, some of which
may have gone to
bin Laden. The
Bush
administration’s
attempt to help
Enron is believed
to be why it has
gone to
unprecedented
lengths to
conceal records
on Vice President
Cheney’s energy-
task-force
meetings in 2001
may have gone to
bin Laden. The
Bush
administration’s
attempt to help
Enron is believed
to be why it has
gone to
unprecedented
lengths to
conceal records
on Vice President
Cheney’s energy-
task-force
meetings in 2001
Tuesday, 18 September, 2001,
US 'planned attack on Taleban' before 9/11
By the BBC's George Arney
A former Pakistani diplomat has told the BBC that the US was
planning military action against Osama Bin Laden and the
Taleban even before last week's attacks.
Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by
senior American officials in mid-July that military action against
Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October.
Mr Naik said US officials told him of the plan at a UN-sponsored
international contact group on Afghanistan which took place in
Berlin.
The wider objective, according to Mr Naik, would be to topple
the Taleban regime and install a transitional government of
moderate Afghans in its place - possibly under the leadership
of the former Afghan King Zahir Shah.
Mr Naik was told that Washington would launch its operation
from bases in Tajikistan, where American advisers were
already in place.
He was told that Uzbekistan would also participate in the
operation and that 17,000 Russian troops were on standby.
Mr Naik was told that if the military action went ahead it would
take place before the snows started falling in Afghanistan, by
the middle of October at the latest.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1550366.stm
US 'planned attack on Taleban' before 9/11
By the BBC's George Arney
A former Pakistani diplomat has told the BBC that the US was
planning military action against Osama Bin Laden and the
Taleban even before last week's attacks.
Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by
senior American officials in mid-July that military action against
Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October.
Mr Naik said US officials told him of the plan at a UN-sponsored
international contact group on Afghanistan which took place in
Berlin.
The wider objective, according to Mr Naik, would be to topple
the Taleban regime and install a transitional government of
moderate Afghans in its place - possibly under the leadership
of the former Afghan King Zahir Shah.
Mr Naik was told that Washington would launch its operation
from bases in Tajikistan, where American advisers were
already in place.
He was told that Uzbekistan would also participate in the
operation and that 17,000 Russian troops were on standby.
Mr Naik was told that if the military action went ahead it would
take place before the snows started falling in Afghanistan, by
the middle of October at the latest.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1550366.stm
The cover-ups are still very much a mystery. It is doubtful that anyone will ever know how many documents were fed into the shredder before and after the corporation declared bankruptcy, or what those documents said. It is also difficult to surmise what the White House is fighting so hard to keep secret, even going to the length of redefining executive privilege and inviting the first Congressional lawsuit ever filed against a president. Given that Enron's influence on Dick Cheney's energy plan is already fairly well-established--seven out Ken Lay's eight energy policy recommendations were adopted by the Vice President--it's hard to imagine what else might be so damaging. The Big Secret might, however, be that the highest levels of the Bush Administration knew during the summer of 2001 that the largest bankruptcy in history was imminent? Or it might be that Enron and the White House were working closely with the Taliban only weeks before the Sept. 11 attack. Was a deal in Afghanistan part of a desperate last-ditch "end run" to bail out Enron? Here's a tip for Congressional investigators and federal prosecutors: Start by looking at the India deal. Closely. Enron had a $3 billion investment in the Dabhol power plant, near Bombay on India's west coast. The project began in 1992, and the liquefied natural gas- powered plant was supposed to supply energy-hungry India with about one-fifth of its energy needs by 1997. It was one of Enron's largest development projects ever (and the single largest direct foreign investment in India's history). The company owned 65 percent of Dabhol; the other partners were Bechtel, General Electric and State Electricity Board. The fly in the ointment, however, was that the Indian consumers could not afford the cost of the electricity that was to be produced. The World Bank had warned from the beginning that the energy would be too costly, and Enron proved the Bank right. Power from the plant was 700 percent higher than electricity from other sources. Enron had promised India that the Dabhol power would be affordable once the next phase of the project was completed. To cut expenses, the company had to find cheap gas to fuel it. So it started burning naphtha, with plans to retrofit the plant to gas once it was available. Enron's original source of liquefied natural gas (LNG) was to be Qatar, where the company had a joint venture with the state-owned Qatar Gas and Pipeline Company. The Qatar project, in fact, was one of the reasons why Enron selected India to set up Dabhol: it would ensure that the Qatar gas got sold. In April 1999, however, the project was cancelled because of the global oil and gas glut. With Qatar gone, the Indian plant remained a financial deadweight, and Enron was back to square one in trying to find it an inexpensive LNG supply source. Enter the Afghanistan connection |
| NEW EVIDENCE SURFACES |
WTC 7
WATCH THE GROUND SHAKE THE
TRIPOD ON THE CAMERA AS
CONTROLLED DEMOLITIONS IN THE
BASEMENT OF THE BUILDING
LITERALLY MELT THE BASE SUPPORT
BEAMS INTO POOLS OF MOLTEN
STEEL JUST MOMENTS BEFORE THE
TOWER IMPLODED
TRIPOD ON THE CAMERA AS
CONTROLLED DEMOLITIONS IN THE
BASEMENT OF THE BUILDING
LITERALLY MELT THE BASE SUPPORT
BEAMS INTO POOLS OF MOLTEN
STEEL JUST MOMENTS BEFORE THE
TOWER IMPLODED
Opium and Empire
The background to Skull
and Bones is a story of
Opium and Empire, and a
bitter struggle for political
control over the new U.S.
republic.
