now on
the Council on Foreign Relations and our own
ambassador-in- residence -- good morning.
RICHARD BUTLER, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR:
Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: Boy, if any of these charges are true...
BUTLER: If...
ZAHN: ... this...
BUTLER: Yes.
ZAHN: ... is really big news.
BUTLER: I agree.
ZAHN: Start off with what your understanding
is of what is in this book -- the most explosive
charge.
BUTLER: The most explosive charge, Paula, is
that the Bush administration -- the present one,
just shortly after assuming office slowed
down FBI investigations of al Qaeda and terrorism in
Afghanistan in order to do a deal with the
Taliban on oil -- an oil pipeline across Afghanistan.
ZAHN: And this book points out that the
FBI's deputy director, John O'Neill, actually
resigned because he felt the U.S.
administration was obstructing...
BUTLER: A proper...
ZAHN: ... the prosecution of terrorism.
BUTLER: Yes, yes, a proper intelligence
investigation of terrorism. Now, you said if, and I
affirmed that in responding to you. We have
to be careful here. These are allegations. They're
worth airing and talking about, because of
their gravity. We don't know if they are correct. But
I believe they should be investigated,
because Central Asian oil, as we were discussing
yesterday, is potentially so important. And
all prior attempts to have a pipeline had to be done
through Russia. It had to be negotiated with Russia.
Now, if there is to be a pipeline through
Afghanistan, obviating the need to deal with Russia, it
would also cost less than half of what a
pipeline through Russia would cost. So financially and
politically, there's a big prize to be had.
A pipeline through Afghanistan down to the Pakistan
coast would bring out that Central Asian oil
easier and more cheaply.
ZAHN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as you spoke about
this yesterday, we almost immediately got a
call from "The New York Times."
BUTLER: Right.
ZAHN: They want you to write an op-ed piece
on this over the weekend.
BUTLER: Right, and which I will do.
ZAHN: But let's come back to this whole
issue of what John O'Neill, this FBI agent...
BUTLER: Right.
ZAHN: ... apparently told the authors of
this book. He is alleging that -- what -- the U.S.
government was trying to protect U.S. oil
interests? And at the same time, shut off the
investigation of terrorism to allow for that
to happen?
BUTLER: That's the allegation that instead
of prosecuting properly an investigation of
terrorism, which has its home in Afghanistan
as we now know, or one of its main homes, that
was shut down or slowed down in order to
pursue oil interests with the Taliban. The people
who we have now bombed out of existence, and
this not many months ago. The book says that
the negotiators said to the Taliban, you
have a choice. You have a carpet of gold, meaning an
oil deal, or a carpet of bombs. That's what
the book alleges.
ZAHN: Well, I know you're going to be doing
your own independent homework on this...
BUTLER: Yes.
ZAHN: ... to see if you can confirm any of
this. Let's move on to the whole issue of Iraq. The
deputy defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, at
one time was considered one of those voices
within the administration...
BUTLER: Yes.
ZAHN: ... that was pushing for moving beyond
Afghanistan. He seemed to back off a little
from that yesterday.
BUTLER: Yes.
ZAHN: What do you read through the tea leaves here?
BUTLER: A very interesting report that the
administration will focus on the Philippines,
Yemen, Somalia as places where there are al
Qaeda cells. But the word Iraq wasn't used by the
man who was the chief hawk -- used as a, you
know, as a future target. So what I interpret
from that is this: That very likely our
allies have been saying to us, this is too hard. This is
really serious. Be careful. Saddam is
essentially contained at the moment. Don't start, you
know, a bigger problem either in the Arab
world or in the coalition by going after him. And
Wolfowitz, it seems, has probably accepted that.
ZAHN: A quick thought on the Israelis
intercepting this latest armed shipment? What that
means? You've got to do it in about 15 seconds.
BUTLER: It's extraordinarily serious,
because it seems to have been tied to Yasser Arafat
himself. It needs to be further
investigated, but you know, Paula, the potentiality that this could
once again prove an impediment to resume
peace negotiations is really quite serious.
ZAHN: Thank you as usual for covering so
much territory. Richard Butler, see you same time,
same place tomorrow morning.
BUTLER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
ZAHN: We appreciate your insights.
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--
Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA
tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu
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