Compiled by John Heartson, who is a former engineer with a degree in mechanical engineering, currently working as a carpenter and songwriter in Vermont. His curiosity and detailed investigation into events surrounding 9/11 and anthrax made him the target of domestic spying, unconstitutional searches of his home, and a threat to his life in 2004 (www.heartson.com).  The 911 Time line may include more or less than this one.  Meeting attendees were captured, but at which meeting has been lost.

Additions are distinguished by purple text.

(Articles from news sources have been placed within for educational, research, and discussion purposes only, in compliance with "Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.)

1906: Texas Oil Company registers the trademark name, "Texaco" production in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia

1930: Rocky Mountain division of Pacific Western, a Getty subsidiary, begins oil exploration in Saudi Arabia

1933: Pacific Western wins Saudi Arabia concession SOCAL (Standard Oil Co. of California) discovers oil in Saudi Arabia

1936: Texaco joins with SOCAL (later Chevron), to found the Arab-American Oil Company [Aramco] Texaco purchases half interest in Bahrain Petroleum and California-Arabian Standard Oil Company (Calarabian) from SOCAL California-Texas company, Caltex, founded as a joint venture between SOCAL and Texaco as outlet for future oil production in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia

1949: Getty’s Western Pacific Oil Corporation signs concession for Saudi half of the Neutral Zone with Saudi government

1953: Getty acquires Tidewater Oil

1953: The Shah (of Iran) was brought to power by the CIA in 1953 and kept there with billions of dollars in U.S. weaponry

1954: Consortium of oil companies, including British Petroleum, Exxon, Socony, Texas Oil, Socal, Gulf, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and CFP form the Iranian Oil Participants Ltd. (IOP) and negotiate agreement with Iranian government and for oil production in Iran

1954: Bill Liedtke, John Overby, and George Bush form Zapata Offshore Oil Company

1956: All of J. Paul Getty’s oil holdings organized under Getty Oil 1956: Texas Oil Company acquires Regent Oil, a British company

1961: SOCAL buys Standard of Kentucky

1963: Pennzoil Company is formed through consolidation of South Penn Oil Company, STETCO Petroleum Corporation and Zapata (Geo Bush) Offshore Oil Company

1965: Pennzoil (Bush) Company acquires United Gas Corporation

1971: Gulf purchases 10% in Syncrude Canada Limited

1972: At the request of the Shah, Nixon and Kissinger agreed to supply Kurdish rebels with millions of dollars in military hardware (May 1975)

1972 The US produced and stockpiled weapons containing anthrax prior to the Biological Weapons Convention but has destroyed them. http://www.intelbriefing.com/afi/afi011009.htm

1973 January 23: Shah of Iran announces that the 1954 operating agreement between a consortium of oil companies and Iran will not be renewed when it expires in 1979. The consortium was formed in 1954 as a means to settle a dispute between a new ministry in Iran and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC). The consortium included Standard Oil of New Jersey, Standard Oil of California, SOCONY-Vacuum, the Texas Company, Gulf, Royal Dutch-Shell, the Compagnie Francaise de Petroles, and the AIOC.

1973 October 19: Oil embargo begins

1974 March 18: Oil embargo ends

1974: Bahraini government acquires 60% interest in BAPCO

1975 January 13: Business Week publishes Kissinger interview hinting at military action against oil countries in case of "actual strangulation."

1976: The elder George Bush becomes director of the Central Intelligence Agency, a post he retained for one year.

1975: Iran and the U.S. signed an accord that required Iran to buy $15 billion in U.S. goods and services over the next five years. That agreement was the largest of its kind in history (until September 1990 when Geo Bush proposed his $20 billion arms deal with the Saudis)

1975 March: For three years the Kurdish resistance was supported by $16 million from the U.S. and millions from Iran. In March 1975 the Shah met with Iraq's vice president, Saddam Hussein, and negotiated peace -- on the condition that the U.S. and Iran abandon their support for the Kurds, which was done immediately. The day after the treaty was signed, Iraq went on the offensive, attacking the Kurdish rebels, and within a week the Kurds cabled this message to the CIA: Complete destruction is hanging over our head. No explanation for this. We appeal [to] you and [the] USG[overnment] to intervene according to your promises..." And the Kurds sent Kissinger this message: "Our movement and people are being destroyed in an unbelievable way with silence from everyone. We feel Your Excellency that the U.S. has a moral and political responsibility toward our people who have committed themselves to your country's policy." Neither the CIA nor Kissinger responded to these pleas. Hundreds were killed and thousands of Kurds -- men, women and children, many barefoot with only the clothes on their backs -- were forced to flee Iraq over the mountains for Iran. According to a 1976 report by the House Select Committee on Intelligence (known as the Pike Report), "Over 200,000 refugees managed to escape into Iran. --Neither the U.S. nor Iran extended adequate humanitarian assistance. In fact, Iran was later to forcibly return over 40,000 of the refugees, and the U.S. government refused to admit even one refugee into the U.S. by way of political asylum, even though they qualified for such admittance." When the Pike Committee questioned Kissinger on his role in betraying the Kurds, His Excellency responded, "Covert Action should not be confused with missionary work." [Senator Kerrey Speaks on Government/Media Complicity: by Joel Bleifuss and Senator Bob Kerrey]

1976: Amnesty International reported that Iran had the "highest rate of death penalties in the world, no valid system of civilian courts and a history of torture which is beyond belief. No country in the world has a worse record in human rights than Iran." And no country was a better friend to Iran than the U.S. .

1977: Smallpox was officially declared eradicated by the World Health Organization, after treating the last known case in Merca, Somalia.

1977: George W. Bush founds a Midland-based company that puts together private partnerships for oil drilling ventures, known as Arbusto Exploration. [CNN]

1978: George W. Bush runs for the U.S. House of Representatives. He wins the Republican primary but loses the race. [CNN}
Ken Lay contributes handsomely to Bush's 1978 congressional campaign sixteen years before Bush told the press he got to know the man on 10 January 2002. ("Bush Caught Red-Handed in Lie to American People", http://www.mediawhoresonline.com/ )

1978: Wolf Szmunes, the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) experimented on more than 1000 nonmonogamous men with vaccines, designed by Merck and other pharmacy companies

1978 June: Iran and Saudi Arabia block efforts of OPEC price hawks to fix the price of OPEC oil in a currency more stable than the U.S. dollar. Say world economy cannot support associated price increases. Are accused by hawks of being U.S. agents.

1978 September: Shah puts Iran under military rule. Muslim leader Noori arrested in crackdown of opposition groups.

1979 January: Shah leaves Iran on vacation, never to return. Bakhtiar government established by the Shah to preside until unrest subsides. One million Iranians march in Teheran in a show of support for the exiled Ayatollah Komeini, fundamental Muslim leader.

1979 March 5: Iran resumes petroleum exports.

1979 Spring: Gasoline shortage/world oil glut.

1979 Nov 4: Iran takes western hostages.

1979 Nov 12: Carter orders cessation of Iranian imports to U.S.

1979 Nov 15: Iran cancels all contracts with U.S. oil companies.

1980: Bahraini government acquires remaining interest in BAPCO.  Karzai, the leader of the southern Afghan Pashtun Durrani tribe, was a member of the mujaheddin that fought the Soviets during the 1980s. He was a top contact for the CIA and maintained close relations with CIA Director William Casey, Vice President George Bush, and their Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) Service interlocutors. Later, Karzai and a number of his brothers moved to the United States under the auspices of the CIA. Karzai continued to serve the agency's interests, as well as those of the Bush Family and their oil friends in negotiating the CentGas deal, according to Middle East and South Asian sources. [The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]

1980 September: Iraq breaks 1975 treaty with Iran and proclaims sovereignty over Shatt al-Arab waterway. Iraq invades Iran. Mutual bombing of installations.Iraq captures southern port of Khorramshahr.

1981: George Bush is sworn in as vice president under President Ronald Reagan. Saudis flood market with inexpensive oil in, forcing unprecedented price cuts by OPEC members. In October, all 13 OPEC members align on a compromise $32 per barrel benchmark. Later, benchmark price is maintained, but differentials are adjusted.

1980-1988: Iraq Iran at war

1982: Arbusto (G.W. Bush oil Co) changes its name to Bush Exploration Co. and goes public in an effort to generate funds.

1982: Israelis gave the Kalashnikovs they had captured from Palestinians to the CIA, which shipped them via Pakistan to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight the Russians. Osama bin Laden's first AK was a Palestinian gun supplied by the Israelis and given to him by the Americans.

1984: SOCAL buys Gulf Corporation and after restructuring changes name to Chevron Corporation, Texaco acquires Getty, Chevron buys Gulf. Bush Exploration merges with Spectrum 7 Energy Corp.

1986: oil was $10 a barrel and our president's friends and colleagues who own and operate the U.S. oil industry were finding it hard to maintain their way of life. In spring of that year the former Texas oilman and then-vice president went to Saudi Arabia and convinced King Fahd to agree, along with Iran, to lower production. Within a few months the price of oil was up to $20 a barrel.

1985-1989: "The Center for Disease Control (CDC) was responsible for most of the shipments of lethal American-produced Biochemical Warfare agents that were sold to Iran.." Source: Devon Jackson, NY Times/Village Voice

1986-1989: Milt Bearden, station commander managed America’s covert war in Afghanistan, helping the Moujaheddin drive out the Soviets between 1986-1989.

1988: George W. Bush pitches an Enron gas pipeline in Argentina. Neil Bush uses defrauded investors' money from Silverado to drill for oil in Argentina. [http://www.motherjones.com/mother_jones/MA00/argentina.html] http://www.thegully.com/essays/argentina/010607bush_menem.html )

1988 November: Presidential Election,George Bush Sr. elected. A few weeks after the U.S. presidential election in 1988, Terragno received a phone call from a failed Texas oilman named George W. Bush, "He told me he had recently returned from a campaign tour with his father," the Argentine minister recalls. The purpose of the call was clear: to push Terragno to accept the bid from Enron (http://www.ei.enron.com/presence/latin_america.html )....George W. wasn't the only Bush plying the family name in Argentina. His brother Neil had tried to funnel $900,000 in loans from Silverado Savings and Loan, where he served as a director, into a failed attempt to drill for oil in Argentina. The S&L eventually collapsed, costing taxpayers nearly $1 billion to bail out, and federal regulators banned Neil from certain banking activities.

1989: Bin Laden, having returned from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia and the family business in 1989, moves to Sudan. With a personal fortune of around $250 million (estimates range from $50 to $800 million [Miami Herald, 9/24/01]), he begins plotting terrorist attacks against the US. [New Yorker, 1/24/00]

1989: George Bush (Sr.) is sworn in as the president of the United States. During that same year, George W. buys a 2 percent share of the Texas Rangers baseball team for $600,000 in borrowed money. He serves as managing general partner for five years, which nets him an additional 10 percent interest in the team. [CNN]

1989: Vladimir Pasechnik defected from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) to Great Britain while on a trip to Paris. He had been the top scientist in the FSU's bioweapons program, which is heavily dependent upon DNA sequencing. Dr. Christopher Davis of Virginia, was the member of British intelligence who de-briefed Dr. Pasechnik at the time of his defection Pasechnik spent the 10 years after his defection working at the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research at the UK Department of Health, Salisbury

1990 June 1: Bush and other members of Harken Energy's audit board (including Harken's president, former Arthur Andersen accountant Mikel Faulkner) meet with Harken's accountants: Arthur Andersen. According to Robert Jordan, Bush's lawyer during ensuing the SEC probe, neither the accountants nor the committee members discuss the company's budget woes at this meeting -- despite the fact that Harken is about to take a hefty $23.2 million loss for the second quarter of the fiscal year, which is just ending. The minutes of the meeting would verify this claim, Jordan will tell the Washington Post in a 1999 campaign profile of Bush. But Harken refuses to release those records. ("Bush and Andersen's Texas Two-Step", http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=floyd20020130 )

1990 June 22: Bush dumps Harken stock just before $23.2 million loss is disclosed. http://mediafilter.org/caq/BushFamilyPreys.html] On June 22, 1990, George Jr.sold two-thirds of his Harken stock for $848,560 -- a cool 200 percent profit. The move was well timed. One week after Junior sold his stock, Harken announced a $23.2 million loss in quarterly earnings and Harken stock dropped sharply, losing 60 percent of its value over the next six months.

1990 July 24: April Glaspie, US Ambassador to Iraq told Saddam Hussein "...we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait...we see the Iraqi point of view that the measures taken by the U.A.E. and Kuwait is, in the final analysis, parallel to military aggression against Iraq." ('N.Y. Times, 22 September, 1990) Then only one day before the Iraq invasion into Kuwait, a State Department spokesperson stated the U.S. did "not have any defense treaties with Kuwait, and there are no special defense or security commitments to Kuwait."

1990 Aug 2: Iraq invades Kuwait. Geo Bush orders troops to Saudi Arabia.

1990 September 19: Senator Kerrey’s APPEAL TO REASON: "Although sane voices are speaking out against current U.S. gulf policy, their words for some reason have a problem filtering through the national-news media. For example, on September 19 Sen. Bob Kerrey, the Nebraska Democrat and decorated Vietnam veteran, gave a stunning speech before the U.S. Senate, a small portion of which follows: "Since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait last month ... I have been personally and greatly troubled. Something in all of the rationale and all the explanations seems to be missing. At first the missing piece was what the president did not tell the American people. Speaking to a nation that knew very little about Saddam Hussein, he filled in the blank with a picture of Adolf Hitler. This was more than a comparison. It was the rationale... Missing was the story of years of American support for this modern Hitler -- support from our ambassador to Iraq, support which continued in the face of direct evidence that Iraq might be only hours away from invading Kuwait... . I continue to feel strong personal reservations about the nature and extent of our committment, because the scope of the threat invoked by the president does not seem to be reflected in the attitude of many of the soldiers [I visited] in Saudi Arabia who were shouting at Gen. Colin Powell, `When do we get to go home? Why did you take away our basic allowance for quarters?' ... I am profoundly uneasy about the instant deployment of over 100,000 American troops, sold to the American people on the false assertions that Saddam Hussein is Adolf Hitler, that our way of life is at clear and present danger, that we have as much at stake as we did in World War II. At this moment I believe our military action was improperly rationalized, incompletely thought out and dangerous. It is dangerous because it could provoke the war we seek to prevent... One of the most disturbing assumptions in all of this is the one that declares: If we do not defang Hussein now, he will just be back in a few years to do the same thing. The assumption here is that we should remove with force what we have never in earnest attempted to remove through other means. Recall that not long ago our Commerce Department was cabling `Hooray for you!' to American entrepreneurs seeking to export nuclear-weapons technology to Iraq... Our men and women in uniform are dear enough that we owe them our last full measure of candor before we ask them for their last full measure of devotion... Imagine if [the president] had told us of his willingness to comply with a Saudi request for armed support, but also shown us the intelligence photographs which made Saudi fears credible... Imagine if he had told us of the need to take arms to defend a new world order, but also explained exactly what that new world order is... The new world order described vaguely by the president surely does not mean a continuation of this old practice of selling weapons to the enemy of our enemy... Twenty billion dollars [in arms sales to Saudi Arabia] is a lot of money, Mr. President, for an economy struggling to keep its head above the recessionary waters swirling around us. However, we should be careful -- very careful -- not to let our foreign policy be completely dominated by the concerns of those who sell oil and weapons..." [Senator Kerrey Speaks on Government/Media Complicity: by Joel Bleifuss and Senator Bob Kerrey]

1990: George W. Bush sells two-thirds of his stock in Harken Energy. Over the next two months, Harken stock prices dropped in the wake of poor quarterly earnings. Critics then questioned the timing of his sale, asking whether he had advance warnings. In October 1993, a federal commission cleared him of any wrong doing. [CNN]

1991: With the departure of Bob Strauss, the firm (Akins, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld) amends its name to Akin, Gump, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P. [www.akingump.com] Founded in 1945, the firm is a leading international law firm with more than 1,050 lawyers in offices in the United States and Europe. The firm supports more than 50 practice groups representing regional, national and international clients (This is the same firm the Mr. Idris, owner of the Sudan pharmeceutical company bombed by US cruise missles in 1998, used to fight the US, claiming no connection to terrorism)

1991: (Osama) Bin Laden officially broke with the US in 1991 when US troops began arriving in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm. Bin Laden felt this was a violation of the Saudi regime's responsibility to protect the Islamic Holy Shrines of Mecca and Medina from the infidels. (this turned out to be a disinformation story) {Comment: US troops were nowhere near the holy sites. They were specifically located away from these sensitive religious sites.} Bin Laden's anti-American and anti-House of Saud rhetoric soon reached a fever pitch. The sacred soil that the U.S. infidel soldiers supposedly desecrated was located in a series of top secret facilities built during the 1980s by the U.S. military at a cost (mostly to Saudi Arabia!) of - are you ready? - over 200 BILLION dollars. This was the largest U.S. military construction project ever attempted outside the continental USA. As a Public Television program (later) reported in 1993: http://emperors-clothes.com/news/probestop-i.htm.

1991: Future National Security Advisor Rice joins Chevron's board of directors, and works with Chevron until being picked as Bush's National Security Advisor in 2001. Chevron names an oil tanker after her. {Comment: According to the San Francisco Gate publication, in July 2001 Chevron was quietly asked to rename the 300,000 metric ton supertanker—I believe it is called the Atlantic Voyager.} Rice is hired for her expertise in Central Asia, and much of her job is spent arranging oil deals in the Central Asian region. Chevron also has massive investments there, which grow through the 1990's. [Salon, 11/19/01]

1991 November 6: Dissolution of Soviet Union. Last Kuwaiti oil fire is extinguished.

1991-1997: The Soviet Union collapses in 1991, creating many new nations in Central Asia. Major US oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Texaco, Unocal, BP Amoco, Shell and Enron, directly invest billions in these Central Asian nations, bribing heads of state to secure equity rights in the huge oil reserves in these regions. The oil companies commit to future direct investments in Kazakhstan of $35 billion. These companies face the problem however of having to pay exorbitant prices to Russia to use Russian pipelines to get the oil out. These oil fields have an estimated $6 trillion potential value. US companies own approximately 75% of the rights. [New Yorker, 7/9/01, Asia Times, 1/26/02] FTW {Comment: US oil companies are frustrated by their inability to make inroads into newly established governments. Political environment not conducive to establishing stable business. Lack of access and leverage cited.} {NOTE: Most Saudi contracts, particularly those involving defense contracts, stipulate that up to 30% of contract price be "kicked back" to Saudi royal family as a "commission." British contract for $30-billion Al Yamamah project provided for $9-billion in "commissions" to Saudi royal family.} The key to the huge potential profits in Central Asia was distribution—how to transport the oil and gas from this isolated, backward and landlocked region to the world’s main energy markets. The only existing pipelines were those of the old Soviet distribution network through Russia. As the scramble for resources in the region intensified, the USwanted to undermine Russia’s economic monopoly, making sure that other rivals were kept out of the race. The pipelines therefore had to run through countries over which the US could exert substantial political influence, which excluded China and Iran. [The Taliban, the US and the resources of Central Asia]

1992: Bill Clinton defeated incumbent George Bush and third party candidate Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential race.

1992 June 20: Enron and the government of the state of Maharashtra signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to build the plant. This led to formation of the Dabhol Power Company (DPC), a joint venture of Enron and two other American corporations, General Electric and Bechtel.

1992: Government records show that Dugway has had the Ames strain since 1992. Dugway's production of dried anthrax is part of the government's secret research program on how to defend against germ weapons, which gained momentum in the late 1990's. The Clinton administration began a series of projects aimed at understanding the nation's vulnerabilities to biowarfare and devising ways combat the threats.

1992: Bob Strauss returns to the firm as a full name partner and the firm happily becomes Akin Gump Strauss Hauer Feld LLP once again. Akin Gump partner Vernon Jordan is named Chairman of President Clinton's transition team. [www.akingump.com]

1992: Under Dick Cheney's direction, the Pentagon paid Texas-based Brown & Root Services $3.9 million to produce a classified report detailing how private companies -- like itself -- could help provide logistics for American troops in potential war zones around the world. Brown & Root Services BRS (a division of Halliburton) specializes in such work; from 1962 to 1972, for instance, the company worked in the former South Vietnam building roads, landing strips, harbors, and military bases. Later in 1992, the Pentagon gave the company an additional $5 million to update its report. That same year, BRS won a massive, five-year logistics contract from the US Army Corps of Engineers to work alongside American GIs in places like Zaire, Haiti, Somalia, Kosovo, the Balkans, and Saudi Arabia.

1992 Nov: Several corporations -- including oil giants Exxon and Mobil as well as J. P. Morgan and Chase Manhattan -- are clamoring to get into energy futures market. Some of those companies ask Wendy Gramm, chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and wife of Senator Phil Gramm, to exempt energy derivative contracts and related swaps from government oversight. Gramm acts quickly, scheduling a vote on the rule for January 1993, days before the Clinton administration would take over. Boosted by her support, the proposed rule passes. In five weeks whe will join the board of Enron. (" Enron made a sound investment in Washington," http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20020124/ts_usatoday/3799465&cid=676.

1993-95: R. James Woolsey is the director of the CIA. He served as an ambassador and United States representative to the Negotiation on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), Vienna from 1989-91.

1992 June 20: Enron and the government of the state of Maharashtra signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to build the plant. This led to formation of the Dabhol Power Company (DPC), a joint venture of Enron and two other American corporations, General Electric and Bechtel.

1993 February 16: Scott Armstrong: A $200 billion program that's basically put together and nobody's paying attention to it. It's-- it's the ultimate government off the books... " The Saudis have been the principal backers and financers of the largest armaments system that the world has ever seen, in any region of the world, that includes over $95 billion worth of weapons that they bought themselves, includes another $65 billion worth of military infrastructure and ports that they've put in. We've managed to create an interlocking system that has one master control base, five sub-control bases, any one of which is capable of operating the whole thing, that are in hardened bunkers, that are hard-wired, that is to say, against nuclear blast or anything else. They created nine major ports that weren't there before, dozens of airfields all over the kingdom. They have now hundreds of modern American fighter planes and the capability of adding hundreds more. The Saudis alone have spent $156 billion that I can document line by line, item by item, on weapons system and infrastructure to support this." (FRONTLINE Show #1112 Air Date: February 16, 1993 "The Arming of Saudi Arabia". Scott Armstrong is a top investigative reporter for the 'Washington Post'] (For official PBS WebPage for the show, click here; for the transcript, click here) The contracts for building those bases, ports, and airfields went in part to Saudi construction companies. Osama's family company, Saudi Binladin Group (the name is spelled differently but it's the same family) is intimate with the Saudi royal family; moreover it is the biggest Saudi construction company (and also a giant in the telecommunications field). http://emperors-clothes.com/news/probestop-i.htm

1993 April: Heinz Vergin, World Bank manager for India, rejects Enron's loan application, saying that the Dabhol plant is "not economically viable."