In 1832-33, Skull and
Bones was launched
under the Russell pirate
flag.
Skull and Bones -- the
Russell Trust Association
-- was first established
among the class
graduating from Yale in
1833. Its founder was
William Huntington
Russell of Middletown,
Connecticut. The Russell
family was the master of
incalculable wealth
derived from the largest
U.S. criminal organization
of the nineteenth century:
Russell and Company,
the great opium syndicate.
Samuel Russell, second
cousin to Bones founder
William H., established
Russell and Company in
1823. Its business was to
acquire opium from
Turkey and smuggle it
into China, where it was
strictly prohibited, under
the armed protection of
the British Empire.
(MORE)
http://www.google.com/se
arch?sourceid=navclient&
ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGL
G:2005-25,GGLG:en&q=S
KULL+BONES+OPIUM+Ru
ssell
The background to Skull
and Bones is a story of
Opium and Empire, and a
bitter struggle for political
control over the new U.S.
republic.
In 1832-33, Skull and
Bones was launched
under the Russell pirate
flag.
Skull and Bones -- the
Russell Trust Association
-- was first established
among the class
graduating from Yale in
1833. Its founder was
William Huntington
Russell of Middletown,
Connecticut. The Russell
family was the master of
incalculable wealth
derived from the largest
U.S. criminal organization
of the nineteenth century:
Russell and Company,
the great opium syndicate.
Samuel Russell, second
cousin to Bones founder
William H., established
Russell and Company in
1823. Its business was to
acquire opium from
Turkey and smuggle it
into China, where it was
strictly prohibited, under
the armed protection of
the British Empire.
(MORE)
http://www.google.com/se
arch?sourceid=navclient&
ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGL
G:2005-25,GGLG:en&q=S
KULL+BONES+OPIUM+Ru
ssell
May, 2001 Afghanistan’s cash crop wilts
Taliban ban on opium yields impressive results
Farmer Mohammed Hasan, who plants wheat where he once
grew poppies, says he can no longer make ends meet.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3071809/
Afghanistan ends opium poppy cultivation
From the ODCCP Update, June 2001 (United Nations)
Powell gifts Taliban with $43 million
Tue, 22 May 2001
Los Angeles Times Author: Robert Scheer
BUSH'S FAUSTIAN DEAL WITH THE TALIBAN
Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy every vestige of
civilization in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that
matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this
nation still takes seriously.
That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of
Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today.
The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other
recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue
regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the
Taliban's estimation, are most human activities, but it's the ban on drugs that catches this
administration's attention.
Never mind that Osama bin Laden still operates the leading anti-American terror operation
from his base in Afghanistan, from which, among other crimes, he launched two bloody
attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998.
Sadly, the Bush administration is cozying up to the Taliban regime at a time when the
United Nations, at U.S. insistence, imposes sanctions on Afghanistan because the Kabul
government will not turn over Bin Laden.
Oct.25, 2002 Afghanistan is again the world's largest opium producer,
UN (Since 1999, Afghanistan has produced approximately 75 per cent
of the world's opium)
AP,
ROME - Afghanistan has again established itself as the world's largest opium poppy
producer this year, with growers taking advantage of a power vacuum during the U.S.-led
war and the collapse of the Taliban regime, the U.N. drug control agency said Friday.
This year's production follows a sharp decline in 2001, when the Taliban were enforcing a
ban on poppy cultivation, the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention
said in a report released in Rome.
During the 1990s, Afghanistan was the main source of the world's illicit heroin supply.
But a UK study has found a Taleban crackdown on drugs led to global heroin production
falling by two-thirds in 2001. (BBC)
Afghan heroin crop spikes this year
By Eli J. Lake
UPI State Department Correspondent
Published 10/25/2002 7:06 PM
WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Poppy cultivation increased nearly 19-fold between 2001
and 2002 in Afghanistan, the world's leading exporter of heroin, according to a new U.S.
study of poppy cultivation in the post-Taliban state.
According to the new survey, local farmers cultivated approximately 30,759 hectares in
2002, during the peak season for poppy in Afghanistan, the first since the December 2001
Bonn Agreement which established the first interim authority after the Taliban were
ousted.
During the same period in 2001, only 1,685 hectares of poppy were cultivated in the last
year of the Taliban's rein in the Central Asian state. The 2001 decline was due largely to a
ban on poppy cultivation imposed by Taliban leader Mullah Omar in July 2000.
"Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is a serious problem," U.S. drug Czar John Walters said
in a statement released Friday. "Drug cultivation and trafficking undermine the rule of law
and the ability of the Afghan people to rebuild their country and join the international
community."
Under the December 2001 Bonn Agreement, the Afghan interim authority agreed to
cooperate with the United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime to end trafficking and
cultivation of all illicit drugs. One U.S. official said Friday however that the spike in poppy
cultivation was not due to lack of cooperation from Hamid Karzai's government, but rather
a lack of law enforcement infrastructure.
The principal regions for poppy cultivation in Afghanistan are the provinces on its border
with Pakistan -- Nangarhar, Helmand, Kandahar, and Oruzgan. These regions, largely
populated by Pashtuns (the Afghan ethnic faction most closely linked to the Taliban) are
largely immune to the edicts from the government in Kabul.
While the Taliban had significant success in eradicating most poppy cultivation in these
provinces in 2001, their methods are not likely to be repeated by the Karzai government.
The State Department's 2001 report on international drug trafficking released in March
says, "The success of the Taliban poppy ban was a significant accomplishment during
2000, but success was achieved through draconian enforcement actions with no concern
for poor farmers' welfare, a series of policy actions unlikely to be replicated by a civilized
administration." Indeed, despite the decrease in cultivation, heroin traffic from Afghanistan
did not decrease under the Taliban's poppy ban as many farmers sold their surplus
supplies.
But other factors may impede Karzai's government from cracking down on the heroin
trade. Indeed, some warlords still influential in Afghanistan have profited in the past from
their country's illicit drug trade.
Copyright © 2001-2004 United Press International
Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan doubled between 2002 and 2003 to a
level 36 times higher than in the last year of rule by the Taliban,
according to White House figures released on Friday. (CNN) WASHINGTON, (Reuters)-
Nov. 28 2003
As of 2003, more than 90% of the heroin found in Russia, Europe and
Central Asia comes from Afghanistan. (International Herald Tribune)
Taliban ban on opium yields impressive results
Farmer Mohammed Hasan, who plants wheat where he once
grew poppies, says he can no longer make ends meet.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3071809/
Afghanistan ends opium poppy cultivation
From the ODCCP Update, June 2001 (United Nations)
Powell gifts Taliban with $43 million
Tue, 22 May 2001
Los Angeles Times Author: Robert Scheer
BUSH'S FAUSTIAN DEAL WITH THE TALIBAN
Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy every vestige of
civilization in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that
matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this
nation still takes seriously.
That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of
Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today.
The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other
recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue
regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the
Taliban's estimation, are most human activities, but it's the ban on drugs that catches this
administration's attention.
Never mind that Osama bin Laden still operates the leading anti-American terror operation
from his base in Afghanistan, from which, among other crimes, he launched two bloody
attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998.
Sadly, the Bush administration is cozying up to the Taliban regime at a time when the
United Nations, at U.S. insistence, imposes sanctions on Afghanistan because the Kabul
government will not turn over Bin Laden.
Oct.25, 2002 Afghanistan is again the world's largest opium producer,
UN (Since 1999, Afghanistan has produced approximately 75 per cent
of the world's opium)
AP,
ROME - Afghanistan has again established itself as the world's largest opium poppy
producer this year, with growers taking advantage of a power vacuum during the U.S.-led
war and the collapse of the Taliban regime, the U.N. drug control agency said Friday.
This year's production follows a sharp decline in 2001, when the Taliban were enforcing a
ban on poppy cultivation, the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention
said in a report released in Rome.
During the 1990s, Afghanistan was the main source of the world's illicit heroin supply.
But a UK study has found a Taleban crackdown on drugs led to global heroin production
falling by two-thirds in 2001. (BBC)
Afghan heroin crop spikes this year
By Eli J. Lake
UPI State Department Correspondent
Published 10/25/2002 7:06 PM
WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Poppy cultivation increased nearly 19-fold between 2001
and 2002 in Afghanistan, the world's leading exporter of heroin, according to a new U.S.
study of poppy cultivation in the post-Taliban state.
According to the new survey, local farmers cultivated approximately 30,759 hectares in
2002, during the peak season for poppy in Afghanistan, the first since the December 2001
Bonn Agreement which established the first interim authority after the Taliban were
ousted.
During the same period in 2001, only 1,685 hectares of poppy were cultivated in the last
year of the Taliban's rein in the Central Asian state. The 2001 decline was due largely to a
ban on poppy cultivation imposed by Taliban leader Mullah Omar in July 2000.
"Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is a serious problem," U.S. drug Czar John Walters said
in a statement released Friday. "Drug cultivation and trafficking undermine the rule of law
and the ability of the Afghan people to rebuild their country and join the international
community."
Under the December 2001 Bonn Agreement, the Afghan interim authority agreed to
cooperate with the United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime to end trafficking and
cultivation of all illicit drugs. One U.S. official said Friday however that the spike in poppy
cultivation was not due to lack of cooperation from Hamid Karzai's government, but rather
a lack of law enforcement infrastructure.
The principal regions for poppy cultivation in Afghanistan are the provinces on its border
with Pakistan -- Nangarhar, Helmand, Kandahar, and Oruzgan. These regions, largely
populated by Pashtuns (the Afghan ethnic faction most closely linked to the Taliban) are
largely immune to the edicts from the government in Kabul.
While the Taliban had significant success in eradicating most poppy cultivation in these
provinces in 2001, their methods are not likely to be repeated by the Karzai government.