1993 April: Chevron concluded a historic $20 billion, 50/50 joint venture deal with Kazakhstan to create the TENGIZCHEVOIL joint venture to develop the Tengiz oil field, estimated to contain 6-9 billion barrels of oil. DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00 Page 9 Stalinist party boss, Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan visited Washington and Houston November 18-20 and signed contracts with Texaco, Mobil, Chevron and other US oil companies which are worth a staggering $600 billion over the next 40 years During his Washington visit, Nazarbayev was honored at a private dinner in the exclusive Metropolitan Club, hosted by longtime Democratic Party wheeler-dealer Robert Strauss, (of Law Firm: Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld) and attended by oil company CEOs, Clinton crony Vernon Jordan, Energy Secretary Federico Pena, and media personalities like Sam Donaldson--who led the toast to Nazarbayev--and William Safire. [Sagebrush Saloon – Chevrons War]

1993: Pennzoil Company assimilates Chevron

1993 June: California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and Enron begin their relationship in June. Each puts $250 million into Joint Energy Development Investments (JEDI) The partnership will invest in an array of North American natural gas businesses. ("CalPERS inadvertently linked to fall of Enron", [www.sacbee.com/content/business/story/1517906p-1594346c.html ] Keeping partnerships such as Jedi off its balance sheet was a paramount concern for Enron. The company created scores of partnerships so it could keep their debts off its balance sheet. In Jedi's case, as much as $711 million in debts were held off the books, according to SEC filings.

1993 July: Oil prices plunge on speculation that Iraq will accept U.N. missile test site inspections and receive approval to resume oil exports.

1993 September 27: Nuclear Nonproliferation and Export Control Policy The President today established a framework for U.S. efforts to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the missiles that deliver them.

1993 April: Heinz Vergin, World Bank manager for India, rejects Enron's loan application, saying that the Dabhol plant is "not economically viable."

1993 November: The Indian government approves 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% of Dabhol. This liquefied natural gas powered plant is supposed to provide one-fifth of India's energy needs by 1997. [Asia Times, 1/81/01, Indian Express, 2/27/00]

1994: Jose Trias met with a friend in Houston, Texas and was planning to go public with his personal knowledge of HHMI "front door" grants being diverted to "back door" black ops bioresearch. The next day, Trias and his wife were found dead in their Chevy Chase, Md. home. Chevy Chase is where HHMI is headquartered. Police described the killings as a professional hit. Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) funds a tremendous number of research programs at schools, hospitals and research facilities, and has long been alleged to be conducting "black ops" biomedical research for intelligence organizations, including the CIA.

1993 November: The Central Electricity Authority in New Delhi gave provisional clearance to the project. It was the largest single foreign investment in India.

1994: The Washington-based Export-Import Bank approved a $302 million loan toward a $3 billion Enron-controlled power plant in India. President Clinton took an interest in the deal, asking the U.S. ambassador to that country and his former chief of staff, Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, then a presidential adviser, to monitor the proposal.

1994: Enron lobbies the Securities and Exchange Commission to receive an exemption from the Public Utility Holding Company Act. The Depression-era law was designed to prevent utilities from owning multiple plants in one geographic area, allowing them to jack up rates. ("Enron made a sound investment in Washington", http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20020124/ts_usatoday/3799465&cid =676 )

1994 September: In what was described as "the deal of the century," the AzerbaiJanuary International Oil Consortium (AIOC ) signed an $8 billion, 30-year contract in September 1994 to develop three Caspian Sea fields—Azeri, Chirag, and Guneshli—with total reserves estimated at 3-5 billion barrels. Oil production is expected to reach 800,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) by the end of the next decade. DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00 Page 9

1994 September: Starting as Afghani exiles in Pakistan religious schools, the Taliban begin their conquest of Afghanistan. CNN reports, "The Taliban are widely alleged to be the creation of Pakistan's military intelligence [the ISI]. Experts say that explains the Taliban's swift military successes." The CIA also worked with the ISI to create the Taliban. A regional expert with extensive CIA ties says: "I warned them that we were creating a monster." After 9/11, the Wall Street Journal states: "Despite their clean chins and pressed uniforms, the ISI men are as deeply fundamentalist as any bearded fanatic; the ISI created the Taliban as their own instrument and still supports it."

1995 January 6: While investigating a possible assassination plan against the Pope, Philippine police uncover plans for Operation Bojinka, an al-Qaeda operation led by 1993 WTC bomber Ramzi Yousef and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. The plan is to explode 12 passenger planes over the Pacific Ocean simultaneously on January 21, 1995. If successful, up to 4,000 people would have been killed. Plans found for a second phase of attacks are also found. Planes would be hijacked and flown into buildings. The WTC, CIA headquarters, Pentagon and the Sears Tower are specifically mentioned as targets. One pilot, who learned to fly in US flight schools, confesses that his role was to crash a plane into CIA headquarters. http://coopertiveresearch.org/completetimeline/]

1995 February: US authorities named bin Laden and his Saudi brother-in-law, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, among 172 unindicted co-conspirators with the 11 Muslims charged for the World Trade Center bombing and the associated plot to blow up other New York landmarks." ('Jane's Intelligence Review,' 1 October 1995) (So bin Laden is named as an unindicted co-conspirator a year before Sudan offered to extradite him.)

1995 March: Inaugural memorandum of understanding between the governments of Turkmenistan and Pakistan for a Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline for natural gas.

1995: Pennzoil Company agrees to concession agreement with Egypt for Gulf of Suez

1995 July 5 to 1997 May - Hamas Leader Held in the US, Then Let Go

1995 August: Clinton administration's cabinet members, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary, personally urged India to accept Enron's proposed project.

1995 August 2: Saudi Arabia's King Fahd issues a decree replacing all members of the Council of Ministers who do not have blood ties so the royal Family. While most of the Council's top positions are unaffected by the reshuffling, Oil Minister Hisham Nazer is replaced with Ali bin Ibrahim al-Naimi. (WSJ)

1995 September: After suffering military reversals in mid-1995, the Taliban re-armed and reorganised with Pakistani assistance and in September 1995 entered Herat, effectively clearing the road from Pakistan to Central Asia. The following month, Unocal signed its pipeline deal with Turkmenistan. [The Taliban, the US and the resources of Central Asia] Publications of the Center for Security Policy No. 95-D 71, DECISION BRIEF 2 October 1995, CASPIAN WATCH: RUSSIAN POWER-PLAYS ON 'EARLY OIL' HALLMARK OF KREMLIN EXPANSIONISM PAST -- AND FUTURE? (Washington, D.C.) Oil companies from the United States, Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan), are scheduled to make a strategically monumental decision: Through which countries will the Consortium export the vast quantities of Azeri and other oil deposits it expects to tap from Caspian Sea reserves estimated to rival those of the North Sea and Alaskan North Slope, combined? At issue is whether Russia will enjoy monopoly control over these oil flows -- and the attendant revenue streams? Or will there ultimately be a southern, Western-oriented pipeline, for example, through Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan? 'Great Game' Redux…The Clinton Administration's mishandling of this issue is all the more appalling in light of the obvious U.S. interests at stake in the decision to be announced in Baku on 9 October. These include: Ensuring the free movement to international markets of oil and gas from the Caspian Sea and Central Asia; Preserving the independence and economic viability of former Soviet republics in the region -- and avoiding the de facto or de jure reconstitution of a southern-tier Soviet Union; Thwarting political/military initiatives by Russia and Iran to wield inordinate influence over pipeline routing decisions and other issues fundamental to the development of these huge reserves; Strengthening secular Muslim societies (notably, Turkey and Azerbaijan) against the predations of Islamic extremism; and Protecting against further deterioration of the sensitive ecosystems and waterways of the region (e.g., Turkey's imperilled Bosphorus Straits)…….. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, recently concluded a 25-year multi-billion dollar deal with American oil companies, a development evidently considered of little political importance in Washington. Relevant congressional committees have also failed to give due consideration to the strategic implications of the pending decisions concerning "early oil" extracted from the Caspian Sea region. This is a particularly regrettable oversight insofar as the near-term decisions will have momentous long-term repercussions: To name one, who will control the world's second-largest oil supplies for the industrialized democracies in the 21st century? The Bottom Line In light of the high stakes and the inadequate attention this issue has received to date from senior U.S. policy-makers, the Center for Security Policy will be producing a "Caspian Watch" of periodic Decision Briefs dealing with the upcoming decision and the repercussions that flow from it over time. Meanwhile, the Center urges the executive and legislative branches in Washington to accord the strategic Caspian Sea oil region the priority it deserves -- and to start safeguarding U.S. interests increasingly in jeopardy there.

1995 September to October - UNOCAL Obtains Turkmenistan Pipeline Deal: Oil company UNOCAL signs an $8 billion deal with Turkmenistan to construct two pipelines (one for oil, one for gas), as part of a larger plan for two pipelines intended to transport oil and gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and into Pakistan. Before proceeding further, however, UNOCAL needs to execute agreements with Pakistan and Afghanistan; Pakistan and Ahmed Shah Massoud's government in Afghanistan, however, have already signed a pipeline deal with an Argentinean company. Henry Kissinger, hired as speaker for a special dinner in New York to announce the Turkmenistan pipeline deal, says the UNOCAL plan represents a "triumph of hope over experience." UNOCAL will later open an office in Kabul, weeks after the Taliban capture of the capital in late 1996 and will interact with the Taliban, seeking support for its pipeline until at least December 1997. [Coll, 2004, pp. 301-13, 329, 338, 364-66]

1995 October: Indian Prime Minister Rao and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati discussed a routing alternatives for a natural gas pipeline, including one which would run through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

1995 October 21: The oil company Unocal signs a contract with Turkmenistan to export $8 billion worth of natural gas through a $3 billion pipeline which would go from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan. Political considerations and pressures allow Unocal to edge out a more experienced Argentinean company for the contract. Henry Kissinger, a Unocal consultant, calls it "the triumph of hope over experience." [Washington Post, 10/5/98]

1995: Cheney became the CEO of Halliburton, a Dallas-based oil services giant that also owns Brown & Root Services. Halliburton does business in at least 100 countries. In 1998, Business Week reported that Cheney had been "courting politicians and business leaders through the booming Caspian Sea region in an all-out effort to secure key political ties with AzerbaiJanuary and Kazakstan. Accounting for the world's third-largest oil reserves, the region is Cheney's best hope to secure big contracts for a long time to come." Cheney has succeeded. Along with the heads of Chevron and Texaco Inc., Cheney sits on Kazakstan's Oil Advisory Board, which serves as a sounding board for the country's president. Between 1992 and 1999, the Pentagon paid BRS more than $1.2 billion for its work in trouble spots around the globe. In May of 1999, the US Army Corps of Engineers re-enlisted the company's help in the Balkans, giving it a new five-year contract worth $731 million.. Dick Cheney helped broker the Chevron-Kazakhstan deal when he sat on the Kazakhstan Oil Advisory Board in the mid-'90s (Amarillo Globe-News, June 13, 1998)

1996: FBI investigators are prevented from carrying out an investigation into Abdullah and OMarch bin Laden, two brothers of Osama. The FBI suspected the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) was terrorist organization and Abdullah was the US director of WAMY. Apparently the case involved espionage, murder, and national security. Four of the 9/11 hijackers later lived only three blocks from the WAMY offices near Washington DC, at the same time the two bin Laden brothers were there. WAMY still has not been put on a list of terrorist organizations in the US, but has been banned in Pakistan. A high-placed intelligence official tells the Guardian: "There were always constraints on investigating the Saudis. There were particular investigations that were effectively killed." An unnamed US source says to the BBC, "There is a hidden agenda at the very highest levels of our government." The Saudi Arabian government starts paying huge amounts of money to al-Qaeda, becoming its largest financial backer. They also give money to other extremist groups throughout Asia. This money vastly increases the capability of al-Qaeda. US officials later privately complain "that the Bush Administration, like the Clinton Administration, is refusing to confront this reality, even in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks." [http://coopertiveresearch.org/completetimeline/]

1996: "Mack" McLarty, who later became a paid Enron director, spoke with Ken Lay on several occasions about the plant. Four days before India granted approval for Enron's project, the Houston-based firm contributed $100,000 to the Democratic Party.
 
1996: Enron signed a contract giving it rights to explore 11 gas fields in Uzbekistan, a project costing $1.3 billion. The goal was to sell gas to the Russian markets, and link to Unocal's southern export pipeline crossing Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.
 
1996 January 8: Enron and the state government of Maharashtra reached a new agreement that would shift some of the construction costs and lower the electricity tariffs.

1996: Dr. Christopher Davis of Virginia left British intelligence service in 1996 Davis was the member of British intelligence who de-briefed (microbiologist) Dr. Pasechnik when he defected (Dr. Pasechnik was a top scientist in the FSU's bioweapons program, which is heavily dependent upon DNA sequencing)

1996 March: prominent US senator Hank Brown, a supporter of the Unocal project, visited Kabul and other Afghan cities. He met with the Taliban and invited them to send delegates to a Unocal-funded conference on Afghanistan in the US. In the same month, the US also exerted pressure on the Pakistani government to ditch its arrangements with Bridas and back the American company.{The Taliban the US and the Resources of Central Asia]

1996 March 8 to April - US Asks Sudan for Its Files on Al-Qaeda, Then Declines to Accept Them

1996 March - 1997 October: Iraq impeded inspectors from entering Iraqi security service and military facilities, and it interfered with some UNSCOM flights.

1996 March: Maj. Gen. Elfatih Erwa, then the Sudanese Minister of State for Defense, offered to extradite bin Laden either to Saudi Arabia or the United States. U.S. officials turned down the offer of extradition. 'The Washington Post' article that reported this goes into some length quoting U.S. officials attempting to explain exactly why they turned down the offer. The officials are quoted explaining that the Saudis were afraid of a fundamentalist backlash if they jailed and executed bin Laden, that they resented Sudan, that the U.S. resented Sudan, that the U.S. didn't have sufficient evidence to put him on trial. Everything, in fact, except the simplest explanation: that bin Laden was a U.S. asset - either part of the CIA, or someone whom the CIA used. Perhaps the 'Washington Post' writers were hinting at this explanation when they wrote: "And there were the beginnings of a debate, intensified lately, on whether the United States wanted to indict and try bin Laden or to treat him as a combatant in an underground war." ('The Washington Post,') Emphasis on the word 'treat' as in 'pretend that he was.' In any case, the Sudanese offer of extradition was turned down. "[U.S. officials] said, 'Just ask him to leave the country. Just don't let him go to Somalia,' Erwa, the Sudanese general, said in an interview. 'We said he will go to Afghanistan, and they [US officials!] said, 'Let him.'"

1996 April: Mobil announced that it had purchased from the Kazakh government a 25% share in the consortium developing Tengiz. Given adequate export outlets, Tengiz can reach peak production of 750,000 bbl/d by 2010. DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00 Page 9

1996 April: In 1995, the government of Sudan offers the US all of its files on bin Laden and al-Qaeda, but the US turns down the offer. Bin Laden had been living in Sudan since 1991. The Sudanese government collected a "vast intelligence database on Osama bin Laden and more than 200 leading members of his al-Qaeda terrorist network... [The US was] offered thick files, with photographs and detailed biographies of many of his principal cadres, and vital information about al-Qaeda's financial interests in many parts of the globe." In April 1996, the US again rejects Sudan's offer of the files [cooperativeresearch.org]

1996 April 30: In the United States, President Clinton approves the sale of $227 million of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. At current oil prices, roughly 12 million barrels would be sold. The Clinton Administration hopes that the sale will lower gasoline prices in the United States, which are at their highest levels in five years. (WSJ)

1996 May 7 Tsunao Saitoh, who formerly worked at an HHMI-funded lab at Columbia University, was shot to death on May 7, 1996 while sitting in his car outside his home in La Jolla, Calif. Police also described this as a professional hit. Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) funds a tremendous number of research programs at schools, hospitals and research facilities, and has long been alleged to be conducting "black ops" biomedical research for intelligence organizations, including the CIA.

1996 May 13: Ramsey Yousef is accused of having designed the bomb that blew up in the World Trade Centre in 1993....His idea was to topple one of the twin towers onto the other..... perhaps 50,000 people would have perished. ...Yousef placed a bomb on a Philippines Airlines jet ...... testing a method he intended using to destroy three US passenger planes at a later date. The Telegraph (U.K. Electronic Edition) Issue 382

1996 May 15: Foreign Minister Taha sent a fax to Carney in Nairobi, giving up on the transfer of custody. His government had asked bin Laden to vacate the country, Taha wrote, and he would be free to go." ('The Washington Post,' 3 October 2001) Note: "We said he will go to Afghanistan, and they [US officials!] said, 'Let him.'" Why couldn't the U.S. government have accepted the Sudanese offer to extradite bin Laden? Why couldn't they have jailed him, gotten together their best case and put him on trial? What exactly did the U.S. government have to lose? The worst that could have happened would have been that they failed to convict him and had to let him leave the country... JUST LET HIM GO, OH, ANYWHERE. MAYBE TO - AFGHANISTAN! [http://emperors-clothes.com/news/probestop-i.htm]

1996 May: False Flag 11 preparation: Saudis and Al-Qaeda Allegedly Strike a Secret Deal: French intelligence secretly monitors a meeting of Saudi billionaires at the Hotel Royale Monceau in Paris this month with the financial representative of al-Qaeda. "The Saudis, including a key Saudi prince joined by Muslim and non-Muslim gun traffickers, [meet] to determine who would pay how much to Osama. This [is] not so much an act of support but of protection&emdash;a payoff to keep the mad bomber away from Saudi Arabia." [Palast, 2002, pp. 100] Participants also agree that bin Laden should be rewarded for promoting Wahhabism (an austere form of Islam that requires literal interpretation of the Koran) in Chechnya, Kashmir, Bosnia, and other places. [Fifth Estate, 10/29/2003 ] This extends an alleged secret deal first made between the Saudi government and bin Laden in 1991.

1996 May 18: Sudan Expels Bin Laden; US Fails to Stop His Flight to Afghanistan.

1996: CIA Report Details Link between Saudi Charities and Militant Groups

1996: Saudi Regime Goes to 'Dark Side': the Saudi Arabian government, which allegedly initiated payments to al-Qaeda in 1991 (see Summer 1991), increases its payments in 1996, becoming al-Qaeda's largest financial backer. It also gives money to other extremist groups throughout Asia, vastly increasing al-Qaeda's capabilities. [New Yorker, 10/16/2001] Presumably, two meetings in early summer bring about the change. Says one US official, "[19]96 is the key year.… Bin Laden hooked up to all the bad guys--it's like the Grand Alliance--and had a capability for conducting large-scale operations."

1996: FBI Fumbles Flight School Investigation; Murad and Eleven Other al-Qaeda Pilots Trained in US: Finding a business card for a US flight school in the possession of Operation Bojinka plotter Abdul Hakim Murad, the FBI investigates the US flight schools Murad attended. [Washington Post, 9/23/2001] He had trained at about six flight schools off and on, starting in 1990. Apparently, the FBI closes the investigation when they fail to find any other potential suspects. [Insight, 5/27/2002] However, Murad had already confessed to Philippine authorities the names of about ten other associates learning to fly in the US, and the Philippine authorities had asserted that they provided this information to the US. Murad detailed how he and a Pakistani friend crisscrossed the US, attending flight schools in New York, Texas, California and North Carolina. The Associated Press reports, "He also identified to Filipino police approximately 10 other Middle Eastern men who met him at the flight schools or were getting similar training. One was a Middle Eastern flight instructor who came to the United States for more training; another a former soldier in the United Arab Emirates. Others came from Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. None of the pilots match the names of the 19 hijackers from Sept. 11." An assistant manager at a Schenectady, New York, flight school where Murad trained later recalls, "There were several [Middle Eastern pilot students] here. At one point three or four were here. Supposedly they didn't know each other before, they just happened to show up here at the same time. But they all obviously knew each other." However, US investigators somehow fail to detect any of these suspects before 9/11, despite being given their names. [Associated Press, 3/5/2002]

1996 May 20: In New York, the United Nations and Iraq agree to U.N. Resolution 986, which provides Iraq with the opportunity to sell $1 billion of oil for 90 days for a 180-day trial period. Under the resolution, proceeds from the sale would be used for humanitarian purposes. The agreement comes following months of heated negotiations. Iraqi oil exports are expected to begin by the Fall of 1996, after a pumping station on the Iraq-Turkey pipeline is repaired and U.N monitoring and aid distribution facilities are put in place. Shortly after the agreement, the White House announces its decision to allow U.S. oil companies to purchase Iraqi oil exports. (FT, PON, WSJ)

1996 June: Mr. Dale Watson was named Deputy Chief of the CIA at the Counter-terrorist Center.

1996 Mid: Pakistan was not the only source of assistance (to the Taliban). Saudi Arabia also provided substantial financial and material aid. Shortly after the Taliban took control of Kandahar, JUI head Maulana Fazlur Rehman began to organise "hunting trips" for royalty from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. By mid-1996, Saudi Arabia was sending funds, vehicles and fuel to support the Taliban’s push on Kabul. The reasons were two-fold. On the political plane, the Taliban’s fundamentalist ideology was close to the Saudi’s own Wahabbism. It was hostile to the Shiite sect and thus to Riyadh’s major regional rival—Iran. On a more prosaic level, the Saudi oil company, Delta Oil, was a partner in the Unocal pipeline and was pinning its hopes on a Taliban victory to get the project off the ground.

1996 June 24: The Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan signs a deal with Enron "that could lead to joint development of the central Asian nation's potentially rich natural gas fields." [Houston Chronicle, 6/25/96] The $1.3 billion venture teams Enron with the state companies of Russian and Uzbekistan. [Houston Chronicle, 6/30/96]

1996 July 8: The US government agrees to give $400 million to help Enron and a Uzbeki state company develop natural gas fields in the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan. [Oil and Gas Journal, 7/8/96]

1996 July 17: TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 bound for Paris, exploded shortly after takeoff from New York's Long Island, killing all 230 people on board.

1996 July 18: The United Nations formally approves an Iraqi aid distribution plan, a major step forward in the direction of allowing Iraq to sell oil under Resolution 986. (DJ)

1996 July 21: Officials of Al Hayat, a prominent Arabic-language newspaper, said they received faxes in London and Washington early on Wednesday, warning of a planned attack on an American target. The letter was signed by a group identifying itself as the Movement of Islamic Change, the Jihad wing. [New York Times]. This was learned shortly after TWA 800 was shot down it.....a connection to Sheikh Rahman, and a threat that apparently the U.S. government does not consider to be credible ?.

1996 August: Osama Bin Laden began issuing public calls for a jihad against the US in August 1996 [The Taliban, the US and the resource of Central Asia]

1996 August - The Central Asia Gas Pipeline, Ltd. (CentGas) consortium for construction of pipeline, led by UNOCAL is formed.

1996 August 13: Unocal and Delta Oil of Saudi Arabia come to agreement with state companies in Turkmenistan and Russia to to build a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan. [Unocal website, 8/13/96]

1996 August 25: U.S. officials investigating reports that Islamic terrorists have smuggled Stinger ground-to-air missiles into the United States from Pakistan. Senior Iranian sources close to the fundamentalist regime in Tehran claimed this weekend that TWA flight 800 was shot down last month by one of three shoulder-fired Stingers of the type used by Islamic guerrillas during the Afghanistan war. The sources said the missiles arrived in America seven months ago... [Times of London]

1996 September 22: More than 150 credible witnesses saw a missile destroy TWA 800. "Some of these people are extremely, extremely credible," a top federal official said. U.S. military experts, who debriefed them and independently confirmed for the FBI that their descriptions matched surface-to-air missile attacks.. Investigators are reviewing an anonymous threat received after the October 1, 1995 conviction of radical sheik OMarch Abdel Rahman .... the threat was that a New York airport or jetliner would be attacked in retaliation........ (The New York Post) Three high-speed objects were picked up on radar crossing the aircraft's flight path just before it began its fatal dive. On June 18, 2000 the Chairman of the Egyptian Civil Authority hand delivered a letter (Click for pdf file) to the Administrator of the FAA requesting assistance in identifying these high-speed returns but was denied the information he requested. (For similar reports of high speed objects reported by other aircraft flying into and out of Kennedy airport please read The Tale of the Tapes.) Were these objects missiles fired in the same sequence as that which brought down TWA 800? (See the article "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever").

1996 September 27: The Taliban conquer Kabul [AP, 8/19/02], establishing control over much of Afghanistan. The oil company Unocal is hopeful that the Taliban will stabilize Afghanistan, and allow its (gas) pipeline plans to go forward. In fact, "preliminary agreement [on the pipeline] was reached between the [Taliban and Unocal] long before the fall of Kabul." "Oil industry insiders say the dream of securing a pipeline across Afghanistan is the main reason why Pakistan, a close political ally of America's, has been so supportive of the Taliban, and why America has quietly acquiesced in its conquest of Afghanistan." [Telegraph, 10/11/96]

1996 September: Greased with over $1.8 million in contributions from the big three utility companies, California lawmakers unanimously enact deregulation law. Legislation promises competition, 20% decreases. Gov. Pete Wilson signs the bill into law, saying that the landmark legislation is a major step in our efforts to guarantee lower rates, provide consumer choice and offer reliable service, so no one literally is left in the dark. We've pulled the plug on another outdated monopoly and replaced it with the promise of a new era of competition. ("Energy 'Crisis' Was A $71 Billion Hoax, And It's Not Over, Report Says", http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/utilities/pr/pr002170.php3 )

1996 October 11: The Telegraph publishes an interesting article about pipeline politics in Afghanistan. Some quotes: "Behind the tribal clashes that have scarred Afghanistan lies one of the great prizes of the 21st century, the fabulous energy reserves of Central Asia." "'The deposits are huge,' said a diplomat from the region. ‘Kazakhstan alone may have more oil than Saudi Arabia. Turkmenistan is already known to have the fifth largest gas reserves in the world.'" [Telegraph, 10/11/96] The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is one of the most important think-tanks advising the US government, as well as many other governments abroad. CFR members include the Pentagon's top advisers, Richard Perle, Henry Kissinger, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, ex-CIA chief James Woolsey. Richard Perle is currently Head of the Defense Policy Board, Department of Defense which advises the Pentagon. Perle is also Director of Hollinger Inc, Hollinger Digital also owns Onset Technology which cooperates with spy messenger software of Comverse and Odigo. Hollinger Inc. owns more than 400 newspapers worldwide and controls almost 50% of the Canadian press. They are the third largest newspaper chain in the Western world, after Gannett and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Chairman and CEO of Hollinger is Conrad Black who controls about 78% of Hollinger through a private holding company. Hollinger also owns the Sydney Morning Herald, the Chicago Sun Times and the Daily Telegraph. On the board of Daily Telegraph is Henry Kissinger, ex-CIA-Director James Woolsey, Newt Gingrich, former Admiral David Jeremiah, Dan Quayle, former US-ministers James Schlesinger and Harold Brown. On 26th of October Daily Telegraph tried to promote the Iraq-October-anthrax theory: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2001%2F10%2F26%2Fwirq26.xml Hollinger and their board members, including Henry Kissinger, have connections to Sunday Times, Chase Manhattan Bank, AT&T, American Express, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Hasbro and Israeli Yellow Pages. Hollinger also owns the Jerusalem Post. It's very convenient to follow Richard Perle’s strategy, supported by his friends James Woolsey, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Armitage. Richard Perle was expelled from Senator Henry Jackson's office in the 1970's after the National Security Agency (NSA) caught him passing Highly-Classified (National Security) documents to the Israeli Embassy. He later worked for the Israeli weapons firm, Soltam. CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting February 13, 1997
"World Energy Outlook and Opportunities for Oil and Gas Investment"
Speaker: Harald Norvik President and Chairman, Executive Board, Statoil Group
Presider: William F. Martin [www.cfr.org]

1996 - FBI Directly Monitors Militants in Afganistan with Hi-Tech Phone Booth: I-49, a squad of FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors that began focusing on bin Laden in 1996 (see January 1996) is upset that the NSA is not sharing with them data it has obtained through the monitoring of al-Qaeda.

1996 to late September 2001 - Britain Not Interested in Sudan's Files on Al-Qaeda

1996 to early 1997 - Probe of Suspicious Company with Saudi Ties Is Stalled

1996 to 1997 - Ptech Begins to Get US Government Contracts. Ptech is a Boston computer company connected to a number of individuals suspected of ties to officially designated terrorist organizations (see 1994). These alleged ties will be of particular concern because of Ptech's potential access to classified government secrets.

1996 to August 2000 - Ahmed Alghamdi and Other Hijackers Reportedly were working at or otherwise connected to the Pensacola Naval Air Station, and under the purview of Naval Intelligence.

1997 February 24: Qatar inaugurates the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporting facility and formally launches Qatar Liquefied Gas Co., which will have total output capacity of 6 million tons per year of LNG. The facilities are part of a new $7.2 billion industrial zone which also includes a sea port with a capacity to handle 25-30 million tons of LNG annually. Qatar plans to build more gas liquefaction plants in the area to exploit its natural gas reserves of around 237 trillion cubic feet. (DJ) CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting February 27, 1997
"Business-Government Partnership in the Global Economy"
Speaker: Rebecca P. Mark Chairman and CEO, Enron International
Presider: Ivan Selin [www.cfr.org]

1997: World oil supply increases by 2.25 million barrels per day in 1997, the largest annual increase since 1988. Driving oil prices down further (to approx $17 per barrel)

1997: Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski publishes a book in which he portrays the Eurasian landmass as the key to world power, and Central Asia with its vast oil reserves as the key to domination of Eurasia. He states that for the US to maintain its global primacy, it must prevent any possible adversary from controlling that region. Almost prophetically, he notes that because of popular resistance to US military expansionism, his ambitious strategy could not be implemented "except in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat." [The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives, 1997 (the link is to excerpts of the book from a From the Wilderness article)]

1997: Battelle Memorial Institute, a military contractor in Ohio, has experience making powdered germs participated in a secret Central Intelligence Agency program, code-named Clear Vision and begun in 1997, that used benign substances similar to anthrax to mimic Soviet efforts to create small bombs that could emit clouds of lethal germs. 1997 BioPort, from Lansing, Michigan (former Michigan Biologics Products Institute MBPI) is founded by Fuad al-Hibri (Ex-Porton International UK) and Admiral William Crowe, 76, former military chief under President Ronald Reagan. Their main purpose is to develop anti bio-agents.

1997 April 1: The Indian village of Katalwadi, at the forefront of protests against Enron's Dabhol Power project, is attacked by Enron supporters armed with swords, sharpened hoes (colloquially known as "choppers"), wooden sticks, light bulbs filled with acid, and explosive soda bottles. Following the attack, the police arrests and charge the anti-Enron villagers with criminal offenses, including attempted murder, under the Indian Penal Code. The perpetrators of the attack, however, are detained only briefly the following day and are not charged with assault. 1997 sees a number of attacks on people opposed to Enron's power plant. ("The Enron Corporation: Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Violations", http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/enron/enron5-0.htm)

1997 April 5 - US Again Not Interested in Sudan's al-Qaeda Files: Why America Slept; The 9/11 Commission Report.

1997 May 19 - False Flag 11 preparation: Military Review Suggests Cutting Fighter Protection Over US; Several Bases Are Discontinued.

1997 May: Police beat and arrest nearly 180 protesters who are demonstrating peacefully outside the Dabhol Power Corporation gates. ("The Enron Corporation: Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Violations", http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/enron/enron5-0.htm )

1997 May 16: A final agreement creating the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) is signed by project participants: Russia (24 percent), Kazakstan 19%, Chevron Corp. 15%, AO Lukoil/Arco Corp. 12.5 %, Mobil Corp. 7.5%, AO Rosneft/Shell Corp. 7.5 %, Oman 7%, Agip SpA 2%, British Gas PLC 2%, Oryx Corp. 1.75%, and Kazakstan Pipeline Ventures, a joint venture of Kazakstan's state oil company and Amoco Corp. 1.75%. The Russian government plans to transfer its stake to two Russian oil companies, AO Lukoil and AO Rosneft. CPC plans to begin building a 932-mile pipeline to transport crude oil from the Caspian region to Russia's Black Sea coast in 1998 and begin shipping around 558,000 barrels per day of oil in 1999 (planned peak capacity is 1.4 million barrels per day). (DJ) Agreements Signed in Historic Caspian Pipeline Consortium Restructuring [Law Firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]

1997 May 20: President Clinton signs an executive order barring new U.S. investment in Burma (also known as Myanmar), effective May 21 and renewable annually. U.S. companies have invested about $250 million in Burma, primarily in the oil and gas sector. The biggest U.S. investor is Unocal, which is building (with France's Total) a $1.2 billion pipeline from Burma's Yadana natural gas field to an electric power plant in Thailand. (DJ)

1997 June: Maharashtra police raid a fishing village where many residents oppose the Enron power plant.They arbitrarily beat and arrest dozens of villagers, including Sadhana Bhalekar, the wife of a well-known protester against the plant. They break down the door and window of Bhalekar's bathroom and drag her naked into the street, beating her with batons. Bhalekar is three months pregnant at the time. ("Enron: History of Human Rights Abuse in India", http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/01/enron_012302.htm )

1997 June: As an advisor for Unocal, Zalmay Khalilzad drew up a risk analysis of a proposed gas pipeline from the former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan across Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian Ocean. He participated in talks and social meetings between Unocal and Taliban officials in 1997.

 

1997 June 3: Police stormed the homes of several women in western India who had led a massive protest against Enron's new natural-gas plant near their fishing village. According to Amnesty International, the women were dragged from their homes and beaten by officers paid by Enron.

1997 June 3 - Motive for False Flag 11: The philosophy of nationalist Federalists Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt culminates in the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) statement of principles, members. Rebuilding America's Defenses, Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century in which Dov Zakheim calls for a new Pearl Harbor. It is consistent with Zbigniew Brzezinski's 1997 book, The Grand Chessboard in which he said that establishing military bases in Central Asia would be crucial for maintaining "American primacy," partly because of the huge oil reserves around the Caspian Sea. ... Brzezinski suggested that Americans today would support the needed military operations in Central Asia only "in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat." See also American Enterprise Institute

1997 Jun 4: Akin Gump Expands Russian Practice [Law Firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]

1997 Jul 1: Akin Gump Enhances Energy Practice in Brussels [Law Firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]

1997 Jul 11: Akin Gump Expands Corporate Technology Practice [Law Firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]

1997 July 17: A Federal grand jury in Manhattan is investigating whether a renegade Saudi millionaire .... has been funneling money to terrorist groups in the United States.... An official ... said that the money had been delivered to groups in Detroit, Jersey City and Brooklyn ....He (bin Laden) was ... linked to Ramzi Ahmed Yousef ...in the three years before the attack on the Trade Center ..... Yousef lived in Pakistan in a house paid for by bin Laden, the State Department report said.[New York Times]

1997 July: The U.S. State Department decided in July 1997 that proposed exports of natural gas from Turkmenistan to Turkey via Iran did not technically violate U.S. law. In addition, the State Department has opposed large-scale oil swaps with Iran by U.S. companies. Officials from Turkmenistan and Pakistan and representatives from Unocal and Saudi Arabia’s Delta Oil signed an agreement to build the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan line. The 900+mile pipeline would have cost between $2 billion and $2.7 billion, and would have carried approximately 700 Bcf of gas from Turkmenistan’s Daulatabad gas field to the central Pakistani city of Multan. [DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00]

1997 Jul: In the immediate aftermath of the Mazar-e-Sharif debacle, an abrupt policy about-face, the Clinton administration ended its opposition to a Turkmenistan-Turkey gas pipeline running across Iran. The following month, a consortium of European companies including Royal Dutch Shell announced plans for such a project. A separate deal struck by Australia’s BHP Petroleum proposed another gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and eventually India. US and Turkey jointly sponsored the idea of a "transportation corridor," with a major oil pipeline from Baku in Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey’s Ceyhan port on the Mediterranean. Washington began to urge Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to participate in the plan by constructing gas and oil pipelines, respectively, under the Caspian Sea, then along the same corridor. [The Taliban, the US and the Resources of Central Asia]

July? 1997: Bush advisor, Karl Rove, arranges a job for Ralph Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition, at Enron. ("Associates of Bush Aide Say He Helped Win Contract", http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/25/business/25REED.html ) The Rove associates say the recommendation, which Enron accepted, was intended to keep Mr. Reed's allegiance to the Bush campaign without putting him on the Bush payroll. Mr. Bush, they say, was then developing his "compassionate conservativism" message and did not want to be linked too closely to Mr. Reed, who had just stepped down as executive director of the Christian Coalition, an organization of committed religious conservatives. At the same time, they say, the contract discouraged Mr. Reed, a prominent operative who was being courted by several other campaigns, from backing anyone other than Mr. Bush.

1997 August: The CIA creates a secret task force to monitor Central Asia's politics and gauge its wealth. Covert CIA officers, some well-trained petroleum engineers, travel through southern Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to sniff out potential oil reserves. [Time, 5/4/98]

1997 August 4: The FBI has linked two suspects in a Brooklyn suicide-bombing plot to the militant Mideast group Hamas. Palestinian security officials think the two suspects could be members of a new group, financed by Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, which takes its orders from Hamas or another Islamist group. (The Brooklyn group knew that their colleagues had brought down TWA 800 and told their story to the FBI. It preferred not to believe them .... ) TIME.com

1997August 9: Swissair Flight 127 nearly hit by an unidentified flying object, possibly a missile, near the area off New York where a TWA airplane crashed in 1996. The 747 was cruising at 23,000 when the pilot interrupted an address to passengers to report the near miss by a round white object, says a report by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. [Canadian Press] The captain and co-pilot said an oblong and wingless object shot past at great speed - only fifty metres away from their Boeing Seven-Four-Seven. The American air traffic authorities said it was probably a weather balloon. The U.S. preferred a "balloon" to a "rocket" explanation despite the pilots objections ..... [Neue Zuricher Zeitung]

1997 September 11 - Securacom goes public. Securacom is ordered through a court of law to change its name to Stratesec, due to a name infringement suit. It listed among its clients the World Trade Center, Dulles Airport (Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority), United Airlines and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

1997 October: Unocal set up the Central Asian Gas Pipeline (CentGas) consortium to build the (natural gas) pipeline. Construction was scheduled to begin in 1998. [DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00 Page 64.

1997 October 27 - Central Asia Gas Pipeline was incorporated in formal signing ceremonies in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan by several international oil companies along with the Government of Turkmenistan.

1997 October 27: Halliburton, (a company with future Vice President Cheney as CEO) announces a new agreement to provide technical services and drilling for Turkmenistan, a country in Central Asia. The press release also mentions that "Halliburton has been providing a variety of services in Turkmenistan for the past five years." On the same day, a consortium to build a pipeline through Afghanistan is formed. It's called CentGas, and the two main partners are Unocal and Delta Oil of Saudi Arabia. [Halliburton press release, 10/27/97, CentGas press release, 10/27/97]

1997 November 4: Akin Gump has New Vision for the Energy Marketplace Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P. announced G. Gail Watkins, Glenn E. Johnson and Catherine J. Webking joined the firm in Austin. Becky M. Bruner joins the firm's Washington office as of counsel. The four lawyers are from Haynes & Boone, L.L.P. Two long-time FERC legal personalities, Charley Moore, and Gail Watkins, have combined their practices. Ms. Watkins, formerly legal assistant to FERC Chairman C.M. Butler III and Commissioner Oliver G. Richard III and Chief of Staff to Chairman Martha O. Hesse, moved her practice to Akin Gump to link her experience with Moore's. The purpose, according to Mr. Moore, FERC General Counsel under Chairman Butler, is "to provide legal services focused on adding value to the client's 'bottom line' in the new competitive marketplace. Gail and I believe that the services we provide as a firm, and the way we provide them, must embrace and reflect the challenges facing our clients in the new marketplace. Our clients need innovative approaches and tools for success and with the merger of Gail and her group into our energy section, we offer just what is needed." Ms. Watkins built her practice focused on the regulatory and policy needs of several industries, including electricity, telecommunications and natural gas, before federal and state agencies. While the technical aspects of the industries are different, Ms. Watkins believes that emerging technology and markets suggest a convergence of these and other regulated industries. Another component of Akin Gump's energy practice that attracted Watkins is the energy transactional work headed by Jim Langdon of the firm's Washington office. Langdon's primary focus is on international energy transactions and he has recently been involved in high-profile, international energy deals with European, Central Asian and Russian components. (Jim Langdon – specializing in Oil dealings in the Caspian Sea region was also one of Bush’s Pioneers (campaign contributors)
Mr. Moore's practice has solidly and notably embraced the regulatory and transactional needs of the natural gas industry. While Langdon went east in international energy circles, Moore's international experience has been concentrated in Central and South America. "Charley and Jim have tremendous experience and resources. My international work has focused primarily on Mexico, but I believe forward-looking legal services for regulated industries must include the global marketplace. Akin Gump clients will benefit greatly from our unique, comprehensive and multifaceted services," Ms. Watkins commented.
Currently, Ms. Watkins represents Western Resources in its application to merge with Kansas City Power and Light Company, and her previous electric utility merger experience complements that which the firm gained from its work on the Cinergy and First Energy merger transactions. Along with Western Resources and other electric utility and gas industry clients, Watkins also represents several telecommunications industry entities. Glenn E. Johnson focuses on oil and gas development and gas pipeline regulatory work before the Railroad Commission of Texas, in addition to the associated litigation and appellate work. Mr. Johnson entered private practice in 1976 and served from 1977 until 1979 as a Hearings Examiner in the Gas Utilities Division of the Railroad Commission. He is board certified in administrative law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. A frequent speaker before industry groups, he was appointed by Governor George Bush in 1996 to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.
Becky M. Bruner is joining the Washington office as of counsel. She has over 10 years of experience working in both state and federal agencies on energy regulatory matters. From 1994 through 1996, she served as legal adviser to FERC Commissioner (now Chairman) James J. Hoecker. Prior to that, she was a trial attorney with the electric litigation section of the FERC. Ms. Bruner also spent three years as a trial attorney and hearings examiner at the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
Catherine J. Webking also concentrates in administrative law matters, representing clients before the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Railroad Commission of Texas. Before law school, Webking was a production engineer with Mobil Oil Corporation. She received her J.D. with honors in 1991 from the University of Texas, where she was elected to Order of the Coif. She earned her B.S. in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University in 1985.
Akin Gump Chairman Bruce McLean stated, "Historically, one of Akin Gump's strengths has been our full-service energy practice devoted to all aspects of the domestic and global markets. With the addition of Gail's regulated industries practice group, we expand our integrated approach to the energy industry's rapidly changing environment, resulting in enhanced services to our clients."

1997 November: During US Secretary of State Madeline Albright’s visit to Pakistan she denounce the Taliban’s policies towards women as "despicable" and warned Pakistan that it risked international isolation. Washington began to exert pressure on Pakistan over the Taliban’s involvement in the heroin trade and the dangers of "Islamic terrorism".

1997 November 26: An industry newsletter reports that Saudi Arabia has abandoned plans to have open bids on a $2 billion power plant near Mecca, deciding that the government will build it instead. What's interesting is that one of the bids was made by a consortium of Enron, the Saudi Binladen Group (run by Osama's family), and Italy's Ansaldo Energia. [Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections, 1/22/98]

1997 November 14: Enron International's CEO Rebecca Mark unveiled an energy plan that included a $300 million project to build a pipeline from Dabhol to Hazira and to the North to add 1200 km of complimentary pipeline system to the existing HBJ pipeline at a cost of $900 million.

 

1997 December 7: Unocal invited a Taliban contingency to visit them in Houston, Texas, housed them in five-star hotels, dined them at the home of Unocal VP and medically treated the former foreign minister, Mullah Mohammed Ghaus before he returned home.