The State Department's 2001 report on international drug trafficking released in March
says, "The success of the Taliban poppy ban was a significant accomplishment during
2000, but success was achieved through draconian enforcement actions with no concern
for poor farmers' welfare, a series of policy actions unlikely to be replicated by a civilized
administration." Indeed, despite the decrease in cultivation, heroin traffic from Afghanistan
did not decrease under the Taliban's poppy ban as many farmers sold their surplus
supplies.
But other factors may impede Karzai's government from cracking down on the heroin
trade. Indeed, some warlords still influential in Afghanistan have profited in the past from
their country's illicit drug trade.
Copyright © 2001-2004 United Press International
Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan doubled between 2002 and 2003 to a
level 36 times higher than in the last year of rule by the Taliban,
according to White House figures released on Friday. (CNN) WASHINGTON, (Reuters)-
Nov. 28 2003
As of 2003, more than 90% of the heroin found in Russia, Europe and
Central Asia comes from Afghanistan. (International Herald Tribune)
.
Convoy of Death
Why have US television stations
refused to broadcast this
documentary?
In Afghanistan, filmmaker Jamie
Doran has uncovered evidence of
a massacre: Taliban prisoners of
war suffocated in containers, shot
in the desert under the watch of
American troops.
The film has been broadcast on
national television in countries all
over the world and has been
screened by the European
parliament. Human rights lawyers
are calling for investigation into
whether U.S. forces are guilty of
war crimes. But no U.S. media
outlet has broadcast the film.
Today, on Democracy Now!, the U.
S. broadcast premiere of a
documentary film called “Afghan
Massacre: The Convoy of Death.”
The film provides eyewitness
testimony that U.S. troops were
complicit in the massacre of
thousands of Taliban prisoners
during the Afghan War.
It tells the story of thousands of
prisoners who surrendered to the
US military’s Afghan allies after the
siege of Kunduz. According to
eyewitnesses, some three
thousand of the prisoners were
forced into sealed containers and
loaded onto trucks for transport to
Sheberghan prison. Eyewitnesses
say when the prisoners began
shouting for air, U.S.-allied Afghan
soldiers fired directly into the truck,
killing many of them. The rest
suffered through an appalling road
trip lasting up to four days, so
thirsty they clawed at the skin of
their fellow prisoners as they licked
perspiration and even drank blood
from open wounds.
Witnesses say that when the
trucks arrived and soldiers opened
the containers, most of the people
inside were dead. They also say
US Special Forces re-directed the
containers carrying the living and
dead into the desert and stood by
as survivors were shot and buried.
Now, up to three thousand bodies
lie buried in a mass grave.
The film has sent shockwaves
around the world. It has been
broadcast on national television in
Britain, Germany, Italy and
Australia. It has been screened by
the European parliament. It has
outraged human rights groups and
international human rights lawyers.
They are calling for investigation
into whether U.S. Special Forces
are guilty of war crimes.
But most Americans have never
heard of the film. That’s because
not one corporate media outlet in
the U.S. will touch it. It has never
before been broadcast in this
country.
Convoy of Death
Why have US television stations
refused to broadcast this
documentary?
In Afghanistan, filmmaker Jamie
Doran has uncovered evidence of
a massacre: Taliban prisoners of
war suffocated in containers, shot
in the desert under the watch of
American troops.
The film has been broadcast on
national television in countries all
over the world and has been
screened by the European
parliament. Human rights lawyers
are calling for investigation into
whether U.S. forces are guilty of
war crimes. But no U.S. media
outlet has broadcast the film.
Today, on Democracy Now!, the U.
S. broadcast premiere of a
documentary film called “Afghan
Massacre: The Convoy of Death.”
The film provides eyewitness
testimony that U.S. troops were
complicit in the massacre of
thousands of Taliban prisoners
during the Afghan War.
It tells the story of thousands of
prisoners who surrendered to the
US military’s Afghan allies after the
siege of Kunduz. According to
eyewitnesses, some three
thousand of the prisoners were
forced into sealed containers and
loaded onto trucks for transport to
Sheberghan prison. Eyewitnesses
say when the prisoners began
shouting for air, U.S.-allied Afghan
soldiers fired directly into the truck,
killing many of them. The rest
suffered through an appalling road
trip lasting up to four days, so
thirsty they clawed at the skin of
their fellow prisoners as they licked
perspiration and even drank blood
from open wounds.
Witnesses say that when the
trucks arrived and soldiers opened
the containers, most of the people
inside were dead. They also say
US Special Forces re-directed the
containers carrying the living and
dead into the desert and stood by
as survivors were shot and buried.
Now, up to three thousand bodies
lie buried in a mass grave.
The film has sent shockwaves
around the world. It has been
broadcast on national television in
Britain, Germany, Italy and
Australia. It has been screened by
the European parliament. It has
outraged human rights groups and
international human rights lawyers.
They are calling for investigation
into whether U.S. Special Forces
are guilty of war crimes.
But most Americans have never
heard of the film. That’s because
not one corporate media outlet in
the U.S. will touch it. It has never
before been broadcast in this
country.
Dabhol Power Station, India : Corruption Case
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Dabhol power station was privatised in the state of Maharashatra
in India in 1996. The contract was awarded to Enron on a take or pay
basis for 20 years without competitive tender, amidst allegations of
bribery and on terms that favoured the investor rather than the
people of Maharashtra.