1997 December 4: Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Nizar Hamdoon warns Iraq will not allow oil to flow during a third six-month phase of the U.N.'s oil-for-food sale until the U.N. approves aid distribution. The U.N. Security Council approves a third six-month phase following the end of the second six-month phase. Like the first two phases, the third phase allows Iraq to sell up to $1.07 billion of oil in each of two 90-day periods. However, the sales level may be increased by the Security Council in January 1998 after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reports on Iraq's needs. The next day Iraq stops pumping oil into the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline at the end of the second six-month phase of the United Nations (U.N.) oil-for-food program. (WP, NYT)

1997 December 4 - BBC News, World West Asia: "Taliban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline" - A senior delegation from the Taliban movement in Afghanistan is in the United States for talks with with an international energy company that wants to construct a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan. A spokesman for the company, UNOCAL, said the Taliban were expected to spend several days at the company's headquarters in Sugarland, Texas. UNOCAL says it has agreements both with Turkmenistan to sell its gas and with Pakistan to buy it. (Confirmed by U.S. State Department's press officer for South Asian Affairs, Len Scensny.) This meeting was followed by meeting in Munich, Germany during which UNOCAL allegedly said to the Taliban "Well give you a pipeline to protect else we'll bury you." UNOCAL was one of the key players in the CentGas consortium, an attempt to build the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline to run from the Caspian area, through Afghanistan and probably Pakistan to the Indian Ocean. One of the consultants to UNOCAL at that time was Zalmay Khalilzad, now US ambassador to Iraq. The CentGas pipeline was not built, due to inability of CentGas and the Taliban to come to a mutually acceptable economic understanding. Shortly thereafter, the US invaded Afghanistan, removing Taliban control from Afghanistan and making moot the question of their remuneration. UNOCAL is also the third largest member of the recently completed and opened Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

1997 December 4: Representatives of the Taliban are invited guests to the Texas headquarters of Unocal to negotiate their support for the (gas) pipeline. Future President Bush Jr. is Governor of Texas at the time. The Taliban appear to agree to a $2 billion pipeline deal, but will do the deal only if the US officially recognizes the Taliban regime. The Taliban meet with US officials, and the Telegraph reports that "the US government, which in the past has branded the Taliban's policies against women and children 'despicable,' appears anxious to please the fundamentalists to clinch the lucrative pipeline contract." A BBC regional correspondent says "the proposal to build a pipeline across Afghanistan is part of an international scramble to profit from developing the rich energy resources of the Caspian Sea." [BBC, 12/4/97, Telegraph, 12/14/97] FTW The Taliban visited UNOCAL's Houston refinery operations. Interestingly, the chief Taliban leader based in Kandahar, Mullah Mohammed Omar, (now on America's international Most Wanted List), was firmly in the UNOCAL camp. His rival Taliban leader in Kabul, Mullah Mohammed Rabbani (not to be confused with the head of the Northern Alliance Burhanuddin Rabbani), favored Bridas, an Argentine oil company, for the pipeline project. But Mullah OMarch knew UNOCAL had pumped large sums of money to the Taliban hierarchy in Kandahar and its expatriate Afghan supporters in the United States. [The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]
Unocal executives fête Taliban ministers at their homes in Texas. (" Oil barons court Taliban in Texas", http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=006576086753008&rtmo=lzoPFokt&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/97/12/14/wtal14.html; "Taleban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline", http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/west_asia/newsid_37000/37021.stm)
"The Islamic warriors appear to have been persuaded to close the deal, not through delicate negotiation but by old-fashioned Texan hospitality. Last week Unocal, the Houston-based company bidding to build the 876-mile pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan, invited the Taliban to visit them in Texas...The Taliban ministers and their advisers stayed in a five-star hotel and were chauffeured in a company minibus...The men, who are accustomed to life without heating, electricity or running water, were amazed by the luxurious homes of Texan oil barons. Invited to dinner at the palatial home of Martin Miller, a vice-president of Unocal, they marvelled at his swimming pool, views of the golf course and six bathrooms. After a meal of specially prepared halal meat, rice and Coca-Cola, the hardline fundamentalists - who have banned women from working and girls from going to school - asked Mr Miller about his Christmas tree." November 1997, a Taliban delegation was feted by Unocal in Houston, Texas and met with State Department officials during the visit. [The Taliban, the US and the Resources of Central Asia]

1997 December 9: The Enron executive committee approves a buyout -- that includes a corporate guarantee of $633 million -- of the interest of the California public employees pension fund in the JEDI partnership. ("Enron Directors Backed Moving Debt Off Books ", http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64820-2002Jan30.html)

1997 December 14: It is reported that Unocal has hired the University of Nebraska to train 400 Afghani teachers, electricians, carpenters and pipefitters in anticipation of using them for their pipeline in Afghanistan. 150 students are already attending classes. [Telegraph, 12/14/97] Unocal, with the support of Washington, continued to actively woo the Taliban leaders who, in an effort to obtain the most lucrative deal, were playing the American company off against Bridas. Unocal provided nearly $1 million to set up the Centre for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Omaha as a front for an aid program in Taliban-held Kandahar. The main outcome of the company’s "aid" was a school to train the pipefitters, electricians and carpenters needed to construct its pipelines. {The Taliban, the US and the Resources of Central Asia]

1998: Pennzoil-Quaker State Company was formed with merger of Pennzoil and Quaker State. Simultaneous with the Pennzoil-Quaker State merger, the Pennzoil Company's marketing, manufacturing and fast oil change businesses (Pennzoil Products Group) is spun off and renamed the PennzEnergy Company

1998: Officials at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah said that in 1998 scientists there turned small quantities of wet anthrax into powder to test ways to defend against biowarfare attacks.

1998 January: DOE Publishes Strategic Plan for Hydrogen "Dependence of foreign energy sources is expensive. We suffer trade deficits and use our military to protect our energy supply abroad. Environmentally, the Nation is being forced to react to the need for cleaner urban air and—global climate change. –The solution is a clean, sustainable, domestic energy supply. Hydrogen can be one of the answers. ---lowering the cost of technologies to produce hydrogen directly from sunlight and water –" As the 1998-99 low petroleum price crisis demonstrated, both state and federal governments need to act to reduce regulatory costs on domestic production" [ IPAA Americas Oil and Gas Producers – From Cheney Task Force notes]

 February 5 - US Rejects Sudanese Al-Qaeda Files that Could Stop Embassy Bombings

1998 February 12: Testimony of John J Maresca, vice-president, international relations, Unocal Corporation was heard by the House Committee on International Relations and the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific regarding "a proposed extension (of the proposed trans-Caspian pipeline) would link with the SUI pipeline system, moving gas to near New Delhi, where it would connect with the existing HBJ pipeline..."

1998 February: Zawahiri's al-Jihad formally joins forces with Osama bin Laden and the global Islamist terrorist threat truly emerges. al-Zawahiri, the key personality of global jihad. Fascist Islamism has seized the ideological initiative in the Muslim world against which traditional Islam has so far proved an impotent, indeed often unwilling, opponent. Young Muslims everywhere are captivated by Zawahiri Islamism and jihad to which they attribute selfless idealism and in which they admire ruthless determination. It will be a long war. Bin Laden declaring it the religious duty of all Muslims "to kill the Americans and their allies - civilians and military ... in any country in which it is possible [cooperativeresearch.org]

1998 February 12: Unocal Vice President John J. Maresca - later to become a Special Ambassador to Afghanistan - testifies before the House of Representatives that until a single, unified, friendly government is in place in Afghanistan the trans-Afghani pipeline will not be built. He suggests that with a pipeline through Afghanistan, the Caspian basin could produce 20 percent of all the non-OPEC oil in the world by 2010. [House International Relations Committee testimony, 2/12/98] FTW

1998 February 24: Five years after the first bombing on the WTC, Dale Watson testified about an old plan, called Project Bojinka, which originally was about "simultaneously plant devices on flights" - "The terrorists of tomorrow will have an even more dizzying array of weapons and technologies available to them..." http://web.archive.org/web/19990502221624/http://www.fbi.gov/congress/wtc.htm
Watson was concerned about "chemical, biological, and nuclear materials within the criminal and terrorist communities. These weapons of mass destruction represent perhaps the most serious potential threat facing the United States today..."

1998 February 28: Unocal VP International Relations addressed US House of Representatives 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 pipeline across Afghanistan would yield a Western profit increase of 500% by 2015.

1998 early: Bill Richardson, the US Ambassador to the UN, meets Taliban officials in Kabul (all such meetings are technically illegal, because the US still officially recognizes the government the Taliban ousted as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan). US officials at the time call the pipeline project a "fabulous opportunity" and are especially motivated by the "prospect of circumventing Iran, which offered another route for the pipeline." [Boston Globe, 9/20/01]

1998 March: Unocal announced a delay in finalizing the pipeline project due to Afghanistan's continuing civil war

1998 March 2: Security Council agreement, threatening "the severest consequences" if Iraq reneged. Iraq allowed presidential site inspections

1998 April 10: Jerome Hauer met with Barbara Rosenberg on April 10, 1998, at a "roundtable on genetic engineering and biological weapons" under President Clinton. The small group of outside experts and cabinet members included: William Cohen (at the time Secretary of Defense), CIA boss George Tenet, Craig Ventner (Celera), Joshua Lederberg (Rockefeller University, Defense Science Board), Thomas Monath (Oravax/Acambis, former CDC and USAMRIID), Jerome Hauer, and Barbara Rosenberg. [http://www.fas.org/bwc/news/anthraxreport.htm]

1998: Officials at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah said that in 1998 scientists there turned small quantities of wet anthrax into powder to test ways to defend against biowarfare attacks. 1998 paper study on anthrax in the mail was one secret project. (Dr Rosenberg is making the astonishing suggestion that there may have been a deadly follow-up by somebody else. Last time she questioned the investigation, she was attacked by the FBI and the White House. But she says she's prepared to speak out again because she's so afraid of what might happen next.) The CIA have told Newsnight they totally reject Dr Rosenberg's theory and say they were unaware of ANY project to assess the impact of anthrax sent through the mail.

1998: BioPort signed a new contract with the US government. They have to develop vaccines against anthrax and have 3 years time for that to finish the production. The vaccines should be available in 2001. They got a $50 million contract for developing AVA (Anthrax Vaccine Absorbed) for 2.5 million US Soldiers 1998, the BioPort Corporation was founded for the express purpose of buying the Michigan Biologic Products Institute from the State of Michigan. MBPI was the only firm in the U.S. making Anthrax vaccine, and their sole client was the U.S. government. Until recently, BioPort has not been able to deliver any vaccine due to continuous problems with the FDA in areas such as sterility, contamination, as well as improper procedures and record keeping.  BioPort now has on its Board of Directors Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr. In October 1985 Crowe was appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He retired from that position in 1989 and was appointed US Ambassador to Britain. Admiral Crowe, a long-time member of the Council on Foreign Relations, was given ownership of 22.5% of BioPort's stock without investing any money. Crowe's role at the company was to facilitate cooperation and good relations with government agencies and to secure military contracts from the Department of Defense.

1998: The OraVax company (Bioweapon Vaccines) had been likewise linked to shady backroom dealings with Clinton administration officials in 1998 regarding government orders for a yet to be tested West Nile Virus vaccine. (source: . Dr. Leonard Horowitz, a Public health consumer advocate and author of Death in the Air: Globalism, Terrorism and Toxic Warfare (Tetrahedron Publishing Group; 1-888-508-4787), http://www.baltech.org/lederman/816proof.html "....The role of Oravax, the commercial vaccine manufacturer directly connected to the major players in this issue-the CDC, the Ft. Dietrick bio-warfare lab, Plum Island, former OEM chief Jerry Hauer and Mayor Giuliani-remains unexamined in the media yet Oravax stands to make billions from its West Nile Virus vaccine if WNV hysteria continues to spread. That Oravax was developing a WNV vaccine before the 1999 outbreak, that its VP went to Washington with Jerry Hauer and the head of Rockefeller University in 1998 to pressure President Clinton to stockpile billions of dollars worth of vaccines or that according to the NY Times, Oravax's stock value had lost 90% of its value-making a mosquito-born epidemic the only chance of company survival-are clues of significance that might prove a financial angle to WNV...."

1998 May 11: India announces that it has conducted three underground nuclear tests, the country's first since 1974. The tests were conducted simultaneously 330 miles southwest of New Delhi, near the Pakistani border. The Indian government indicates that the three tests included a thermonuclear device, commonly known as a hydrogen bomb. Two days later, on May 13, 1998, India announces that it has conducted two more underground nuclear tests in the same desert range. (WP) (DJ)

1988 May: Osama bin Laden publicly discusses "bringing the war home to America." [cooperativeresearch.org]

1998 May: Jerome Hauer started working at the OEM (Office for Emergency Management) in New York. In the same year, Hauer and (future) anthrax suspect Hatfill both supported the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) as experts in their respective fields. The CFR is one of the most important think-tanks advising the US government, as well as many other governments abroad. CFR members include the Pentagon's top advisers, Richard Perle, Henry Kissinger, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, ex-CIA chief James Woolsey, biosciences specialist Joshua Lederberg, and many others. On May 28, 1998, Hatfill and Hauer spoke together at the same CFR meeting about "Building a 'Biobomb': Terrorist Challenge" http://www.cfr.org/public/resource.cgi?meet!102

1998: (exact date needed) Jerome Hauer convinced New York Mayor Rudi Guilliani to develop a vaccine against the West Nile virus - almost one year before this virus broke out in New York. To this end, Hauer introduced Col. Thomas Monath of Oravax (now Accambis) to Guliani and organised a business deal. [The Fly on the Wall 0802 News Special, August 13, 2002, 5:10 pm]

1998 June - Russian Gazprom relinquishes its 10% stake in the Central Asia Gas Pipeline project.

1998 June 19: The United Nations (U.N.) Security Council unanimously approves a resolution allowing Iraq to spend $300 million on spare parts for its oil industry. The funding is intended to help Iraq increase oil exports under the fourth phase of the U.N.'s oil-for-food program. The spare parts are expected to expand Iraq's oil export capacity from 1.6 million barrels per day to 1.8 million or 1.9 million barrels per day. (NYT) (DJ)

1998 June 23: In a speech to the "Collateral Damage Conference" of the Cato Institute, Cheney said, "the good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratically elected regimes friendly to the United States. These meetings were presumably part of Cheney's non-public Energy Task Force sessions. A number of Enron stockholders, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, became officials in the Bush administration. In addition, Thomas White, a former Vice Chairman of Enron and a multimillionaire in Enron stock, currently serves as the Secretary of the Army.

1998 June 23: Future Vice President Cheney, working for the Halliburton energy company, states: "I can't think of a time when we've had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian. It's almost as if the opportunities have arisen overnight." The Caspian Sea is in Central Asia. [Cato Institute Library, Chicago Tribune, 8/10/00]

1998 June 24: OPEC agrees, to another round of oil production cuts. (Recent oil prices fallen to lowest levels in a decade). OPEC to cut production by 1.355 million barrels per day, effective July 1, 1998, bringing the group's total reductions since March 1998 to 2.6 million barrels per day. Together with promises from non-OPEC nations such as Russia, Oman, and Mexico, world oil producers have pledged to cut world-wide production by approximately 3.1 million barrels per day. (WP) (WSJ) (NYT)

1998 June: Enron's agreement to develop natural gas with the government of Uzbekistan is not renewed. Enron closes its office there. The reason for the "failure of Enron's flagship project", inability to get natural gas out of the region. Uzbekistan's production is "well below capacity" and only 10% of its production is being exported, all to other countries in the region. The hope was to use a pipeline through Afghanistan, but "Uzbekistan is extremely concerned at the growing strength of the Taliban and its potential impact on stability in Uzbekistan, making any future cooperation on a pipeline project which benefits the Taliban unlikely." A $12 billion pipeline through China is being considered as one solution, but that wouldn't be completed until the end of the next decade at the earliest. [Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections, 10/12/98]

1998 July: Dale Watson was appointed Inspector Deputy Assistant Director of the National Security Division (NSD), FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C

1998 July: "Surprisingly, just a few weeks before the U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa, the book tells us...'In July 1998 Prince Turki had visited Kandahar and a few weeks later 400 new pick-up trucks arrived in Kandahar for the Taliban, still bearing their Dubai license plates.''' (Quoted in 'The creation called Osama,' by Shamsul Islam. Can be read at
http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/creat.htm

1998 August 4: McCarthy, Crisanti & Maffei, Inc. (MCM), global financial analysis firm merged with and Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), a provider of strategic knowledge to the global energy industry. The combined company will have in excess of $70 million in revenues in 1997 and will be known as Global Decisions Group. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Dr. Daniel Yergin, President of CERA is a leading authority on energy and international politics, as well as the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power. His forthcoming book, The Commanding Heights: The Battle Between Government and the Marketplace That is Remaking the Modern World,

1998 August: Iraq refused to implement an UNSCOM plan for completing its work and barred UNSCOM from inspecting new facilities.

1998 August 7: Terrorists bomb the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The bomb in Nairobi, Kenya kills 213 people, including 12 US nationals, and injures more than 4,500. The bomb in Dar es Salaam kills 11 and injures 85. The attack is blamed on al-Qaeda. [PBS Frontline, 2001]

1998 August 8 to Late 1998 - US Refuses Extradition of Two Embassy Bombers

1998 August 9: Northern Alliance capital Mazar-e-Sharif is conquered by the Taliban, giving them control of 90% of Afghanistan, including the entire pipeline route. CentGas, the consortium behind the gas pipeline that would run through Afghanistan, is now "ready to proceed. Its main partners are the American oil firm Unocal and Delta Oil of Saudi Arabia, plus Hyundai of South Korea, two Japanese companies, a Pakistani conglomerate and the Turkmen government." However, the pipeline cannot be financed unless the government is officially recognized. "Diplomatic sources said the Taliban's offensive was well prepared and deliberately scheduled two months ahead of the next UN meeting" to decide if the Taliban should be recognized. [Telegraph, 8/13/98]

1998 August 10: The State Department received information on June 12 that bin Laden was threatening "some type of terrorist action in the next several weeks". Was one of these attacks related to another Swissair incident in mid-June 1998 which Bobet revealed was reported to Swissair but not to the American authorities? In this case the pilots didn't have to duck... The UFO Research Coalition Report on Swissair 127 ISBN 1-928957-00-5 (1999) Page 26 In July 1998, Bobet advised us that Swissair had experienced another UFO sighting in the vicinity of JFK International Airport in mid-June. The airplane had been airborne only several minutes, and was en route to Zurich. All three cockpit crew members saw the object. No report was made to Air Traffic Control authorities at the time, and apparently no notification of U.S. authorities was made subsequently. Only Swissair management was briefed by the crew. But there was a similar incident in England also in mid-June which did involve ducking ... [International News Electronic Telegraph]

1998 August 20: Clinton ordered cruise missile attacks (75-80) on Afghanistan and Sudan targets--after bomb attacks on embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam [The US] blamed the bombings on Osama bin Laden, the former Saudi who it accuses of backing many attacks on US targets. It said that the pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum was linked to Mr bin Laden and was used to produce chemical weapons. The US was forced to admit within hours that the plant was not a Sudanese government facility, but a private factory belonging to Salah Idris, a Saudi businessman. But it then said that Mr Idris was himself linked to terrorism and to Mr bin Laden http://www.independent.co.uk/stories/B0405918.html August 1998, the Clinton administration launched cruise missiles against Osama bin Laden’s training camps at Khost in Afghanistan [The Taliban, the US and the Resource of Central Asia]
Sudanese factory owner Salah Idris then hired the powerful and prestigeous law firm of Akins, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld to fight back. Even more interesting is that Bob Strauss of this very firm had been nominated in 1991 by, then President George Bush, to be Ambassador to the Soviet Union and then Russia after the collapse. Very interesting that a firm with strong connections to Bush and oil interests would get this case)
Note: Richard Clarke, Adviser to the President (George W. Bush 2001-?) for Cyberspace Warfare. Clarke, who was originally with the State Department during the elder Bush's Administration, was demoted for covering up Israeli violations of the Arms Exporting laws. In August 1998, Clarke was one of the key figures who planted false information about Sudan's involvement in the East Africa U.S. Embassy bombings, which led to U.S. cruise missile attacks on a Sudanese pharmaceutical company in Khartoum. Clarke shopped in disinformation from British-Israeli covert operations stringer Yosef Bodansky that targetted Sudan. Source: Patrick Martin and Michele Steinberg.
Hunting Bin Laden Frontline Interview with Milt Bearden
Frontline: The US Government is saying that when Osama bin Laden was in the Sudan, they have now been able to link him to everything from the World Trade Center bombing in terms of supporting various people ... to apparently the Riyadh bombing as well as the Khobar bombing. That he was an active terrorist on the ground, in Khartoum, being allowed to operate openly by the government of the Sudan.
Milt Bearden: ... Nothing I have said suggested Osama bin Laden is not a component in international terrorism. I challenge the fact that Sudan [is] always assumed to be a component in all of the current international terrorism. I think any of those statements that you made should have been trumped at about the time the Sudanese said, "Okay, this is a bad guy, we'll kick him out." And they took that step which was very visible, absolutely documentable, and they did it. ...
Frontline: You're not saying Osama bin Laden is not a terrorist or is not an enemy of the United States?
Milt Bearden: Osama bin Laden has chosen to make himself an enemy of the United States. He has issued these disputable fatwahs, these Islamic proclamations, to kill all ... Americans and Jews. Therefore, he's made himself a component, and I think that the United States is absolutely justified in taking out Osama bin Laden. But to oversimplify it by linking him to every known terrorist act in the last decade is an insult to most Americans. And it certainly doesn't encourage our allies in this to take us very seriously. Osama bin Laden is a legitimate target for the United States, period. But then, to completely reinforce it with all of these insupportable accusations, I think is a disservice and an oversimplification
Frontline: And you think that we're a target just simply because we're a superpower.
Milt Bearden: Partly, but we're also a superpower who insists on being perceived by the least fortunate of the Islamic world as being somehow against them. It is not missed in Friday prayers that we sent 75 million dollars worth of missiles flying against the two poorest Islamic countries in the world, Afghanistan and Sudan. I spent too many years living in the shadow of one mosque or another not to take what happens at Friday prayers seriously. And that's what's going on. ...
Frontline: Because so much of what we hear about Osama bin Laden comes out of his Afghanistan experience, I'm trying to get this straight, he was mostly a philanthropist and a financial contributor, and a minor combat figure, who happened to dabble in combat?
Bearden: What I can say is that the hype that surrounds Osama bin Laden--most of it generated by the US media and backed up by statements that verge on hyperbole from the United States government--that this man was literally swinging through the valleys of the Hindu Kush with a dagger in his teeth and single-handedly driving out the Soviet army, this did not happen. The Afghan people did that. The Arab role in the combat situation on the ground was minimal to nonexistent, period. And to suggest otherwise is simply to either gloss over history or to create history for your own reasons.
Frontline: I can imagine someone out there watching saying. "This is the CIA talking." You're not going to admit that you created the most dangerous public enemy in the world.
Bearden: You bet I would. If I could look you in the eye and say, "Trust me, Osama bin Laden was my guy. If it wasn't for the CIA he wouldn't be anything then, he wouldn't be anything today," if I could say that with a straight face, I think that would speed up the process of removing Mr. bin Laden as a source of great, great concern for the United States. I can't say that because it's simply not true. You can find nobody who is familiar with the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan in those years that would say bin Laden played any role other than the fund-raiser. ...
Frontline: We've talked to people that say not only was bin Laden in combat, but there are photographs of him with a helmet on, a rifle, commanding troops.
Bearden:... Afghanistan, the jihad, was one terrific photo op for a lot of people. I will give you that he possibly was engaged in a battle in 1987 where the Saudi contingent and the Gulf Arab group carried off their role reasonably well. I have said that. ... But to carry that beyond ... that series of battles, I simply won't go along with [that] regardless of how many pictures someone can cough up showing bin Laden with a walkie talkie or bin Laden with a Kalishnakov. Anybody that goes in can get a photo op in Afghanistan in those years. ...
Frontline: So, really what we're looking at is some fact but a lot of fiction.
Bearden: There's a lot of fiction in there. But we like that. It's the whole Osama bin Laden mythology. It's almost part entertainment. We don't have a national enemy. We haven't had a national enemy since the evil empire slipped beneath the waves in 1991. And I think we kind of like this way. We like this whole international terrorist thing oddly enough at a time when it probably is changing its character dramatically.

1998 August 22: Unocal announced that CentGas had not secured the financing necessary to begin the work, and on August 22, 1998, Unocal suspended construction plans due to the continuing civil war in Afghanistan. Unocal stressed that the pipeline project would not proceed until an internationally recognized government was in place in Afghanistan. While the governments of Turkmenistan and Pakistan, as well as the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, have continued discussions on the route, there does not seem to be any near-term likelihood that it will be built. (DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00 Page 64). Unocal cancels plans to exploit massive natural gas deposits in Turkmenistan. ("Hell to pay",http://www.willpitt.com/WillPitt.htm ) Utilities begin taking steps to divest themselves of power generation plants. Rates they can charge consumers are capped until the utilities complete that task, expected in 2002. ("Chronology of California's power crisis", http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/04/06/state1705EDT0232.DTL)

1998 August: Five months after ascending to CFO of Enron, Andrew Fastow pays $289,000 for 68 wooded acres with a cabin near Norwich, Vt. The mortgage will be paid off in March 2000. ("Architects of Enron's rise bred its demise", http://chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0201200329jan20.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed)

1998 August 14: The Senate and House passed a resolution, S.J.Res. 54 (P.L. 105-235, signed), declaring Iraq in "material breach" of the ceasefire.

1998 September 2: Swissair jet from JFK crashes off Nova Scotia not far from the city of Halifax A Saudi Arabian prince was among those killed in the Swissair plane crash off Canada. The English-language Saudi Gazette quoted a Swissair source confirming that Prince Bandar Bin Saud Bin Saad Abdul Rahman al-Saud was among the 229 passengers and crew killed when the plane plunged into the Atlantic near Nova Scotia (September 5, 1998 The Hindu Online)

1998 September 14: Yossef Bodansky, director of the House Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, said 'sama Osam bin Laden) maintains connections' with some of his nearly two dozen brothers. He would not elaborate." ('San Antonio Express-News')

1998 October 29: Oil monopolies redivide region:.. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have become "independent." They all border on different segments of the Caspian Sea. The new governments are not only pro-capitalist but are the virtual playthings of Amoco, Exxon, Mobil, Texaco and British Petroleum. These governments have provided huge concessions (property rights) to the biggest oil monopolies. In Soviet times this oil would have been used to meet the energy needs of the [Soviet] people. Now as these same oil companies--learn that oil deposits located under the Caspian Sea may amount to as much as 200 billion barrels worth $4 trillion, they are embarking on a new era of dangerous competition and piracy. [Brian Becker, in Workers World, 29 October 1998]

1998 October 30: The Security Council offered an easing of sanctions if Iraq fulfilled WMD and other outstanding requirements, but Iraq demanded an immediate end to sanctions and it ceased cooperation with UNSCOM (but not the IAEA). US intelligence learns that al-Qaeda is trying to establish a terrorist cell within the US and are planning to strike a US domestic target. Oct – Nov 1998 [cooperativeresearch.org]

1998 November 2: Chief Counsel to U.S. Senate Majority Leader to Join Akin Gump Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P. announced today that C. Stevens Seale, Chief Counsel to the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate Trent Lott, will join the firm effective November 9 as a partner in the public law and policy practice in Washington.

1998 November 14: with the United States about to launch airstrikes, Iraq pledged cooperation, narrowly averting U.S. air strikes but prompting President Clinton to openly declare a U.S. policy of regime change (in Iraq).

1998 December 1: A US intelligence assessment: "[bin Laden] is actively planning against US targets... Multiple reports indicate [he] is keenly interested in striking the US on its own soil... al-Qaeda is recruiting operatives for attacks in the US but has not yet identified potential targets." Later in the month, a classified document signed by a senior US official states: "The intelligence community has strong indications that bin Laden intends to conduct or sponsor attacks inside the US" [cooperativeresearch.org]

1998 December 4: CIA Director Tenet issues a "declaration of war" on al-Qaeda, in a memorandum circulated in the intelligence community. Tenet says, "Each day we all acknowledge that retaliation is inevitable and that its scope may be far larger than we have previously experienced... We are at war... I want no resources or people spared in this effort, either inside CIA or the [larger intelligence] community." Yet it is later found that few FBI agents had ever heard of the declaration. There is no shift in budget priorities, either. For example, the number of CIA personnel assigned to its Counter-Terrorism Center (CTC) stays roughly constant until 9/11. [cooperativereasearch.org]

1998 December 5: In the wake of the al-Qaeda US embassy attacks, the US gives up on putting a pipeline through Afghanistan. Unocal announces it's withdrawing from the CentGas pipeline consortium, and closing three of its four offices in Central Asia. A concern that Clinton will lose support among women voters for upholding the Taliban also plays a role in the cancellation. [New York Times, 12/5/98] FTW Unocal suspended its pipeline project and pulled all its staff out of Kandahar and Islamabad. The final nail in the coffin came at the end of 1998, when oil prices halved from $25 to $13 a barrel, rendering Unocal’s pipeline project uneconomic, at least in the short term. At the same time, the Clinton administration’s demands for the handover of bin Laden, as well as action on drug control and human rights, became the basis for a series of punitive UN sanctions imposed on the Taliban in 1999 [The Taliban the US and the Resources in Central Asia]

1998 June - Russian Gazprom relinquishes its 10% stake in the Central Asia Gas Pipeline project.

1998 late: During the investigation of the 1998 embassy bombings, FBI counter-terrorism expert John O'Neill finds a memo by al-Qaeda leader Mohammed Atef on a computer. The memo shows bin Laden's (Al Qaieda) interest and detailed knowledge of US Taliban negotiations over an oil and gas pipeline through Afghanistan. Atef's analysis suggests that the Taliban are not sincere in wanting a pipeline, but are dragging out negotiations to keep Western powers at bay. [Salon, 6/5/02] Al-Qaida monitored U.S. negotiations with Taliban over oil pipeline A 1998 memo written by al-Qaida military chief Mohammed Atef raises new questions about whether failed U.S. efforts to reform Afghanistan's radical regime -- and build the pipeline -- set the stage for Sept. 11. The memo reveals that Osama bin Laden's group had detailed knowledge of negotiations that were taking place between Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, the American government and business leaders over plans for a U.S. oil and gas pipeline across that Central Asian country. The e-mail memo was found in 1998 on a computer seized by the FBI during its investigation into the 1998 African embassy bombings, which were sponsored by al-Qaida. (Atef's memo was discovered by FBI counter-terrorism expert John O'Neill, who later left the bureau in 2001, complaining that U.S. oil interests were hindering his investigation into al-Qaida. O'Neill, who became security chief at the World Trade Center, died in the Sept. 11 attack. The seven-page memo was signed "Abu Hafs," which is the military name of Atef, who was the military chief of al-Qaida and is believed to have been killed in November 2001 during U.S. operations in Afghanistan. It shows al-Qaida's keen interest in the U.S.-Taliban negotiations and raises new questions as to whether the U.S. military threat to the Taliban in July 2001 could have prompted al-Qaida's Sept. 11 attack. ) (By Jean-Charles Brisard - June 5, 2002)

1998: Milt Bearden (ex CIA) writes a book: The Black Tulip: A Novel of War in Afghanistan. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks. pp.1-322. An overview of the Soviet-Afghanistan war, from the perspectives of the agents in both the CIA and the KGB. Bearden’s theme is to expose the dark side of being a government spy, showing that everyone is surrounded by inevitable danger. The Soviet Union is depicted as a corrupt state--trying to expand--dominance over the Eastern hemisphere. Bearden empasizing that many of the Russians disagreed with the actions of their government. The Afghans are mentioned, it in a violent or religious context." Milt Bearden. a thirty- year veteran of the CIA, masterminded and ran the CIA’s covert operations in Afghanistan. The novel brings history to life because it is based on actual events. [Kelly Tran] [Milt Bearden lives in Lyme NH recently gave a talk at the CFR and has had interviews mysteriously disappear OFF the web]

1998 December 16-19: U.S. and British 70-hour bombing campaign (Operation Desert Fox), directed against Iraqi WMD-capable facilities and military and security targets. While the Security Councel by a vote of 11- 0 (Russia, France, China, and Malaysia abstained), providing for the suspension of most sanctions if Iraq "fully cooperates" with a new WMD inspection body

1998 December 21: Pan Am 103 bombed over Lockerbie. The fire is being blamed on an entertainment system wiring problem yet the heat was so intense that aluminum was melted. Why has an incendiary device not be considered? Strangely, on board the aircraft was a Saudi prince whose family Osama bin Laden is attempting to overthrow.
As the 1998-99 LOW PETROLEUM PRICE CRISIS demonstrated, both state and federal governements need to act to reduce regulatory costs on domestic production" [ IPAA Americas Oil and Gas Producers – From Cheney Task Force notes] Oil prices continue to plummet as increased production from Iraq coincides with no growth in Asian oil demand due to the Asian economic crisis and increases in world oil inventories following two unusually warm winters. [Chronology of World Oil Market Events 1970 - 2000.htm] (oil went as low as $9 per barrel).

1999 January 1:  British Petroleum Company and Amoco Corporation complete their $53 billion merger. Chicago-based Amoco is the United States' fifth-largest oil company with roughly 9,300 gasoline stations. London-based British Petroleum, the world's third largest oil company, sells its products through a network of about 17,900 stations. (DJ)

1999 February 4: Italy's ENI SpA and Russia's RAO Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer, agree to build a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey at a cost of nearly $3 billion. Each project partner will hold a 50 percent stake in the project. The proposed pipeline, called the Blue Stream project, is expensive by industry standards partly because it would run at great depth under the waters of the Black Sea. (Asian WSJ)

1999 February 5: ". The U.S. may be forced to acknowledge mistake on cruise missile attack of factory in Sudan last year. The missile strikes occurred on the day that Monica Lewinsky gave evidence on her affair with President Bill Clinton. Saleh Idris, the factiry owner, asked the US to apologize, to unfreeze his assets and to compensate him for damage to the factory, which he says was a legitimate pharmaceuticals factory. . Mr Idris retained the Washington law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer Feld, the same firm which employs Vernon Jordan, who gave evidence in defence of Mr Clinton in the Senate impeachment trial. A legal case would be almost unprecedented, and could have major implications for Mr Clinton and for US foreign policy...Mr Idris, who is also an adviser to Saudi Arabia's largest bank, has retained Kroll Associates, the world's leading firm of private investigators, to examine the evidence [Andrew Marshall]

1999 February 10: U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson visits Saudi Arabia to discuss potential U.S. investment in oil and gas. Richardson says Saudis are interested in foreign investment in natural gas sector and in the oil refining and marketing sectors, rather than in the upstream crude oil sector. Richardson's visit comes several months after a September 1998 meeting between several U.S. oil companies, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi, in which Abdullah requested proposals from the companies on the development of Saudi oil reserves. (DJ, WSJ)

1999 February 14: "Osama Bin Laden, a suspect in the bombing of two U.S. Embassies in Africa, has "disappeared" from his base in Afghanistan, a Taliban militia spokesman said. Other Afghan sources said he left the country. The Saudi millionaire dropped out of sight two days ago, Mr. Abdul Hai Muttmayan said yesterday.." [AP] [The Hindu]

1999 February: The decision to include the Al Shifa pharmaceutical facility on the target list was a last-minute affair and was based on bad intelligence and science. The intelligence was frightfully bad. US officials said that Al Shifa was part of the Sudanese military-industrial complex. Chemists who examined soil, sludge and debris samples from a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant destroyed in August by U.S. cruise missiles found no traces of chemical weapon compounds.

1999 February: William C. Patrick III, a scientist who made germ weapons for the United States and now consults widely on biological defenses, told a group of American military officers in February 1999 that he taught Dugway personnel the previous spring how to turn wet anthrax into powders Mr. Patrick told officers at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, the process was not as refined as the one used in the heyday of the government's germ warfare program, but it worked. "We made about a pound of material in little less than a day," he told the officers. "It's a good product."

1999 February: "The one serious drawback companies have faced is getting the supplies to the right market, the energy-hungry Asian Pacific economies. Afghanistan---the only country with little oil---is by far the best route to transport the oil to Asia. 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." www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/drillbits/6_08/1.html

1999 March 10: Silk Road Strategy Act of 1999 targets South Caucasus and Central Asia.

1999 March 16: According to the U.S. Congressional Record, the "official meeting" to discuss what had already been predetermined regarding the government’s nearly half-billion dollar smallpox, anthrax, and West Nile virus vaccine purchases took place before a joint meeting of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies of the Senate Appropriations Committee, on March 16, 1999. The sole American anthrax vaccine maker is British-owned BioPort Corporation. Dr. Robert C. Myers of BioPort worked with the Battelle Memorial Institute (CIA contractor for project "Clearvision" under which the hyper-concentrated anthrax weapon that was later mailed was initially developed). Dr. Myers testified concerning the urgent need to stockpile both the anthrax and smallpox vaccines. Given the earlier official assessment of smallpox’s less than optimal use as a biological weapon, Myer’s precise words to senators included:
BioPort manufactures the only FDA-licensed anthrax vaccine in the world. We are also making and testing vaccine . . . to protect against five different types of botulism, . . . It is probably next on the threat list behind anthrax and the rapidly emerging threat of smallpox. . . . Because smallpox is highly contagious and probably most of the world is now susceptible, it is a potential biowarfare agent of serious concern. . . . There exist similar challenges to the further development and manufacture of new vaccines for anthrax, smallpox, and, for that matter, any other biodefense vaccine. . . . Suppose we have a smallpox vaccine stockpile and a manufacturing capability. Suppose a terrorist group has smallpox as a weapon. . . . there should be two or more geographically separate manufacturing facilities and two or more facilities for storage of the manufactured vaccine. [Smallpox and Anthrax Frights Planned Years Before 9-11 Government and Drug Industry Collusion Cited.htm]

1999 March 23: In an effort to raise oil prices, (which fell sharply late 1997 & stayed low until early 1999), OPEC and non-OPEC countries agree to cut oil output by a combined 2.104 million barrels per day, effective April 1, 1999, for one year. OPEC members have pledged to cut 1.716 million barrels per day, while several non-OPEC countries have pledged total reductions of 388,000 barrels per day. During 1998, due mainly to low oil prices, OPEC crude oil export revenues fell 30 percent (to $100 billion) from the previous year. (DJ, NYT)

1999 March 31: Arco agrees to be acquired by BP Amoco PLC for $26.6 billion in stock. If approved, the merger will create the largest oil producer in the United States and one of the largest energy companies in the world. The deal marks the fourth largest oil company merger since the onset of low oil prices in late 1997. (DJ), (WSJ)

1999 April 5: Following the arrival in the Netherlands of two Libyan suspects in the 1988 bombing of Pan American Flight 103 that killed 270 people, United Nations sanctions against Libya are suspended. The sanctions, imposed on March 31, 1992, initially included a ban on the sale of equipment for refining and transporting oil, but excluded oil production equipment. Sanctions were then expanded on November 11, 1993, to include a freeze on Libya's overseas assets, excluding revenue from oil, natural gas, or agricultural products. (DJ)

1999 April 17: The oil pipeline that runs from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Suspa, Georgia is officially opened. This is the second pipeline dedicated to exporting Caspian Sea oil, but the first built since the Soviet Union disbanded in 1991. The other Caspian Sea oil pipeline, which runs through the Russian breakaway republic of Chechnya to the Russian port of Novorossisk, is often shut down. The new pipeline to Georgia has a capacity of 100,000 barrels per day. (DJ)

1999 April 30:  Afghanistan, Pakistan, & Turkmenistan reactivated the gas pipeline project excluding (Unocal / CentGas) US interests

1999 April: Ken Lay sends letters to executives asking for contributions to the Bush campaign, including what some call a menacing reference to compensation as highly paid employees. More than 100 other Enron executives, and many spouses, will give "hard money" contributions to Bush, much of it during the campaign's critical early money phase. Some will acknowledge in interviews that they gave solely because they got Lay's pointed letter. The contributions help Lay fulfill his commitment as a Bush "Pioneer," the campaign's term for its top rainmakers. Bush will collect nearly $114,000 in individual and political action committee contributions from Enron in 1999-2000 ("Hard Money, Strong Arms And 'Matrix'", http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51802-2002Feb9.html )

1999 May 4: Admission last year's missile attack on a factory in Sudan was a mistake, US has cleared the man who owned the plant of any links to terrorism. The US has virtually no evidence to support its claim that the missile attack was a strike against terrorism. Those who investigated the case concluded the US acted on faulty intelligence and key procedures were overriden by officials in the White House. The affair is already the subject of congressional inquiries and may result in the departure of some senior White House officials. (Case handled by Law Firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld which has strong connections to Bush and oil interests)

1999 May 12: The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) begins construction of a 981-mile pipeline that will carry crude oil from the Caspian Sea to the Russian port of Novorossisk for export to foreign markets. The pipeline's planned capacity is about 1.3 million barrels per day, and the CPC is expecting to load the first tanker in mid-2001. (DJ)

1999 May 25-27: Conference for biological vaccines at Fort Detrick. Thomas Inglesby (Hopkins Institute) speaks: "... the DOD involvement in ongoing medical research also is important and instrumental to helping cities prepare for such emergencies... the Fort Detrick institute is the most important component of ongoing research and development of effective defenses and treatment.." Fort Detrick about anthrax: "one of the most treacherous enemies". (Source: http://www.af.mil/news/Jun1999/n19990602_991091.html)

1999 May 27: Exxon and Mobil shareholders approve an $81.2 billion merger, in which Exxon will issue 1.32 shares for each share of Mobil's approximately 780.2 million shares outstanding. The merger still must receive regulatory approval from the U.S. government and the European Union. The chairmen of both companies state that they expect regulatory approvals to be obtained by the end of the third quarter of 1999. (DJ)

1999 June 1: Sudan starts pumping oil through its pipeline linking the Heglig oil field in Western Kordofan province to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. The pipeline has a capacity of 250,000 barrels per day, and was financed by a consortium of Chinese, Malaysian, Canadian, and Sudanese firms. (DJ)

1999 June: George W. Bush formally announces his candidacy for president of the United States. [CNN]

1999 June: Enron announces an agreement to build a $140 million power plant in the Gaza Strip. One of the major financers for the project comes from the Saudi Binladin Group, a company owned by Osama's family. This is the second attempted project between these two companies. 90% complete, the construction is halted because of Palestinian - Israeli violence and then Enron's bankruptcy. [Washington Post, 3/2/02]

1999 Jun 1: Akin Gump Affiliates with Office in Saudi Arabia Major international law firm with more than 850 lawyers in 11 cities, today announced its affiliation with an office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, effective June 1, 1999. Akin Gump will be affiliated in Riyadh with the Law Office of Abdulaziz H. Fahad. Lawyers in Akin Gump's London, Brussels, Moscow and U.S. offices experienced in international business transactions will support the affiliate office. Robert S. Strauss, Akin Gump's founding partner, and Vernon E. Jordan Jr., a senior partner in the firm, commented, "Given our firm's focus on globalization and our developing Middle East practice, we determined that our clients' needs would best be served by establishing a presence in the Middle East. The affiliation between Akin Gump and the Law Office of Abdulaziz Fahad will allow us to provide our clients and friends in that region with a complete range of services. A Riyadh office is an important part of our strategic plan as we continue to serve our clients' international needs."

1999 Jun 14: Akin Gump Represents Dynegy Inc. in $7.5 Billion Merger Houston-based Dynegy Inc., one of the country's leading marketers of energy products and services, and Illinova Corporation, an electric and gas utility company with headquarters in Decatur, Illinois, announced plans for a merger. The merger will create a $7.5 billion full-service energy company, which will be called Dynegy Inc. and will be headquartered at Dynegy's Houston offices. Both Illinova, with strategically positioned generating facilities in the Midwest and a developing national energy services business, and Dynegy, a top natural-gas and electric marketer and supplier, are leading independent power developers and producers. The merger marks the next evolution of utility industry restructurings and convergences between the gas and electric power industries in the United States.

1999 July 14: A government informant records a conversation between some illegal arms dealers and Pakistani ISI agents held within view of the WTC. An ISI agent points to the WTC and says, "Those towers are coming down." He later makes other references to an attack on the WTC. The informant passes these warnings on to Senator Bob Graham and others, but later claims "The complaints were ordered sanitized by the highest levels of government." Senator Graham admits being "concerned" about this warning before 9/11, but apparently the warning is not passed on. [cooperativeresearch.org] It is later claimed that the special CIA paramilitary teams start entering Afghanistan in 1997. In 1999, they place listening devices within range of al-Qaeda's tactical radios. CIA Director Tenet states that by 9/11, "a map would show that these collection programs and human networks were in place in such numbers to nearly cover Afghanistan. This array meant that, when the military campaign to topple the Taliban and destroy al-Qaeda began [in October 2001], we were able to support it with an enormous body of information and a large stable of assets."

1999 July 4: With the chances of a pipeline deal with the Taliban looking increasingly unlikely, the US government finally issues an executive order prohibiting commercial transactions with the Taliban. [Executive Order, 7/4/99] CFR - Council on Foreign Relations: Caspian Sea Library

1999: Caspian Gas Exports: Stranded Reserves In A Unique Predicament
Turkmenistan-- leader of potential gas exporters from Caspian region--logical-route through Iran to Turkey or through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India. Pakistan better--shorter -lower costs through Afghanistan. Obtaining--$1-billion for—project-difficult from commercial sources—Afghanistan-too great a political risk.--World Bank may be interested—project provide steady income for Turkmenistan and Afghanistan--promote international environmental & energy efficiency goals cut coal & oil use in Pakistan and India. Iran has long-term interest in--pipeline. Most parties support route, except US government --trying to keep Iran, isolated from regional energy. US position--weakening, Turkmen gas could arrive in Turkey via Iran by 2002. US options--to stop project: Pressure Russia--open- existing pipelines to third party access. (Russia) Gazprom-more interested in gas sales to Pakistan & India. Turkmenistan remains key player in region. Azerbaijan-center of significant investment by world's largest oil companies, which may monetize gas once oil field developments completed. Azerbaijan's short route to Turkey- via Georgia, Armenia, or Iran- and potential gas important if oil companies prioritize gas development. Caspian gas exporters need concern about time. Window of opportunity to create gas grid not open forever. Mideast gas producers could do at lower prices, higher margins and deeper pockets. Iran and Iraq have considerable gas reserves- could sell to Asian or Europe. Both countries eager to develop gas reserves--revenue less politically sensitive than oil. Iran opening gas fields to foreign investment (with) Pakistan and India as markets. Iran's cooperation with Turkmenistan could (stop) if Iran gets the market and capital on its own-- unlikely at the moment, could change in five years. Iraq-huge gas reserves (120-tcf) & border with Turkey. Plans by Iraqi State Oil and Gas concern, SOMO, to put gas fields out to international tender once US sanctions lifted. Saudi Arabia threat to Caspian exporters. Saudi Arabia shown no desire to export gas under the rule of oil minister Ali Naimi, could change after minister retires or replaced. Saudi Arabia consumes only 4-bcf/d gas despite holding 250-tcf of gas reserves. If Caspian producers do not find a way to cooperate in the near future, potential Mideast partners could quickly become formidable competitors.
Ira B. Joseph James A Baker Institute for Public Policy Paper [CFR - Council on Foreign Relations: Caspian Sea Library] - Attendees.

1999 July: Thomas Inglesby, Hopkins Institute and top advisior of the Pentagon, writes his first popular scenario: "Anthrax: A Possible Case History" http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol5no4/inglesby.htm

1999 August 3: Silk Road Strategy Act of 1999 HR 1152 targets South Caucasus and Central Asia.

1999 August 9: The US Dept of Commerce dismisses a petition filed by Save Domestic Oil, Inc. The petition alleged that Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Iraq had sold crude oil to the United States at artificially low prices. (DJ, WP, NYT)

1999 September 3: The spread of Islamic fundamentalist insurgency north from Afghanistan threatens the rich oil resources of the Caspian Basin, which multinational corporations hope to massively exploit in the 21st century. The key contract was signed between Kazakhstan and Chevron in 1993, granting the company a stake in all oil development there (RFE Newsline, Sept. 3, 1999).