The contract agreement stated that Enron would sell electricity to the
state electricity board at a fixed price (US $ 0.0872 a unit) and a fixed
quantity (17280 million units of electricity). In other words, the state
electricity utility agreed to pay Enron about USD $1.4 million a year for
the following 20 years.
This was the largest contract in India?s history, providing India with
its most expensive power station.
In 2001 Dabhol was shut down. The Maharashtra state nullified its
power purchase agreement with DPC, contending that the cost of
power was inflated.
Then in June 2002, legal experts argued that the Maharashtra
government could restart the 740MW Phase-I of the Dabhol Power
Company (DPC) under an interim arrangement without inviting legal
action.
Meanwhile, it was reported that domestic and foreign lenders were
planning to implement an asset sale of the Dabhol power plant. This
is contrary to the earlier plan of selling shares of the company.
A senior institutional official said: "We are considering the option of
asset sale rather than equity sale." He said the asset sale will result
in affordability of power to both Maharashtra State Electricity Board
and the government of Maharashtra. Although a final decision has yet
to be taken, such an arrangement will mean that institutions can
receive an uninterrupted repayment of loan from the new buyer, from
the project's cash flows, and reduce the debt/equity ratio of the
project.
Sources said the lenders have decided to initiate the sale process
after restarting the plant. It will soon ask General Electric and Bechtel
Corporation of the US to commence plant operations.
Both the companies hold 10 per cent stake in the project which has
been shut down in June 2001 after MSEB decided against buying
power from the plant.
Dabhol Power Info
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Dabhol power station was privatised in the state of Maharashatra
in India in 1996. The contract was awarded to Enron on a take or pay
basis for 20 years without competitive tender, amidst allegations of
bribery and on terms that favoured the investor rather than the
people of Maharashtra.
The contract agreement stated that Enron would sell electricity to the
state electricity board at a fixed price (US $ 0.0872 a unit) and a fixed
quantity (17280 million units of electricity). In other words, the state
electricity utility agreed to pay Enron about USD $1.4 million a year for
the following 20 years.
This was the largest contract in India?s history, providing India with
its most expensive power station.
In 2001 Dabhol was shut down. The Maharashtra state nullified its
power purchase agreement with DPC, contending that the cost of
power was inflated.
Then in June 2002, legal experts argued that the Maharashtra
government could restart the 740MW Phase-I of the Dabhol Power
Company (DPC) under an interim arrangement without inviting legal
action.
Meanwhile, it was reported that domestic and foreign lenders were
planning to implement an asset sale of the Dabhol power plant. This
is contrary to the earlier plan of selling shares of the company.
A senior institutional official said: "We are considering the option of
asset sale rather than equity sale." He said the asset sale will result
in affordability of power to both Maharashtra State Electricity Board
and the government of Maharashtra. Although a final decision has yet
to be taken, such an arrangement will mean that institutions can
receive an uninterrupted repayment of loan from the new buyer, from
the project's cash flows, and reduce the debt/equity ratio of the
project.
Sources said the lenders have decided to initiate the sale process
after restarting the plant. It will soon ask General Electric and Bechtel
Corporation of the US to commence plant operations.
Both the companies hold 10 per cent stake in the project which has
been shut down in June 2001 after MSEB decided against buying
power from the plant.
Dabhol Power Info
Sunday, 19 August, 2001, 17:03 GMT 18:03 UK
India power plant talks suspended
What could be the largest foreign investment in India is at risk
Talks were suspended on Sunday without agreement on how to
proceed with what would be India's largest foreign investment to
date, a $2.9bn power project due to be carried out by a subsidiary of
the electricity giant Enron.
The global power giant has run into local difficulties
The negotiations between federal officials from the western
Maharashtra state and the Enron-subsidiary, Dabhol Power
Corporation, had been scheduled to continue for another two days.
"We had a free and frank exchange of views, but because of the
complex nature of the matter, the conciliation proceedings had to be
adjourned," the Indian Government's representative,
Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee, was quoted as saying by the Press
Trust of India.
No date for the resumption of talks was released.
The price of power
Dabhol Power has been accused of charging too much for electricity
locally.
Federal officials want a contract between the company and the state
utility to be renegotiated.
The Maharashtra State Electricity Board and Dabhol Power are
already fighting each other in court over outstanding electricity bills.
The state utility owes nearly $64m in outstanding payments.
In May, the company shut down the power plant after the electricity
board cancelled a seven-year-old agreement to buy power.
The electricity board was the plant's only customer.
US-based Enron argues that the cancellation was unlawful.
India power plant talks suspended
What could be the largest foreign investment in India is at risk
Talks were suspended on Sunday without agreement on how to
proceed with what would be India's largest foreign investment to
date, a $2.9bn power project due to be carried out by a subsidiary of
the electricity giant Enron.
The global power giant has run into local difficulties
The negotiations between federal officials from the western
Maharashtra state and the Enron-subsidiary, Dabhol Power
Corporation, had been scheduled to continue for another two days.
"We had a free and frank exchange of views, but because of the
complex nature of the matter, the conciliation proceedings had to be
adjourned," the Indian Government's representative,
Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee, was quoted as saying by the Press
Trust of India.