1999 September 14: French oil companies Total Fina and Elf Aquitaine agree to merge, after a lengthy takeover battle, in a deal which will form the world's fourth largest oil company. The deal will give Elf Aquitaine shareholders 19 shares of Total Fina for every 13 shares of Elf Aquitaine. According to Total Fina's management, the merger will result in annual cost savings for the combined firm of $1.56 billion. (WP, WSJ)

1999 September 2: Leaders of an Enron subsidiary called Azurix Corp. make Florida Governor Jeb Bush an extraordinary offer: They will help pay Florida's multibillion-dollar share of the restoration effort to replumb and revive the Everglades - if they can then sell water captured by the project. The water privatization scheme is not implemented. ("How Enron Sought to Tap the Everglades", http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42307-2002Feb7.html)

1999 September 28: Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh announces that the National Iranian Oil Company has discovered a new oilfield, Azadegan, with 26 billion barrels of crude oil in Khuzestan province. The discovery is the largest new find in Iran in the last three decades. Zanganeh expects the field to produce between 300,000 and 400,000 barrels per day of crude oil three to four years after development begins next year. (DJ)

1999 October 4: The United Nations Security Council agrees to raise the monetary ceiling on Iraqi oil sales to $8.3 billion from $5.26 billion, guaranteeing the continuation of Iraqi production until the November 20 end date for the current six month extension of the "oil-for-food" program. The move is a one time adjustment, and does not bind the Security Council to continue a higher ceiling if the program is renewed for another six month term. The increase reflects the difference between previous monetary ceilings and actual Iraqi sales during previous phases of the program. (DJ)

1999 October 4: Akin Gump Assists Clear Channel in $23.5 Billion Merger Clear Channel Communications, Inc. announced its intent to merge with AMFM, Inc. in a deal that valued AMFM at $23.5 billion. The resultant merger will create the world's largest out-of-home media entity. The combined value of Clear Channel and AMFM is approximately $56 billion. After anticipated divestitures required to gain regulatory approval, the combined company will have operations in 32 countries, including approximately 830 radio stations and more than 425,000 outdoor displays as well as 19 television stations and significant equity interests in other leading radio broadcasting and outdoor advertising entities. [Law Firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]

1999 October 15: The UN Security Council imposed sanctions on the Taliban (Resolution 1267), demanding that the Taliban "turn over the terrorist Usama Bin Laden without further delay..."

1999 October: The Department of Defense (DOD) reassigned senior command authority over American forces in Central Asia from the Pacific Command to the Central Command. Central Asia had once been viewed as a peripheral concern, a remote edge of the Pacific Command's main areas of responsibility (China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula). But the region, which stretches from the Ural Mountains to China's western border, has now become a major strategic prize, because of the vast reserves of oil and natural gas thought to lie under and around the Caspian Sea. Since the Central Command already controls the U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, its assumption of control over Central Asia means that this area will now receive close attention from the people whose primary task is to protect the flow of oil to the United States and its allies. Michael Klare (Foreign Affairs May/June 2001 ).

1999 October 20: Ken Alibek is President of Hadron Advanced Biosystems, a subsidiary of Alexandria, Va.-based Hadron, Inc. Hadron describes itself as a company specializing in the development of technical solutions for the intelligence community. As chief scientist at Hadron, Alibek gave extensive testimony to the House Armed Services Committee about biological weapons on Oct. 20, 1999 Hadron did medical biodefense research for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, and the NIH. Hadron said it was working in the field of non-specific immunity.

1999 October 31: A Boeing 767 plane with 199 passengers aboard disappeared early today on a flight from New York to Egypt...Flight 990 took off from Kennedy at 1:19 a.m. and disappeared from radar at 2 a.m. while flying at 33,000 feet, said Eliot Brenner, chief spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration... The EgyptAir plane was on a route similar to the one taken by Swissair Flight 111, a McDonnell Douglas MD11, which crashed off Nova Scotia on Sept. 2, 1998, killing all 229 people aboard. Planes on that route fly from Kennedy to Nantucket, then turn north to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland before heading east across the Atlantic... Strangely, the news media was reporting hours after 990's crash that the plane had previously landed at Edwards Air Force Base en route between L.A. and New York. This reportage continued until about 12 noon (EST) on Sunday when the Pentagon and FAA denounced the story and said the plane did not land at Edwards. [The Associated Press]
EgyptAir Flight 990 passengers include 30 Egyptian officers who had received military training in the US. Are there not countries or political forces who might have an interest in preventing their return to Egypt? One thing can be said for certain. Those promoting the theory of pilot suicide and clamoring most insistently for the FBI to take control of the investigation are among the least interested in a thorough and objective examination of the evidence. Reuters reported that Egypt’s Defense Ministry had released a statement that confirmed 33 military officers on board the fatal flight. This was after they had lifted the ban that stooped the Egyptian media from confirming foreign reports that military personnel were on the civilian flight. One security source in Cairo said the group included four Air Force officers, two brigadier-generals, a colonel and a major. There were also at least two Army major-generals, one brigadier, four colonels and two lieutenant-colonels. "Three of the officers went on board the plane without being checked in," one of the aviation sources said, without explaining why.
Reuters reported that Bill Clinton said he was not aware of any threats against airlines flying out of the United States. This was after the FBI had also denied knowledge of any threats. Samir Ragab from The Egyptian Gazette said, "The US officials are, in the meantime, eager to pay compensatory sums to victims families and to silence voices of protests, which may approach certain issues that intelligence deems highly-confidential." Defense Department spokesman Ken Bacon distributed information from the US Embassy in Cairo regarding the activities of the 33 Egyptian military personnel but no names were given. They were divided into the following groups:
Six at Boston: Commercial contractor provided network planning and communications analysis services under private contract.Seven at Fort Rucker Alabama: Received and tested two H-3 helicopters from a private contractor.Six at California: Commercial company provided training on high frequency telecommunications equipment.Three at Florida: Trained on telecommunications equipment under commercial contract.Six attended a conference on repairs to Chaparral missiles under private contract.Five that Bacon said they didn’t have a track on. "We believe that they were here on personal business. They had visas not sponsored by the Ministry of Defense", he said.
When Egyptair 990 was destroyed the U.S. government was holding one of bin Laden's associates, a former employee of Egyptair, for trial in Manhattan. When TWA 800 was destroyed it had already sentenced one of bin Laden's associates, Sheik Rahman, and had another associate, Ramsey Yousef, also on trial in Manhattan .....
Within hours of the Egyptair 990 crash, as was the case with TWA 800, the U.S. government was at pains to discourage all discussion about terrorism and to declare that there were no 'credible' warnings about the Egyptair 990 downing. Yet one of the warnings that it dismissed following the downing was one of the warnings that it had acted upon prior to the crash .....

1999 October 31: A month ago, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an alert to airline and airport security personnel after agencies received an unconfirmed warning that a bomb would "soon be used'' on a flight departing from Los Angeles or Kennedy airport in New York...in a Sept. 24 "information circular,'' the FAA said several U.S. agencies received a warning by letter in August "that a bomb or explosive device with 'spiral expansion' would soon be used on a flight departing from either Los Angeles airport or New York's JFK airport.''...the informant "identified himself as Luciano Porcari..."an individual with this same name hijacked an Iberian Boeing 727 during a flight from Barcelona to Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on March 14, 1977,''... The circular said he was released on August 12, 1982, and his whereabouts were unknown. In the warning received by letter "to several U.S. government agencies,'' the informant "claimed that between 1975 and 1983 eight of the devices were manufactured, that only three remained and that one was in the U.S. He also said he had warned various U.S. authorities about the device before the July 1996 explosion of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island and the September 1998 crash of Swissair Flight 111 off Newfoundland. [The Associated Press] Much eyewitness evidence indicates that TWA 800's demise came as the result of a missile attack. One should not be surprised therefore to learn that flights out of JFK are frequently diverted by air traffic controllers to avoid "rockets" .....

1999 October November 1: Newsmax.com, EgyptAir's Boeing 767 fell from the sky sometime early Sunday morning - at about 2 a.m. Later Sunday morning, NewsMax.com editor Christopher Ruddy was on United flight #976, which departed JFK at 9:15 a.m. headed for London. At about 10 a.m., Ruddy put on his headset. He clicked through the music channels and tuned in to transmissions between his United plane and air traffic control in the United States. "Air traffic control was advising planes to change their flight paths, giving out new coordinates and altitudes for planes on the flight paths over the Atlantic," Ruddy recalled the conversation he overheard. "At one point, a crew member of one of the planes radioed air traffic control to ask why the change. Air traffic control responded that 'there are rockets being fired in the area.'" "I heard early that morning before boarding my plane that there was a missing EgyptAir plane," Ruddy said. "The conversation I heard on the plane really struck me, as did the controllers' use of the word 'rockets.'"
Air traffic controllers are diverting airplanes out of JFK airport and talking about "rockets" because there have been numerous missile attacks on aircraft departing the New York metropolitan airports. For example on March 17, 1997, subsequent to the TWA 800 downing, a missile was observed by Northwest Airlines 775, US Air 1937, Delta 2517 and Northwest Airlines 361. Northwest Airlines Flight 775 was traveling from Newark to Minneapolis and Flight 361 from Laguardia to Minneapolis. Both flights departed at 6:55 PM and reported the missile about 15 Minutes into their flights. Note the height that the missile reached according to the pilot of NWA 775:
NWA 775: Air Center it looks like we see ah - this is Northwest 775 - on a southerly heading - a missile or something. Do you know anything about that?
Controller: Northwest 775 - you see a what?
NWA 775: It appears to be a missile on the south of our course here - straight south of us - off our left - it's climbing and heading south.
Controller: Due south of your position, heading south?
NWA 775: Yea, and climbing rapidly.
Controller: Going through about what altitude now?
NWA 775: Oh man, it's like over 30,000 and on its way up. It was a rocket or a missile and I don't know - it's out of sight now.
Controller: You think it was a rocket or a missile?
NWA 775: Affirmative. It was extremely bright. Anybody else in the area I'm sure would have seen it.

1999 November 8:  WorldTribune.com, Egypt wants us to pursue link with TWA 800 A confidant of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak angered the American officials with repeated suggestions that the United States was behind the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990, in which 217 people, including the 33 Egyptian military officers, were killed. .... Ragab's said in an editorial in both Al Gomhuriya, and its sister paper the Egyptian Gazette, that Washington was trying to cover up U.S. military responsibility for the deadly accident. "Insinuations of possible cover-up by U.S. authorities, potential intelligence secrets, deliberate delays and obfuscation in the investigation ..... are insulting, " The reason for Mubarak's suspicion of "potential intelligence secrets" may be understood by remembering that in a Manhattan jail cell sits a Special Forces sergeant with a very strange relationship to the U.S. government, to Osama bin Laden, and to those who bombed the World Trade Center...Ali Mohamed The records say he is fluent in Arabic, Hebrew, English and French, and worked for 18 months as a security adviser to Egyptair after leaving the Egyptian army...The Boston Globe reported that Mohamed had been admitted to the United States under a special visa program controlled by the CIA's clandestine service... Hence, when Egyptair 990 was destroyed the U.S. government was holding one of bin Laden's associates, a former employee of Egyptair, for trial in Manhattan. When TWA 800 was destroyed it had already sentenced one of bin Laden's associates, Sheik Rahman, and had another associate, Ramsey Yousef, also on trial in Manhattan .....
Within hours of the Egyptair 990 crash, as was the case with TWA 800, the U.S. government was at pains to discourage all discussion about terrorism and to declare that there were no 'credible' warnings about the Egyptair 990 downing. Yet one of the warnings that it dismissed following the downing was one of the warnings that it had acted upon prior to the crash .....

1999 November 11: KANSAS CITY -- Missouri Pilots Report Missile Near Their Aircraft NUFORC reports that on November 11, 1999, interesting report from the FAA Kansas City Center of two executive jets in the vicinity of Farmington, MO, that reported an object that "looked like a missile" pass in proximity to their aircraft. The incident occurred at approximately 8:00 AM. (CST). I have no reason to believe it is related to the alleged Bermuda incident, but I mention it because of the apparent similarity between the objects reported in both cases. Peter Davenport, Director NUFORC http://www.UFOcenter.com

1999 November 14: ABCnews.com, ABCNEWS’ aviation analyst John Nance said that, based on the data known so far, the rapid rate of the plane’s dive raised questions about what might have been going on in the cockpit in the moments before the crash. ..... "The problem now is that when you look at this dive — and as I say, it’s something that no airline pilot, no rational airline pilot, would do voluntarily — something either had to scare these pilots half to death to get them to put that aircraft into that condition, or something else was going on that was not voluntary," he told ABCNEWS’ This Week today. Barry Trotter, a former senior investigator with the NTSB and commercial airline pilot, said that while a pilot might turn off an engine if there was a fire, it would be highly improbable for both engines to be on fire at the same time. "The question is why they initiated the descent from the very beginning," said Trotter. Egyptair 990 would not represent the first time airline pilots have had to "duck" because of high speed objects approaching their aircraft. In August 1997 two Swissair pilots had to "duck" at 23,000 feet over Long Island ......

1999 November 14: Associated Press, Cockpit voice recordings from EgyptAir Flight 990 show the pilot and co-pilot talking "like pals'' before something goes wrong and both men desperately try to fix a problem that soon caused the plane to crash into the Atlantic, a source close to the investigation said Sunday. "Something happens. Alarms go off. Both work to try to fix it,'' the source said. "There is some kind of problem that they're dealing with. It gets progressively worse. And the tape stops.'' The recorder was found to be in good condition and it provided about 31 1/2 minutes of data. The tape provides no evidence of an intruder in the cockpit or of any fighting among the crew, the source said. It was reviewed by American and Egyptian officials, including representatives from the FBI.

1999 November 15: CNN, Many people in Cairo believe a conspiracy lies behind the crash of EgyptAir Flight ...." It was broadcast that an American official said the plane was hit by a missile… Speculation focused on a possible suicide by the pilot or co-pilot, on a mad struggle for the controls in the cockpit. The pilot's daughter, Enji Habashi, suspects foul play. "It's something intentional and I think this plane has been sabotaged," The official explanation that the pilot in the Silk Air crash committed suicide also defies logic when one observes that both black boxes failed and the tail of the aircraft involved in this incident (a 10 month old Boeing 737) was damaged. The tail was found miles from the crash site indicating that it had separated from the aircraft early in the crash sequence. The tail section of Egyptair 990 may also have been damaged as evidenced by the behavior of the elevators operating in opposite directions.

1999 November 18: Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia sign an agreement to build a pipeline for the export of crude oil from the Caspian Basin. The 1,080-mile pipeline will begin at the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, and run through Georgia and Turkey to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The project is expected to cost $2.4 billion, and the government of Turkey has offered guarantees that the cost of the Turkish segment of the pipeline will not exceed $1.4 billion. The signing ceremony took place during a visit to Istanbul by U.S. President Clinton for a summit of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE). (WP, NYT)

1999 November 22: Beginning in 1998 UNOCAL was chastized, particularly by women's rights groups, for discussions with the Taliban, and headed in retreat as a worldwide effort mounted to come to the defense of the Afghani women. This forced UNOCAL to withdraw from its talks with the Taliban and dissolve its multinational partnership in that region. In 1999 Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections newsletter said: "UNOCAL company officials said late last year (1998) they were abandoning the project because of the need to cut costs in the Caspian region and because of the repeated failure of efforts to resolve the long civil conflict in Afghanistan." [Volume 4, issue #20 - Monday, November 22, 1999]

1999 November 30: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) grants approval for the proposed merger between oil giants Exxon and Mobil. The $80 billion merger was approved by the FTC after the firms agreed to the largest divestiture of assets ever involved in a merger. The companies will sell over 2,400 retail outlets, mostly in the Northeast, Texas, and California, and a refinery in California. (DJ)

1999 December 6: Following an internal reorganization at FBI Headquarters, the Attorney General appointed Mr. Watson the Assistant.

1999 December 20: The BBC explains one reason why the Northern Alliance has been able to hold out for so long in its civil war against the Taliban in Afghanistan: "Iran has stirred up the fighting in order to make sure an international oil pipeline [goes] through its territory and not through Afghanistan." [BBC, 12/20/99]
Milt Bearden on Osama Bin Laden
There are two sides to a cultural clash here in 1999. The United States and to a smaller degree the UK on one side. Fundamentalist Islam on the other side. Both sides are rallied behind the North Star, Osama bin Laden. For the US, he’s public enemy number one. We've got a $5 million reward out for his head, blamed him for every horrible event in our history except the grassy knoll. And now we have, (with I'm not sure what evidence), linked him to all of the terrorist acts of this year ... of this decade, perhaps. That's why I say he is our North Star. On the other side, we have given fundamentalist Islam their North Star, a rallying point. If the enemy of our enemy is our friend, then Osama bin Laden is the North Star to every fundamentalist Muslim who goes to Friday prayers and hears a mullah condemn the United States. So, it seems there's that common bond, the thing that brings us together is the North Star, and we're just viewing it from different perspectives. ...

1999 December 31: The Panama Canal Zone reverts to Panamanian sovereignty at noon, after nearly a century of American control. More than a half-million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products transit the Canal each day. (DJ)

2000 January: Former President George Bush Sr. meets with the bin Laden family on behalf of the Carlyle Group. He had also met with them in 1998, but it's not known if he met with them after this. Bush denied this meeting took place until a thank you note was found confirming it. [Wall Street Journal, 9/27/01, Guardian, 10/31/01] FTW Former Philippines' 4President Fidel V. Ramos is a senior advisor of the Carlyle Group and the head of Carlyle's Asian advisory board. Its directors include former US president George Herbert Walker Bush, former US secretary of state James Baker, current US secretary of state Colin Powell, former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt, former UK Prime Minister John Major, and former South Korean Prime Minister Park Tae-Joon. Carlyle's client list has included the likes of the bin Laden family and George Soros (a major player involved in the so-called Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s). Saudi prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has been one of Carlyle's major investors. Its chairman is former Reagan administration defense secretary Frank Carlucci. Carlyle has major stakes in Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and China, which was recently admitted into the World Trade Organization.

2000 January 22: The CFR Project held its first big event: a scenario of a global financial meltdown, run as a war-game simulation at its Manhattan headquarters. James Woolsey, ex CIA director, played the role of Secretary of Defense. http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2000/2729_cfr.html

2000 February: Richard Perle has served as a director of Autonomy since February 2000. Autonomy a close-knit and highly experienced management team bringing together extensive expertise covering every facet of information technology and its constituent sectors and markets. Mr Perle served as Resident Fellow of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research since 1987. Mr Perle is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hollinger Digital Inc. and a Director of Morgan Crucible plc, where he serves on the remuneration committee, Hollinger International and AppNet,Inc., where he serves on the audit and remuneration committees. Mr Perle is a member of the International Advisory Board of Hollinger Inc. Mr Perle holds an M.A from Princeton University and an A.B from the University of Southern California.

2000 February: the NSA's computer system crashed, a sign of overload. It was down for four days. http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20021018/4547216s.htm

2000 February 2: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) acts to block the proposed merger between BP Amoco and Atlantic Richfield, saying the merger would unduly restrict competition along the West coast of the United States. (WSJ, WP)

2000 February 7: Three big Texas energy producers, all of which made lavish contributions to George W.Bush's presidential campaign, stand to gain from soaring electricity prices in California. That's one reason the watchdog group Public Citizen says Bush has no interest in promoting price caps, even though such caps are recommended by Republican as well as Democratic governors and members of Congress. ("Bush's Biggest Donors Gain From High Prices in California Crunch", http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0106/ridgeway3.php)

2000 February 20: Vladimir Pasechnik announced that, along with partner Caisey Harlingten, Pasechnik had formed a company called Regma Biotechnologies Ltd. Regma describes itself as "a new drug company working to provide powerful alternatives to antibiotics." Like three other microbiologists detailed in this article, Pasechnik was heavily involved in DNA sequencing research. During the anthrax panic of this past fall, Pasechnik offered his services to the British government to help in any way possible. Despite Regma having a public relations department that has released many items to the press over the past two years, the company has not announced the death of one of its two founders.

2000 February 23: Enron CFO Andrew Fastow buys a $1.32 million property in River Oaks. New construction comes to $1.53 million. No mortgage is recorded. ("Architects of Enron's rise bred its demise", http://chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0201200329jan20.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed)

2000 March 7: Akin Gump Assists Clear Channel in $4.4 Billion Acquisition Clear Channel Communications, Inc. announced its intent to acquire SFX Entertainment, Inc. in a stock merger that valued SFX at $4.4 billion. Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is a global leader in the out-of-home advertising industry with radio and television stations and outdoor displays in 32 countries around the world. Including announced transactions, Clear Channel operates 867 radio and 19 television stations in the United States reaching over 120 million people weekly. SFX is the world's largest diversified promoter, producer and venue operator for live entertainment events. Clear Channel Senior Vice President Kenneth Wyker and Vice President Hamlet Newsom headed a legal team that included Akin Gump corporate partner Stephen C. Mount and associates Wilhelm E. Liebmann, Sharla Kruger and Patrick Hurley (San Antonio); corporate partner John Strickland (Austin); corporate partner Alan Laves and associate Michael Slaney (Dallas); tax partner W. Thomas Weir and real estate associate Andrew Cohen (San Antonio); labor partner Jonathan Sulds (New York); benefits partner Andrew Lee Gaines and associate Bruce E. Simonetti (New York); and antitrust partner Charles Biggio (New York). [Law Firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]

2000 March 7: New York Mercantile Exchange front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures contract closes at $34.13 per barrel, the highest level in nine years. (WSJ)

2000 March 15: Phillips Petroleum announces that it has agreed to purchase Atlantic Richfield's assets in Alaska for $6.5 billion. The sale is being made in an effort to secure approval from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for the merger of Atlantic Richfield with BP Amoco. Earlier the same day, the FTC announced that it had suspended its antitrust lawsuit seeking to block the merger, citing progress in talks with the companies involved. (DJ, NYT, WSJ)

2000 March 20: EPA announces Clinton Administration to push for a phase out of (MTBE) as gasoline additive and wants Congress to pass legislation to end the use of MTBE in gasoline sold in some smog-prone urban areas, and instead require nationwide use of ethanol. (DJ) (Remember this when reading about Unocal Patent and Cheney task notes about Unocal Patent)

2000 March 28: OPEC to increase oil production 1.452 million barrels per day by its members, excluding Iran and Iraq. Iraq, has not been subject to OPEC production agreements while under U.N. Security Council sanctions. Iran, though not formally signing on to the agreement, stated its intention to raise its production in order to avoid loss of its market share. This would represent about a 1.7 million barrel per day increase in OPEC production targets, if Iran was included. Several major non-OPEC producers, including Mexico and Norway, also have indicated an intention to raise production. (DJ)

2000 March: An FBI agent, reportedly angry over a glitch in Carnivore (snooping system) that has somehow mixed innocent non-targeted emails with those belonging to Al Qaeda, destroys all of the FBI's Denver-based intercepts of bin Laden's colleagues in a terrorist investigation. [Source: The Washington Post, May 29, 2002]

2000 March: Afghanistan Country Report, stating that "drug production in and trafficking from Afghanistan has funded terrorist groups, increased regional heroin addiction in refugee and indigenous populations, undermined rule of law, led to frequent incidents of armed conflict between traffickers and law en-forcement forces in neighbouring countries, destabilizing the entire region." Separately, the INCSR further stated "opium for the Pakistan market enters through Baluchistan and the Northwest Fron-tier Province. Raw opium remains primarily for local consumption in Pakistan and Iran. Trafficking organizations also have strong links to Gulf countries, and Dubai seems to be emerging as an im-portant center for money laundering." [U.S. Department of State, 1999 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, March 2000,]

2000 April 12: CEOs of major US oil companies meet with senior Saudi Arabian officials to discuss possible investments in natural gas and petrochemical projects. The firms at the meetings include Chevron, Conoco, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, Phillips Petroleum, and Texaco. The Saudi government announces a package of legal changes that will make Saudi Arabia more open to foreign investors. Complete foreign ownership will be allowed for some types of projects, and the maximum corporate tax rate for foreign enterprises will be reduced to 15 percent. (WP)

2000 April 14: BP Amoco receives approval from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its $28 billion takeover of Atlantic Richfield Corporation (ARCO). As part of the approval, ARCO has agreed to sell its crude oil production operations in Alaska to Phillips Petroleum in a deal valued at $6.5 billion. (WP, WSJ)

2000 April 27: "The US Government View of Energy Developments in the Caspian, Central Asia, and Iran"
Center for Strategic and International Studies April 27, 2000
"Proven oil reserves for the entire Caspian Sea region are estimated at 16-32 billion barrels, comparable to those in the
United States (22 billion barrels) and the North Sea (17 billion barrels). Natural gas reserves are even larger, accounting for almost 2/3 of the hydrocarbon reserves (proved plus possible) in the Caspian Sea region…. Getting this oil out of the region to world markets, however, is complicated by several factors, including geography and geopolitics. …. As a result, multiple routes for Caspian oil and gas exports have been proposed….. Afghanistan A MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) has been signed to build a natural gas pipeline stretching from Turkmenistan to Pakistan (and perhaps India) via Afghanistan. In addition, the proposed Central Asia Oil Pipeline would also pass from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan en route to a Pakistani port on the Arabian Sea. However, the ongoing civil war has prevented the projects from going forward. While all of the major Afghan factions have agreed in principle to the construction of the pipelines, the pipelines may not attract the necessary financing without a peace settlement and international recognition of the government in Afghanistan. Although the Taliban control 95% of Afghan territory, only the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia had recognized the Taliban government as of late 1998. Afghan support for Osama bin Laden, and the recent U.S. bombing raids on his suspected strongholds in Afghanistan, also have reduced the likelihood for international financing of the project." (DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00)

2000 April: Ken Lay is a $250,000 sponsor of the GOP's fundraising gala in Washington. He also helps raise money for a literacy charity headed by Barbara Bush, mother of George W. Bush. (" Enron made a sound investment in Washington", http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20020124/ts_usatoday/3799465&cid=676

2000 May: R. James Woolsey (CIA Director 1993-95) participated in a bioterrorism exercise at Andrews Air Force Basethe Johns In May 2000 the Hopkins Center, in collaboration with the ANSER Institute for Homeland Defense, (CSIS) the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Oklahoma Memorial Institute for the Study of Terrorism held a bioterrorism exercise at Andrews Air Force Base.Former Senator Sam Nunn played the President.David Gergen played the National Security Advisor. Governor Frank Keating played himself, Frank Wisner was Secretary of State, ex-CIA director James Woolsey (ironically) played CIA Director, John White played Defense Secretary, and Dr. Margaret Hamburg was HHS Secretary. The Attorney General was played by George Terwilliger, William Sessions was FBI Director, and Jerome Hauer played FEMA Director. http://www.hopkins-biodefense.org/pages/library/fema.html . The Sudanese government collected a "vast intelligence database on Osama bin Laden and more than 200 leading members of his al-Qaeda terrorist network... [The US was] offered thick files, with photographs and detailed biographies of many of his principal cadres, and vital information about al-Qaeda's financial interests in many parts of the globe." In April 1996, the US again rejects Sudan's offer of the files. An American involved in the secret negotiations later says that the offer was blocked by another arm of the federal government: "I've never seen a brick wall like that before. Somebody let this slip up... We could have dismantled his operations and put a cage on top. It was not a matter of arresting bin Laden but of access to information... and that's what could have prevented September 11. I knew it would come back to haunt us." Sudan again offers the US the files in May 2000, and again is turned down. In 1996 Sudan also offers their files to British intelligence, and are also rebuffed. Sudan makes a standing offer to the British to take the information at any time, but the offer is not taken up until after 9/11. [http://cooperativereseach.org/completetimeline/]
Oil prices triple between January 1999 and September 2000 due to strong world oil demand, OPEC oil production cutbacks, and other factors, including weather and low oil stock levels.

2000 May: Alberto Gonzales, author of a Texas Supreme Court opinion that hands the energy industry one of its biggest Texas legal victories in recent history. In Bernal vs. Southwestern Refining, Texas justices, voting 6-3, throw out a class-action suit by 885 Corpus Christi homeowners whose families were harmed and property damaged by heat, smoke and toxic fumes in a 1994 refinery tank explosion. The day the ruling is released, Gonzales' campaign treasury records a check from the Petroleum Club — a private oilman's business club in Midland — for refreshments at a reception. Enron and Enron's law firm were Gonzales' biggest contributors in his 2000 judicial election, giving $35,450. All told, Gonzales' campaign amassed $102,838 from energy interests. Gonzales will be appointed White House counsel when Bush takes office. ("New Bush Tie to Enron ", http://www.nydailynews.com/2002-02-10/News_and_Views/Beyond_the_City/a-140876.asp)

2001 May 8: President Bush appointed Dick Cheney to head the new Office of National Preparedness, with responsibility to coordinate all federal programs to respond to an attack on the homeland.

2000 May 23: Ken Alibek is President of Hadron Advanced Biosystems, a subsidiary of Alexandria, Va.-based Hadron, Inc. Hadron describes itself as a company specializing in the development of technical solutions for the intelligence community. As chief scientist at Hadron, Alibek gave extensive testimony to the House Armed Services Committee about biological weapons on Oct. 20, 1999, and again on May 23, 2000. Hadron conducted medical biodefense research for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, and the NIH. Hadron said it was working in the field of non-specific immunity.
DNA sequencing work by several of these microbiologists is aimed at developing drugs that will fight pathogens based on the pathogen's genetic profile. Also at developing drugs that will work in cooperation with a person's genetic makeup. Theoretically, a drug could be developed for one specific person. A drug could be developed to effectively treat a much broader class of people sharing a genetic marker. The entire process can also be turned around to develop a pathogen that will affect a broad class of people sharing a genetic marker. A broad class of people sharing a genetic marker could be a group such as a race, or people with brown eyes.

2000 May to 2001 August: CIA and FBI Again Reject Sudan's Offer to Provide al-Qaeda Files

2000 June: One week, after Dick Cheney resigned from Halliburton Root + Brown, the subsidiary signed a contract with the Pentagon about constructions in various countries. The contract was later upgraded into "a 408-unit detention camp at the Radio Range area of U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba" http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2002/c02262002_ct088-02.html
Halliburton is Texas construction and engineering company, customer of the Pentagon and UNOCAL,who was working on a pipeline in Afghanistan.

2000 June 26-27: Thomas Inglesby, Hopkins Institute organise his first Anthrax-Scenario Test-games
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/documents/Atlanta/BTScenario.pdf Inglesby became important for the Pentagon and Fort Detrick, when he wrote his first popular scenario in July 1999: "Anthrax: A Possible Case History" thtp://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol5no4/inglesby.htm >From this text: "...Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) offices in five U.S. cities have received warnings of an imminent bioterrorist attack. Each threat indicated that a "shower of anthrax would rain on U.S. cities," unless certain demands were met immediately..."

2000 July 12-13: While public media were assuring the credulous public of a "soft landing" for the U.S. economy, the New York Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) held a second conference at its headquarters on the East Side of Manhattan, entitled "The Next Financial Crisis: Warning Signs, Damage Control and Impact". It includes a testgame regarding a possible terrorist attack.
"...a scenario of a global financial meltdown, run as a war-game simulation. The four teams covered monetary-financial, which dealt with the functions of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; economic and trade, which dealt with the functions of the U.S. Treasury Department; regulatory matters; and national security" (former CIA director James Woolsey played the role of Secretary of Defense).

2000 July 19: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin denounced American plans for ballistic missile defence systems. They vowed to forge a close strategic alliance to curb Washington's dominance of world affairs. But "Russia's interests are not China's interests. China's ambition is to weaken the influence of the United States everywhere. Russia's ambition is to grow closer to the West and become part of the civilised world."

2000 July 30: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wins reelection with 60% of the popular vote. His Patriotic Pole party also wins a controlling majority in the country's new unicameral legislature. (DJ)

2000 August: FBI told to stop monitoring (two future 9/11 hijackers) Khalid Al-Mihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi in August 2000. These two men had been under surveillance by the CIA since January 2000.

2000 August 10: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez meets with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Baghdad as part of a tour of OPEC member states. Chavez is the first head of state to visit Saddam Hussein since the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. (NYT, WP)

2000 August 23: crude oil stock levels in the United States have fallen to their lowest level since 1976. (DJ)

2000 September 22: President Clinton authorizes the release of 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) over 30 days to bolster oil supplies, particularly heating oil in the Northeast. The release will take the form of a "swap," in which crude oil volumes drawn from the SPR will be replaced by the recipients at a later date. Crude oil for November delivery falls four percent, to $32.68, on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). (DJ)

2000 September 28: UN Compensation Commission, (reparations from Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait), approves a $15.9 billion claim by Kuwait for lost oil production and damage to oil reserves and equipment. The proportion of revenues from Iraqi oil sales under the "oil for food" program which are used for payment of claims is reduced from 30 percent to 25 percent. Iraq condemns the decision, but states that it will not call a halt to oil exports, as had earlier been feared. (DJ).

2000 October - Eleven months before 9/11, Nick Rockefeller predicted for Aaron Russo "an event that will allow us to invade Afghanistan and Iraq."

2000 October 12: The USS Cole is bombed in the Aden, Yemen harbor by al-Qaeda terrorists. 17 US soldiers are killed. [ABC News, 10/13/00] Oil prices rise sharply, as well as escalating violence between Palestinians and Israeli security forces. (WSJ) John O'Neill and his team of 200 hundred FBI investigators enter Yemen two days later, but are unable to accomplish much due to restrictions placed on them, and tensions with US Ambassador Barbara Bodine. All but about 50 investigators are forced to leave by the end of October. Even though O'Neill's boss visits and finds that Bodine is O'Neill's "only detractor," O'Neill and much of his team is forced to leave in November, and the investigation stalls without his personal relationships to top Yemeni officials. The Sunday Times later notes, "The failure in Yemen may have blocked off lines of investigation that could have led directly to the terrorists preparing for September 11."

2000 October 15: Chevron agrees to purchase Texaco for $35.1 billion in stock. The deal would create the fourth largest oil and gas company in the world, and follows a general trend toward consolidation among the major oil companies over the last two years. Analysts expect the merger, like other recent mergers, to face intensive antitrust scrutiny, especially as a combined ChevronTexaco would have a heavy share of both refining capacity and retail outlets on the west coast of the United States. (WSJ)

2000 October 31: UN Sanctions Committee approves Iraqi request to be paid in Euros, (instead of US dollars), for oil exported under the "oil for food" program, which is part of the sanctions regime stemming from Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. (DJ)

2000 November 3: Russia's Lukoil announces that it will purchase Getty Petroleum Marketing of the United States for $71 million. Lukoil eventually intends to switch Getty's 1,300 retail outlets in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic states to the Lukoil brand name. The purchase represents the first takeover of a publicly traded American company by a Russian firm. (DJ)
UNPRECIDENTED PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION TALLY DISPUTE IN FLORIDA
In November, months of intense campaigning by Bush and former Vice President Al Gore, end with controversial results over the electoral votes from the state of Florida. Bush is eventually deemed the winner, with a 271-267 edge over Gore in the Electoral College -- where 270 votes are needed to claim the nation's chief executive office. Their seesaw court battles over recounts in Florida lasted 35 days after the election.

2000  November 12: Bruce Hoffman, director of the Rand Institute office in Washington DC, indicated that the next US President would have to face up to the growing threat is Islamic terrorism. Hoffman: "The next administration must turn its immediate attention to knitting together the full range of US counterterrorist capabilities into a cohesive plan." [Los Angeles Times, November 12, 2000]

2000 November 16: Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) demands that companies lifting cargoes of Iraqi crude oil begin paying a fifty cent per barrel surcharge starting on December 1, 2000. The surcharge would be paid directly to the Iraqi government rather than being channeled into the account administered by the United Nations under the "oil for food" program, and would constitute clear violation of sanctions. The Iraqi move leads to concerns over a possible Iraqi cutoff of oil supplies beginning December 1.

2000 December: A SENIOR Chinese army officer, privy to strategic thinking, defected to America, one of China's worst intelligence losses in memory. The high-flying staff officer, named by sources yesterday as Senior Colonel Xu Junping, specialises in Sino-US military relations. He was in day-to-day charge of all Chinese military contacts with North and South America and the Pacific. Col Xu, bolted last December (2000) but the news was suppressed until yesterday. His rank makes him the equal of a brigadier in the British Army. He travelled to North America on his own and contacted the CIA out of the blue, sources told The [Telegraph. March 24 2001]

2000 December 4: California utilities are forced to cut off electricity supplies to some "interruptable" customers due to a supply shortage. California has suffered shortages and high wholesale electricity prices since May 2000. The immediate shortage stems, in part, from a reduction in electricity imports from the Pacific Northwest as a result of cold weather in the area. Other problems include: gas supply problems, low availability of hydroelectric and nuclear generating capacity, and high power demand. (DJ)

2000 December 27: Natural gas prices in the United States surge above $10 per million British Thermal Units (BTUs) first time ever in response to cold weather and stockdraws reported by the American Gas Association (AGA). Henry Hub natural gas closes at $9.978, after falling slightly from its intraday peak price. (DJ)

2001 January  the magazine Nature published information that two scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization's animal diseases facility in Geelong, Australia. Microbiologist, Set Van Nguyen, had worked there 15 years.
Using genetic manipulation and DNA sequencing, they had created an incredibly virulent form of mousepox, a cousin of smallpox. The researchers were extremely concerned that if similar manipulation could be done to smallpox, a terrifying weapon could be unleashed.

2001: False Flag 11 preparation: Pakistan intelligence (ISI) Chief Mahmoud Ahmad requested Omar Saeed Sheikh (Ahmed Umar Syed Sheikh) to wire $100,000 to 9-11 lead hijacker, Mohammed Atta. This was confirmed by the director of the FBI's financial crimes unit, Dennis Lormel, but the Official Congressional Report said they had not managed to trace the source of the funding and that it is of little consequence.

2001 January 8: Allegheny Energy to Acquire Merrill Lynch's Global Energy Markets Unit Allegheny Energy, Inc. (NYSE: AYE) announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Global Energy Markets (GEM), Merrill Lynch's energy commodity marketing and trading unit. Under the agreement, Allegheny Energy's generation subsidiary, Allegheny Energy Supply Company, LLC, will acquire GEM for $490 million plus a 2 percent equity interest in Allegheny Energy Supply-and-will have a world-class trading and marketing operation and a national platform from which to sell its wholesale generation. After only two years of operations, GEM is ranked in the top 20 in the nation in terms of electric volumes traded as of the third quarter of 2000. It is expected that the combined volumes of trades will place Allegheny Energy Supply in the top 10 of all power marketers in the nation, based on volume traded [Law Firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]

2001 January 17: The Minerals Management Service (MMS), an agency of the Department of the Interior, sharply raises its estimates of oil and gas reserves in the United States deepwater outer continental shelf, due to recent drilling success in the Gulf of Mexico. The agency raises its estimates for recoverable natural gas by about 65% and for recoverable oil by about 35%. (DJ) OPEC agrees, at a meeting of ministers in Vienna, to reduce members' production quotas by 1.5 million barrels per day. The move comes in response to OPEC members' concerns about declining prices. Analysts expect the actual production cuts to total somewhat less than 1.5 million barrels per day, as some OPEC members had quotas above their actual production capacity. (NYT, WP)

2001 January 19: Ocean Energy, Inc. to Acquire Texoil, Inc. On January 18, 2001, Ocean Energy, Inc. signed a definitive agreement to acquire Texoil, Inc. The all-cash transaction is structured as a first step tender offer followed by a cash merger to acquire all remaining shares of Texoil common stock and Series A convertible preferred stock for approximately $130 million.
Ocean Energy is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development, production and acquisition of crude oil and natural gas. Robert K. Reeves, executive vice president and general counsel for Ocean Energy, Inc., and Gregg Roden, vice president and assistant general counsel of North America Onshore [Law Firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]

2001 January 20: George W. Bush is sworn into office as the President of the United States. Later in the day, the Senate votes to confirm Spencer Abraham as the new Secretary of Energy. (WP) Enron and chairman Kenneth Lay both contribute $100,000 to inaugural committees. George H. W. Bush is flown to the inauguration in an Enron corporate jet. ("Key Dates in Enron Case", [www.newsday.com] [www.mostnewyork.com/2002-02-03/News_and_Views/Beyond_the_City] Upon taking office, the Bush administration immediately engaged in active negotiations with Taliban representatives with meetings in Washington, DC, Berlin, and Islamabad. During this time the Taliban government hired Laila Helms, niece of former CIA director Richard Helms, as their go-between in negotiations with the US government.
Bush (oil) administration includes:
Dick Cheney, VP: Until 2000 - President of Halliburton (in position to build the Afghan pipeline).
Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor: 1991-2000 - Manager of Chevron Oil, and Kazakhstan go-between.
Donald Evans, Sec. Commerce: former CEO, Tom Brown, Inc. $1.2 billion oil company).
Gale Norton, Sec. Interior: former national chairwoman of the Coalition of Republican Environmental Advocates - funded by, among others, BP Amoco.
Spencer Abraham, Sec. Energy: Up through his failed bid for senatorial reelection in the 2000, he received more oil and gas industry money than all but three other senators (January 1997 through July 2000).
Thomas White, Secretary of the Army: former Vice Chairman of Enron and a large shareholder of that company's stock.
"We know we must renew our values to restore our country." -- " Text of Bush acceptance speech",
Adolf Hitler made oil central to his plans for conquest in World War II. His I’ll conceived invasion or the Soviet Union was halted just short of the rich oil resources of the Caucasis [The Prize, The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power, by Daniel Yergin]

2001 January 20: White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card issues a memo to all federal agencies ordering a 60-day suspension of all rules recently finalized by the Clinton administration. President Bush also issues a 60-day stay on regulations that have been published in the Federal Register but have not yet taken effect. [ Reuters story ]

2001 January 21: George Bush Jr. is inaugurated as the 43rd US President, replacing Clinton. The only major figure to permanently remain in office is CIA Director Tenet, appointed in 1997 and reputedly a long time friend of Bush Sr. FBI Director Louis Freeh stays on until June 2001. Numerous figures in Bush's administration are directly connected to the oil industry. Over 50 of Bush's new staff are later shown to have worked for Enron. [Salon, 11/30/01]

2001 January 24: The United States asks that climate negotiations on implementing the Kyoto agreement, scheduled to resume in May, be postponed until July. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher says that in the coming months the Bush administration will undertake "a thorough look at the U.S. policy on climate change" and needs the extra time.

2001 January 26: While President Bush advocates greater offshore drilling, Florida's Gov. Jeb Bush sends a letter to Washington, telling the new administration to forget about opening up Florida's Gulf Coast to more offshore drilling. The governor's letter to the U.S. Interior Department opposes the sale of an oil and gas lease that could allow drilling on nearly 6 million acres in federal waters south of Alabama near the Florida border.

2001 January 29: President Bush names Vice President Richard Cheney to chair a White House task force which will oversee the new administration's efforts in devising a national energy policy. (DJ)

2001 January 29: The world energy situation/problem will remain in chaos until the consumer and Producer has better energy data and a reliable energy model that is transparent for all parties. [Letter From Dale Steffes, Houstin Chamber of Commerce to Spencer Abraham Secy of Energy]

2001 January 31: Halliburton announces that it has agreed to sell its Dresser Equipment Group unit to two investment firms for $1.1 billion. Halliburton expects to realize a $300-million net gain from the transaction. (DJ)
The final bipartisan report of the US Commission on National Security/21st Century, launched in 1998 by then-President Bill Clinton and then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is issued. The report has 50 recommendations on how to combat terrorism in the US, but all of them are ignored by the Bush Administration. Instead, the White House announces in May that it will have Vice President Cheney study the potential problem of domestic terrorism, despite the fact that this commission had just studied the issue for 2 1/2 years. According to Senator Hart, Congress was taking the commission's suggestions seriously, but then, "Frankly, the White House shut it down..." The BBC later reports, "After the elections, [US intelligence] agencies [are] told to 'back off' investigating the Bin Ladens and Saudi royals, and that anger[s] agents." [cooperativeresearch.org]

2001 February: Vice President Cheney's energy task force changed a draft energy proposal to include a provision to boost oil and natural gas production in India. The amendment was so narrow that it apparently was targeted only to Enron's power plant in India.

2001 February 4: Good luck in this natural gas dilema, but don’t forget to do something more about the heating oil and jet fuel now. [e-mail to President Bush from Barry Siler @jetfuel.com re: [Cheney energy task force notes]

2001 February 5: Chevron submits recommendations for energy Policy to Bush [Cheney energy task force notes]

2001 February 6: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"The Future of America’s Unipolar Order"
Speaker: David P. Calleo Prof. of European Studies, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced Intl. Studies, Johns Hopkins University
Speaker: Henry R. Nau Prof. of Political Science and Intl. Affairs, Elliott School of Intl Affairs, George Washington University
Speaker: G. John Ikenberry Author, After Victory: Institutions, Strategic Restraint and the Rebuilding of Order After Major Wars; Peter F. Krogh Professor of Global Justice, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Presider: Angela E. Stent Office of Policy Planning, U.S. Department of State
[www.cfr.org] (Rebuilding of Order after Major Wars?)