No date for the resumption of talks was released.
The price of power
Dabhol Power has been accused of charging too much for electricity
locally.
Federal officials want a contract between the company and the state
utility to be renegotiated.
The Maharashtra State Electricity Board and Dabhol Power are
already fighting each other in court over outstanding electricity bills.
The state utility owes nearly $64m in outstanding payments.
In May, the company shut down the power plant after the electricity
board cancelled a seven-year-old agreement to buy power.
The electricity board was the plant's only customer.
US-based Enron argues that the cancellation was unlawful.
| The Indian government gives approval for Enron's Dabhol power plant, located near Bombay on the west coast of India. Enron has invested $3 billion, the largest single foreign investment in India's history. Enron owns 65 percent of Dabhol. This liquefied natural gas powered plant is supposed to provide one-fifth of India's energy needs by 1997 [Asia Times, 1/18/01, Indian Express, 2/27/00] It is the largest gas-fired power plant in the world. Earlier in the year, the World Bank concludes that the plant is “not economically viable” and refuses to invest in it. [New York Times, 3/20/01] Enron apparently tries to make the plant financially viable by investing in gas fields in nearby Uzbekistan (see June 24, 1996), but it cannot get that gas to Dabhol without a gas pipeline through Afghanistan (see June 24, 1996 and June 1998 (B)). Construction of the plant is abandoned just before completion (see June 2001 (J)). May 2001 (G) Complete 911 Timeline Vice President Cheney's national energy plan is publicly released. It calls for expanded oil and gas drilling on public land and easing regulatory barriers to building nuclear power plants. [AP, 12/9/02] There are several interesting points, little noticed at the time. It suggests that the US cannot depend exclusively on traditional sources of supply to provide the growing amount of oil that it needs. It will also have to obtain substantial supplies from new sources, such as the Caspian states, Russia, and Africa. It also notes that the US cannot rely on market forces alone to gain access to these added supplies, but will also require a significant effort on the part of government officials to overcome foreign resistance to the outward reach of American energy companies. [Japan Today, 4/30/02] The plan was largely decided through Cheney's secretive Energy Task Force. Both before and after this, Cheney and other Task Force officials meet with Enron executives, including a meeting a month and a half before Enron declares bankruptcy (see December 2, 2001). Two separate lawsuits are later filed to reveal details of how the government's energy policy was formed and if Enron or other players may have influenced it, but so far the Bush Administration has resisted all efforts to release these documents (see October 17, 2002 and February 7, 2003 (B)). [AP 12/9/02] At the very least, it's known that Enron executives met with the Commerce Secretary about its troubled Dabhol power plant in 2001 (see November 1993). [New York Times, 2/21/02] |
DABHOL POWER PLANT
in INDIA
in INDIA
Proposed pipeline route to supply the Dabhol
Plant, negotiations went on with the Taliban
right up to August 2001
Plant, negotiations went on with the Taliban
right up to August 2001
DO YOU SEE A RAGING FIRE OUT OF CONTROL?
CLICK LARRY
SILVERSTEIN TO
WATCH THE VIDEO
SILVERSTEIN TO
WATCH THE VIDEO
2000 July, the Taliban’s leader, Mullah Mohammed
Omar, issued an extraordinary edict. It banned poppy
cultivation in Afghanistan, calling drug production
un-Islamic.The Afghan opium poppy drug trade is
a $ 30 billion / year industry.
Omar, issued an extraordinary edict. It banned poppy
cultivation in Afghanistan, calling drug production
un-Islamic.The Afghan opium poppy drug trade is
a $ 30 billion / year industry.
Poppy, heroin- another reason Taliban had to be
eliminated to protect the lucrative drug market
eliminated to protect the lucrative drug market
FTW October 24, 2000 - The success of Bush Vice Presidential
running mate Richard Cheney at leading Halliburton, Inc. to a
five year $3.8 billion "pig-out" on federal contracts and
taxpayer-insured loans is only a partial indicator of what may
happen if the Bush ticket wins in two weeks. A closer look at
available research, including an August 2, 2000 report by the
Center for Public Integrity (CPI) at www.public-i.org, suggests
that drug money has played a role in the successes achieved by
Halliburton under Cheney's tenure as CEO from 1995 to 2000.
This is especially true for Halliburton's most famous subsidiary,
heavy construction and oil giant, Brown and Root. A deeper
look into history reveals that Brown and Root's past as well as
the past of Dick Cheney himself, connect to the international
drug trade on more than one occasion and in more than one
way. (more)
running mate Richard Cheney at leading Halliburton, Inc. to a
five year $3.8 billion "pig-out" on federal contracts and
taxpayer-insured loans is only a partial indicator of what may
happen if the Bush ticket wins in two weeks. A closer look at
available research, including an August 2, 2000 report by the
Center for Public Integrity (CPI) at www.public-i.org, suggests
that drug money has played a role in the successes achieved by
Halliburton under Cheney's tenure as CEO from 1995 to 2000.
This is especially true for Halliburton's most famous subsidiary,
heavy construction and oil giant, Brown and Root. A deeper
look into history reveals that Brown and Root's past as well as
the past of Dick Cheney himself, connect to the international
drug trade on more than one occasion and in more than one
way. (more)
“CIA worked in tandem with Pak to create Taliban”
7 March 2001 LONDON: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
worked in tandem with Pakistan to create the "monster" that is
today Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, a leading US expert on
South Asia said. The CIA made a historic mistake in
encouraging Islamic groups from all over the world to come to
Afghanistan." The US provided $3 billion for building up these
Islamic groups. (more)
7 March 2001 LONDON: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
worked in tandem with Pakistan to create the "monster" that is
today Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, a leading US expert on
South Asia said. The CIA made a historic mistake in
encouraging Islamic groups from all over the world to come to
Afghanistan." The US provided $3 billion for building up these
Islamic groups. (more)
An old Taleban notice warns against narcotics use and production
POPPY, DRUG TRADE
Click towers to see 911 time line
These three men are all
former Unocal consultants
former Unocal consultants
Kissinger
The new US envoy
to Afghanistan, PNAC
to Afghanistan, PNAC
Karzai
Zalmay.Khalilzad
Enron
Pipedreams
Buried in
Afghanistan
BY RON CALLARI
POLITICS | 3.2.2002
Enron is a scandal
so enormous that
it's hard to wrap
your mind around it.
Not just a single
financial disaster,
it's actually a jigsaw
of interlocking
scandals, each
outrageous in its
own right. There's
Enron the Wall St.
con game, where
company
bookkeepers used
Pipedreams
Buried in
Afghanistan
BY RON CALLARI
POLITICS | 3.2.2002
Enron is a scandal
so enormous that
it's hard to wrap
your mind around it.
Not just a single
financial disaster,
it's actually a jigsaw
of interlocking
scandals, each
outrageous in its
own right. There's
Enron the Wall St.
con game, where
company
bookkeepers used
losses into stunning profits. There's Enron the reverse Robin Hood,
which stole from its own employees even as its executives were hauling
millions of dollars out the backdoor. There's Enron's Ken Lay the
Kingmaker, who used the corporation's fraudulent wealth to broker
elections and skew public policy to his liking. And then there are the
Enron cover-ups, as documents are shredded and the White House
seeks to conceal details about meetings between Enron and Vice
President Cheney.
which stole from its own employees even as its executives were hauling
millions of dollars out the backdoor. There's Enron's Ken Lay the
Kingmaker, who used the corporation's fraudulent wealth to broker
elections and skew public policy to his liking. And then there are the
Enron cover-ups, as documents are shredded and the White House
seeks to conceal details about meetings between Enron and Vice
President Cheney.
sleight of hand to turn four years of steady
"The attitude of the American public toward the external
projection of American power has been much more ambivalent.
The public supported America's engagement in World War II
largely because of the shock effect of the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor. (pp 24-5)
It is also a fact that America is too democratic at home to be
autocratic abroad. This limits the use of America's power,
especially its capacity for military intimidation. Never before has
a populist democracy attained international supremacy. But the
pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion,
except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the
public's sense of domestic well-being. The economic self-denial
(that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice (casualties,
even among professional soldiers) required in the effort are
uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to
imperial mobilization." (p.35)
projection of American power has been much more ambivalent.
The public supported America's engagement in World War II
largely because of the shock effect of the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor. (pp 24-5)
It is also a fact that America is too democratic at home to be
autocratic abroad. This limits the use of America's power,
especially its capacity for military intimidation. Never before has
a populist democracy attained international supremacy. But the
pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion,
except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the
public's sense of domestic well-being. The economic self-denial
(that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice (casualties,
even among professional soldiers) required in the effort are
uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to
imperial mobilization." (p.35)
"THE GRAND CHESSBOARD - American
Primacy And Its Geostrategic
Imperatives," Zbigniew Brzezinski,
Basic Books, 1997.
A War in the Planning for Four Years
HOW STUPID DO THEY THINK WE ARE?
Zbigniew Brzezinski and the CFR Put War
Plans In a 1997 Book -It Is "A Blueprint for
World Dictatorship," Says a Former German
Defense and NATO Official
Primacy And Its Geostrategic
Imperatives," Zbigniew Brzezinski,
Basic Books, 1997.
A War in the Planning for Four Years
HOW STUPID DO THEY THINK WE ARE?
Zbigniew Brzezinski and the CFR Put War
Plans In a 1997 Book -It Is "A Blueprint for
World Dictatorship," Says a Former German
Defense and NATO Official
French investigators Jean-Charles
Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie
published a book entitled Bin Laden:
The Forbidden Truth which tells of the
negotiations for oil pipeline rights in
Afghanistan that collapsed in August
2001 after the U.S. told the Taliban:
Accept our offer of a carpet of gold or
you'll get a carpet of bombs.
Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie
published a book entitled Bin Laden:
The Forbidden Truth which tells of the
negotiations for oil pipeline rights in
Afghanistan that collapsed in August
2001 after the U.S. told the Taliban:
Accept our offer of a carpet of gold or
you'll get a carpet of bombs.
Unknown to most,
UNOCAL's partner in
the Cent-Gas
trans-Afghan pipeline
consortium, the
Saudi Company Delta
Oil is owned by the
bin Mahfouz and
Al-Amoudi clans
which allegedly have
ties to bin Laden's Al
Qaeda.
According to a 1998
Senate testimony of
former CIA director
James Woolsey,
powerful financier
Khalid bin Mahfouz'
younger sister is
married to Osama bin
Laden,. (US Senate,
Senate Judiciary
Committee, Federal
News Service, 3 Sept.
1998, See also
Wayne Madsen,
Questionable Ties, In
These Times,12 Nov.
2001 )
Bin Mahfouz is
suspected to have
funnelled millions of
dollars to the Al
Qaeda network.(See
Tom Flocco,
Scoop.co.nz 28 Aug.
2002)
Now, "by sheer
coincidence", former
New Jersey governor
Thomas Kean, the
man chosen by
President Bush to
lead the 9/11
commission also has
business ties with
bin Mahfouz and
Al-Amoudi.
Thomas Kean is a
director (and
shareholder) of
Amerada Hess
Corporation , which is
involved in the
Hess-Delta joint
venture with Delta Oil
of Saudi Arabia
(owned by the bin
Mahfouz and
Al-Amoudi clans).
(more)
UNOCAL's partner in
the Cent-Gas
trans-Afghan pipeline
consortium, the
Saudi Company Delta
Oil is owned by the
bin Mahfouz and
Al-Amoudi clans
which allegedly have
ties to bin Laden's Al
Qaeda.
According to a 1998
Senate testimony of
former CIA director
James Woolsey,
powerful financier
Khalid bin Mahfouz'
younger sister is
married to Osama bin
Laden,. (US Senate,
Senate Judiciary
Committee, Federal
News Service, 3 Sept.
1998, See also
Wayne Madsen,
Questionable Ties, In
These Times,12 Nov.
2001 )
Bin Mahfouz is
suspected to have
funnelled millions of
dollars to the Al
Qaeda network.(See
Tom Flocco,
Scoop.co.nz 28 Aug.
2002)
Now, "by sheer
coincidence", former
New Jersey governor
Thomas Kean, the
man chosen by
President Bush to
lead the 9/11
commission also has
business ties with
bin Mahfouz and
Al-Amoudi.
Thomas Kean is a
director (and
shareholder) of
Amerada Hess
Corporation , which is
involved in the
Hess-Delta joint
venture with Delta Oil
of Saudi Arabia
(owned by the bin
Mahfouz and
Al-Amoudi clans).
(more)
Unknown to most, UNOCAL's
partner in the Cent-Gas
trans-Afghan pipeline
consortium, the Saudi Company
Delta Oil is owned by the bin
Mahfouz (Osama's brother in
law, former CEO of BCCI) and
Al-Amoudi clans which
allegedly have ties to bin
Laden's Al Qaeda.
partner in the Cent-Gas
trans-Afghan pipeline
consortium, the Saudi Company
Delta Oil is owned by the bin
Mahfouz (Osama's brother in
law, former CEO of BCCI) and
Al-Amoudi clans which
allegedly have ties to bin
Laden's Al Qaeda.
| Enron’s interest in the pipeline was part of an unsuccessful attempt by the Texas energy titan to get cheap liquid natural gas for its $3 billion power plant in Dabhol, India. The huge plant had become a white elephant when its electricity turned out to be several times more costly than its help persuade the Taliban to approve the pipeline , Enron reportedly showered the regime with millions of dollars, |
Dec. 1997 Unocal invited
Taliban representatives to
their corporate headquarters
in Sugarland, Tx. (11) to
discuss the pipeline project.
They were thereafter invited
to Washington for meetings
with Clinton Administration
officials.
Jan. 1998 Unocal agreement
signed between Pakistan,
Turkmenistan, and the
Taliban (12) to arrange
funding of the gas pipeline
project, with Unocal also
considering a
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-
Pakistan-Arabian Sea coast
oil pipeline.
Taliban representatives to
their corporate headquarters
in Sugarland, Tx. (11) to
discuss the pipeline project.
They were thereafter invited
to Washington for meetings
with Clinton Administration
officials.
Jan. 1998 Unocal agreement
signed between Pakistan,
Turkmenistan, and the
Taliban (12) to arrange
funding of the gas pipeline
project, with Unocal also
considering a
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-
Pakistan-Arabian Sea coast
oil pipeline.
1998 VP Dick Cheney, then CEO of the giant oil services company,
Halliburton, stated: "I cannot think of a time when we have had a region
emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the
Caspian." (13)
Feb. 28, 1998 Unocal VP International Relations addressed US House of
Representatives(14) clearly stating that the Taliban government should
be removed and replaced by a government acceptable to his company.
He argued that creation of a 42 inch oil pipeline across Afghanistan would
yield a Western profit increase of 500% by 2015.
Halliburton, stated: "I cannot think of a time when we have had a region
emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the
Caspian." (13)
Feb. 28, 1998 Unocal VP International Relations addressed US House of
Representatives(14) clearly stating that the Taliban government should
be removed and replaced by a government acceptable to his company.
He argued that creation of a 42 inch oil pipeline across Afghanistan would
yield a Western profit increase of 500% by 2015.