2001 February 8: Citing an energy crisis of "catastrophic proportions," a federal judge [who?] orders three major electricity suppliers to continue to supply electricity to California despite their concerns over the financial health of the state's two main investor-owned utilities. ("Monthly Energy Chronology - January 2001 to June 2001", http://www.marcon.com/main/marcon_st1.cfm?Archive=311&StoryID=236)

2001 February 9: Vice President Cheney is briefed that it has been conclusively proven bin Laden was behind the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole (see October 12, 2000). Bush has been in office a matter of days, when secret pipeline negotiations with the Taliban have begun. The new administration has already twice threatened the Taliban that the US would hold the Taliban responsible for any al-Qaeda attack. But, fearful of ending those negotiations, the US does not retaliate against either the Taliban or known bin Laden bases in Afghanistan in the manner Clinton did in 1998. [Washington Post, 1/20/02]
Barclay’s Bank handled terrorist funds for Al-Qaeda. Testimony of Jamal Ahmed Al-Fadl, U.S. v. bin Laden, Southern District of New York, February 2001, pertaining to the bombing by Al Qaeda of two U.S. embassies in 1999.

2001 February 10: Oil Prices Cripple African Nations Oil Monopolies. OPEC-- is not a monopoly as - usually alleged. These countries, mostly from Africa, Middle East and Latin America, control only 40% of the World oil exports. - American and British Oil companies control more of the oil resources than the governments in the OPEC group. Multinationals Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and Texaco together with the British Royal/Dutch and BP control the Oil market---refining, distribution and transportation. They buy crude oil at low prices and sell at high prices. Nigeria sells oil to Shell and other companies at $9. These companies fetch $28 at the world market price.--these companies are involved in oil price fixing at the retail level, governments benefit by taxes the products. Then they turn around and blame OPEC. But judging from the recent protests throughout Europe, many people are no longer being fooled. The oil monopolies have cutthroat competition among themselves and hence the need for them to consolidate by buying each other. Exxon bought Mobil while British Petroleum bought out Amoco. All make huge profits out of the pockets of consumers as well as the low price they pay for crude oil. In 1999, British Petroleum made 40% more profit than 1998. It earned $6.2 billion in profits. It is the second largest oil company in the World.---2 years ago—oil prices were (extremely) low after the Asian financial crisis. when so-called OPEC Oil Cartel tried to raise the price, the mechanism did not work. only when Norway, a non- OPEC country and second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia cut its production and Russia and Oman joined that prices started to climb. The US House of Representatives passed a resolution urging President Clinton to cut military and economic aid to OPEC countries if they did not cut prices. US officials threatened these countries with all kinds of pressure. President Clinton in his last trip to Africa pressured the Nigerian President to help in bringing the prices down. The African countries have let the oil monopolies control the refining, transportation and distribution process. Thus they determine the prices just to make higher profits. In countries like Kenya where the government has tried to regulate this monopoly, western government envoys have condemned such a move. [www.africanperspective.com John Munoru Issue#49 Saturday 02/10/2001

2001 February 14: Kuwait's Prime Minister appoints Adel al-Subeih as Minister of Petroleum.. (DJ)

2001 February 16: United States and British aircraft strike Iraqi air defense targets near Baghdad. (DJ)

2001 February 17: Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill announces that sanctions, proposed by the Clinton administration, against money-laundering havens will be reviewed, effectively delaying them. (He will announce on November 27 that the Cayman Islands will not have to tighten its banking laws until 2004). ("Evidence Indicates That Paul O’Neill Helped Enron Hide Financial Condition",
(http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1000)
Paul O'Neill, (Treasury), from the boardroom of Alcoa, the world's biggest aluminum maker after 13 years as CEO. Paul O'Neill was a top-level budget official in the Ford administration, then headed International Paper before joining Alcoa. A longtime crony of Cheney, O'Neill was recruited for the Alcoa post by Alan Greenspan, then on the board of the giant corporation, now chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. O'Neill is reportedly worth at least $100 million, and holds options on Alcoa stock which dwarf those of Cheney at Halliburton, the oil services company Cheney headed for five years.
The Ford Foundation, historically closely linked to the CIA and the military-industrial-academic complex, has in recent years provided substantial funding grants to a number of "alternative" media organizations, such as FAIR, Progressive magazine, and Pacifica. Alcoa is also linked to the Bush administration through Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, who was Belda's predecessor and who has also served as the chairman of war industry think tank Rand Corporation. Alcoa originally founded by the powerful right-wing Mellon family (whose Mellon Bank is currently the Carlyle Group's sole outside partner), the company was centrally involved in the conspiracy amongst a group of US industrialists and Wall Street interests in the 1930s to support and trade with the Nazis through a cartel agreement with I.G. Farben, the notorious industrial giant which built the Nazi war machine and ran their concentration camps. This would continue even into the early part of World War II, and Alcoa's sabotage of the US Air Force's aluminum production program with this cartel agreement led Secretary of Interior Harold Ickles to warn in June 1941, "If America loses the war it can thank the Aluminum Corporation of America." Some of the other elite names involved in this crime were Rockefeller, Ford, Harriman, DuPont, and Bush; all were strong supporters of the racial eugenics movement which inspired some of Hitler's own policies. [Alternative media paymasters Carlyle, Alcoa, Xerox, Coca Cola___ SF Indymedia.htm]

2001 February 19: President George W. Bush visits Mexican President Vicente Fox in Mexico, his first foreign trip as president. Discussions with Fox are reported to include the oil and gas industry and electric power grid links between Mexico and the United States. Foreign investment in the energy sector is a controversial issue in Mexico, where the energy sector historically has been state-owned. (DJ)

2001 February 20: The United States Supreme Court declines to consider an appeal by five major oil companies against Unocal's patent on production of cleaner "reformulated" gasoline sold in California, allowing a lower court ruling in favor of Unocal to stand. The ruling may eventually have effects beyond the California market, as tighter environmental standards for fuels take effect across much of the country. (DJ, WSJ) National Energy Policy Recommendations say:: Unocal patents…provide no… benefit to the industry or consumers. The huge royalties…are far in excess of the cost of even the reformulated gasoline program…may..cost consumers over $200 million per year….reduce supply and eliminate all incentive for overcompliance with environmental regulations….The patent will make it even harder to use ethanol in gasoline where ozone problems during summer months (Bush-Cheney energy Task Force notes) Could this be a dirty patent to help Unocal?

2001 February 22: Enron officials meet with Cheney. ("Key Dates in Enron Case", http://www.newsday.com/ny-g1enro0117.graphic?coll=ny-top-headlines)

2001 February 22: India's ONGC Videsh Limited Acquires Stake in Russian Oil Project In one of the largest merger and acquisition transactions in Russia to date, a subsidiary of India’s state-owned oil and gas company, ONGC Videsh Limited, has contracted to purchase a 20 percent stake in the giant Sakhalin 1 oil field, owned by subsidiaries of Russian state-owned company Rosneft. The terms of the transaction envisage that ONGC Videsh will make a cash payment, pay its share of the further development of the project, and also carry the Rosneft subsidiaries in financing their share of the further development of the project until the project becomes cash flow positive. ONGC Videsh’s total investment in Sakhalin 1 is expected to reach $1.5 billion-$2 billion.
Sakhalin 1 is one of the most significant of the few oil and gas fields developed in Russia with the support of foreign investment under the production-sharing legal regime. Operated by a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, the project expects to begin producing oil in 2005. [Law Firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]

2001 February 23: Secretary of State Colin Powell begins a trip to the Middle East for consultations with regional leaders which will include stops in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, Jordan, Kuwait, and Syria. It is his first foreign travel since taking office. (DJ)

2001 February 27: Calling global warming "a real phenomenon," Environmental Protection Agency chief Christie Whitman says the administration is considering limits on carbon dioxide emissions as part of a broader anti-pollution strategy.

2001 February 28: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces that it intends to proceed with implementation of tighter restrictions on sulfur content in diesel fuel, which were proposed by the Clinton administration. The rule, which will require a reduction of 97% in sulfur content by 2006, has been opposed by many in the refining industry. (DJ)

2001 March 2001: Laila Helms, the part-Afghan niece of the former CIA director and former U.S. ambassador to Tehran Richard Helms is described as unofficial Taliban representative in Washington. Ms Helms brought Sayed Rahmatullah Hashimi, an adviser to Mullah Omar, to Washington.after the Taliban had destroyed the ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan. Hashimi met the directorate of Central Intelligence at the CIA and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the State Department.

2001 March 4: Tests in recent days confirm the world's largest oil find in three decades in the Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea. Kashagan is a single reservoir at least 25 miles across, and two-and-a-half times the size of the nearby Tengiz field. (WSJ)

2001 March 5: EPA administrator Christie Whitman assures reporters that the United States is not backtracking from an international commitment made in 1997 to cut the pollution blamed for global warming.

2001 March 7: Likud party leader Ariel Sharon is sworn in as Prime Minister of Israel. (Reuters)

2001 March 8: United States Secretary of Energy Abraham attends the Hemispheric Energy Conference in Mexico, an annual meeting of Energy Ministers from 34 nations. He also meets with senior Mexican government officials in order to promote President Bush's "hemispheric energy policy." (LAT)

2001 March 12: Russian President Vladimir Putin formally agrees to resume conventional arms sales to Iran and to complete a delayed nuclear power plant. These agreements also set out general principles for the Russia-Iran military relationship and principles for resolving competing claims over oil and gas deposits in the Caspian Sea. (NYT & LAT) Turkey signs a natural gas purchase deal with AzerbaiJanuary that will deliver 233 billion cubic feet over 15 years. This adds momentum to United States and Turkish-backed pipeline plans from Baku to Ceyhan, Turkey. (WSJ)

2001 March 13: President Bush sends a letter to four Republican senators saying he will not limit carbon dioxide emissions by electric power plants, effectively abandoning the Kyoto Protocol.[ Climate fact sheets ]

2001 March 14: U.S. energy policy lacks global perspective and contains inherent contradictions, potentially making it difficult to meet emerging supply threats. The developing world will consume more energy than the developed world within 20 years. Supply needs to expand to meet demand growth—Under globalization, we are vulnerable to events dirupting supply or demand.
Recommendations: Avoid indiscriminate sanctions, need Iran, Iraq & Libya at full potential if other supplies not developed. Do not obstruct Caspian, Central Asian (pipeline routes) Increase foreign investment in energy producing countries. US must protect worldwide energy supply. Governments & private sector must protect energy infrastructure agaisnt sabotage, terrorist attack and cyberterrorism. [CSIS Press Release January 29, 2001] from Bush Cheney Energy Task Force notes

2001 March 15: The world's largest oil rig, located 80 miles offshore Brazil and operated by the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras, suffers three explosions. This one platform accounted for more than 5% of Petrobras' total production. On March 20 Petrobras' Platform-36 sinks with 400,000 gallons of fuel and crude oil aboard. (WSJ)

2001 March 17: OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) decides to cut output by 4% or 1 million barrels per day, effective April 1. The cut is aimed at preventing a price collapse in a time of weakening demand. (NYT)

2001 March 19: The Bush administration says it will relax federal pollution rules for blending ethanol into gasoline for the Chicago and Milwaukee markets to avoid a spike in prices during the summer driving season. --- Is this connected to this? United States Supreme Court declines to consider an appeal by five major oil companies against Unocal's patent on production of cleaner "reformulated" gasoline sold in California, allowing a lower court ruling in favor of Unocal to stand. The ruling may eventually have effects beyond the California market, as tighter environmental standards for fuels take effect across much of the country. (DJ, WSJ) National Energy Policy Recommendations say:: Unocal patents…provide no… benefit to the industry or consumers. The huge royalties…are far in excess of the cost of even the reformulated gasoline program…may..cost consumers over $200 million per year….reduce supply and eliminate all incentive for overcompliance with environmental regulations….The patent will make it even harder to use ethanol in gasoline where ozone problems during summer months (Bush-Cheney energy Task Force notes)

2001 March 19: QIAN QICHEN, China's Vice-Premier and foreign policy supremo, arrived in America last night in an attempt to block arms sales to Taiwan and restrict plans for a missile defence shield. Bush tougher stance against China , a "strategic competitor", rather than talking, as Bill Clinton did, of a "strategic partnership". China, in response, has announced a sharp increase in defence spending Gen Colin Powell, wants "to pick up where President Clinton left off" on North Korea, Mr Bush was quick to disagree and has refused to endorse the "sunshine policy" of bringing the two Koreas together favoured by President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea.

2001 March 19: National Report of America’s Energy Crisis "Current energy supply crisis is not due to depletion of resources but lack of political leadership. During the 1990’s, the Clinton Administration employed a policy of taxing demand, limiting supply, and ignoring the rapidly expanding needs of the future. Through neglect or complacency or ideology, this approch has led us to the crisis we face today Demand is rising across the board, but particularly for natural gas and electricity." By 2020 Americans will consume 62% more natural gas than we do today. More than 9 out of 10 of the announced new electric generating plants will be fired by natural gas.

2001 March 22: NPRA Recommendations on National Energy Policy (3 main recommendations)
Instead of requiring .(new low sulfur) diesel… by mid-2006…move...date back to 2008-9…No benefit (in)…using new diesel in old truck engines. This will…prevent loss of diesel supply and refinery closures which will take place (otherwise)….overall benefits.. not reduced
EPA’s campaign against U.S. refineries should be halted and reexamined….impossible to build new refineries…industry had to add capacity at existing sites to maintain..supply..for consumers….new demand met by increased imports of refined products…The EPA sent 114 requests..in effect blanket subpoenas, to most refiners...now facing legal action…when federal and state authorities urged the industry to produce product all-out to avoid shortages. EPA actions…an attempt to discredit the industry and collect tribute in the form of fines in order to allow refiners to get on with their business
The Unocal patents-provide no-benefit to the industry or consumers. The huge royalties-are far in excess of the cost of even the reformulated gasoline program-may-cost consumers over $200 million per year-.reduce supply and eliminate all incentive for overcompliance with environmental regulations-.The patent will make it even harder to use ethanol in gasoline where ozone problems especially during summer months (e.g. Chicago and Milwaukee) (maybe this is our governments way of soothing Unocals losses over the Afghan pipeline deal falling apart?

2001 March 26: Kazakhstan's opens an oil pipeline from the giant Tengiz field to the Russian port of Novorossiisk on Monday, giving the Central Asian producer its first direct link to international markets. The 900-mile pipeline will carry 600,000 barrels of oil per day by the end of the year, and eventually 1.5 million barrels per day. (NYT)

2001 March 26: [Washington Post] Major improvements of the CIA's intelligence gathering capability "in recent years." A new program called Oasis uses "automated speech recognition" technology to turn audio feeds into formatted, searchable text. It can distinguish one voice from another and differentiates "speaker 1" from "speaker 2" in transcripts. Software called Fluent performs "cross lingual" searches, even translating difficult languages like Chinese and Japanese as well as automatically assessing their importance. One week later, the BBC reports that Echelon has become particularly effective against mobile phones, recording millions of calls simultaneously and checking them against a powerful search engine designed to pick out key words that might represent a security threat. Laser microphones can pick up conversations inside buildings from up to a kilometer away by monitoring window vibrations. If a bug is attached to a computer keyboard it is possible to monitor exactly what is being keyed in, because every key on a computer has a unique sound when depressed. However, the government will later report that messages about the 9/11 attacks weren't translated until after 9/11 because analysts were "too swamped." [cooperativeresearch.org]

2001 March 28: The White House declares that the United States has abandoned the 1997 Kyoto treaty to fight global warming.
[ Sierra Club release ] [ Climate fact sheets ] [ Open Secrets report on campaign donations from coal mining companies ]

2001 March: A Taliban envoy meets with US officials in Washington and discusses turning bin Laden over. But the US wants to be handed bin Laden directly, and the Taliban want to turn him over for trial in some third country. About 20 more meetings on giving up bin Laden take place up till 9/11, all fruitless. [cooperativeresearch.org]

2001 March 27: Thomas Picking, Deputy Director FBI, supports a hearing on "Combating Terrorism: In Search of a National Strategy", which covers mainly two questions:
1. What is the current national strategy to combat terrorism?
2. Who in the United States government is in charge of coordinating all federal agency efforts to counter terrorism?
On the same panel also Robert S. Mueller, Paul Wolfowitz (Deputy Secretary of Defense), John Magaw (FEMA) and John E. McLaughlin (Deputy Director CIA). In another panel is Bruce Hoffman (RAND), Frank Cilluffo (CSIS) and others.
http://www.house.gov/reform/ns/web_resources/news_release_march_27.htm

2001 April: A report commission by former US Secretary of State James Baker entitled "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges For The 21st Century" is submitted to Vice President Cheney this month. "The report is linked to a veritable who's who of US hawks, oilmen and corporate bigwigs." The report says the "central dilemma" for the US administration is that "the American people continue to demand plentiful and cheap energy without sacrifice or inconvenience." It argues that "the United States remains a prisoner of its energy dilemma," and that one of the "consequences" of this is a "need for military intervention" to secure its oil supply. It argues that Iraq needs to be overthrown so the US can control its oil. [Sunday Herald, 10/5/02] In what may be a reference to a pipeline through Afghanistan, the report suggests the US should "Investigate whether any changes to US policy would quickly facilitate higher exports of oil from the Caspian Basin region... the exports from some oil discoveries in the Caspian Basin could be hastened if a secure, economical export route could be identified swiftly." [Strategic Energy Policy Challenges For The 21st Century, 4/01]
"Anticipated growth in the use of natural gas--in considerable part engendered as a fuel for electric power stations--raises a new series of geopoliticaI issues, leading to new political alignment" --- "The potential for armed conflict in energy-producing regions will remain high. Early in the twenty-first century, as a result, a weakening of U.S.alliance relationships in Europe, the PersianGuff, or Asia could have major impacts on global energy security. U.S.concerns over the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the desire to promote democratization and market liberalization around theWorld will also have a significant effect on key energy exporters. The future viability of the energy-producing states in the Caspian and Central Asia will be shaped by the competing objectives or Interesm of Russia, the United States, and adjacent regional powers." [quotes from Strategic Energy Policy Challenges For The 21st Century]

2001 April 2: WASHINGTON demanded the immediate return of a spy plane and its crew of 24 last night after a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter.

2001 April 9: U.S. President George Bush's budget for the Department of Energy is released. It calls for a 50% or $190 million cut in research programs for renewable energy sources. However, it adds $51 million for research on the use of hydrogen gas as an energy source and on advancing power transmission technology. (WP)
Letter to Bush: The current Saudi government is run by the direct lineage to King ; they are now all over (age) 70. Iran and Iraq create trouble for Saudi Arabia with the intention of bringing down the current governement. Religeous fundamentalists (Wahhabis) within Saudi Arabia have not changed in the last 25 years. The hand over of the governemnt to the next generatiopn of Saudis will might occur during Bushes presidency . High poetential for instability. If Saudi Arabia fall so does Qutar, Kuwait and the Emirates. This leaves the US and the world extremely vulnerable to an insecure oil supply. The Iranian revolution and the start of the Iranian Iraqi war in the 80’s was relatively minor compared to the fall of Saudi Arabia to a Saddam Hussein or Saudi equivalent. [from Cheney energy Task force notes]

2001 April 9: Bush submits budget to Congress. Federal funding for environmental programs in fiscal 2002 would shrink by about $2.3 billion. The budget proposes slashing $200 million from federal renewable energy and efficiency research programs, even as his administration declares the United States needs to find ways to cope with an "energy crisis." Bush asks Congress to remove from the Endangered Species Act a provision that allows environmental groups and others to sue the Interior Department to get rare plants and animals listed as endangered. The budget provision would still permit citizen lawsuits but effectively render them meaningless by placing severe limits on what the agency can do or spend to comply with them, according to Interior spokesman Mark Pfeifle. The budget also cuts $162 million for the Wetlands Reserve program, which provides technical and financial assistance to farmers who wish to restore and protect agricultural wetlands. EPA and the Interior Department in the new administration are putting greater emphasis on state and local governments taking charge of environmental and natural resources programs. The EPA budget, for example, would give states more latitude in enforcing federal environmental standards and the Interior Department would channel an unprecedented 50 percent of the Land and Water Conservation Fund to the states. With the release of his budget, Bush also abandoned a campaign pledge to invest $100 million a year in rainforest conservation [ More on the Bush environmental budget ]

2001 April 12: Two studies are released by the U.S. Commerce Department's National Oceanographic Data Center and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography that show a direct connection between rising ocean temperatures and emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. (WP)

2001 April 17: U.S. oil major Chevron announces that oil reserves in the Tengiz field in western Kazakhstan are about 368 million barrels according to its latest estimates. This is more than double previous estimates. The field, with Chevron as operator in a consortium consisting of Chevron, ExxonMobil, Kazakhstan's state oil company Kazakhoil and LukArco, a joint venture between BP and Russia's LUKoil, produced about 1.4 million barrels of crude in 2000. (WMO) A letter from U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Gale Norton to Florida Governor Jeb Bush is released, stating that the Bush administration has decided to go ahead with plans to auction six million acres of potentially oil-and-gas-rich seabed in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Department of the Interior estimates that the area contains 396 million barrels of oil and 2.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. (USAT) April 17: Ken Lay memo to Cheney, Enron's demands to the energy task force:"The Administration should reject any attempt to re-regulate the wholesale power markets by adopting price caps...Price caps, even if imposed on a temporary basis, will be detrimental to power markets and will discourage private investment by significantly raising political risk." Cheney will deny having seen the memo on 1 February 2002. ("Memo details Cheney-Enron links", http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/01/30/MN46204.DTL)

2001 April 18: Cheney announces that he opposes price caps for California power rates. ("Energy regulators launch latest investigation of Enron pricing ",

2001 April 19: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"Domestic Influences on U.S. Foreign Policy"
Speaker: James D. Bindenagel Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, U.S. Department of State
Speaker: Angelo M. Codevilla Author, Between the Alps and a Hard Place
Presider: Helle Bering Editorial Page Editor, Washington Times
[www.cfr.org]

2001 April 19: U.S. President George Bush states publicly that the U.S. government has no intention of removing economic sanctions on Iran and Libya. President Bush does not mention Iraq. According to the Washington Post, this statement comes after a draft of Vice President Cheney's energy task force report raises the possibility of lifting some of these restrictions. The Iran-Libya sanctions Act expires in August, at which point the U.S. Congress will have to renew it for sanctions to continue. (WP)

2001 April 19: Reps. Waxman and Dingell wrote to the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, asking it to investigate the conduct, operations, and funding of the energy task force. The congressional investigation of the task force was prompted by news reports that the task force had met privately with major campaign contributors, such as Kenneth Lay, the CEO of Enron, to discuss energy policy. According to these reports, major Republican contributors attended private sessions with Vice President Cheney and the task force met secretly with other contributors in formulating the President's National Energy Policy. [http://www.house.gov/reform/min/inves_energy/energy_cheney_chrono.htm]

2001 April 22: The Summit of the Americas in Quebec ends, with all countries except Venezuela and Cuba (the only country not to attend) agreeing to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas by the end of 2005. This would be the world's largest free trade zone, with combined output of more than $11 trillion. The United States, Canada, and Mexico agree to create a joint task force to look at ways to facilitate energy trade in the North American market. (Reuters)

2001 April 24: "[National Security] Agency officials have sometimes played tapes of bin Laden talking to his mother to impress members of Congress and select visitors to the agency." (quoted in 'Baltimore Sun', 24 April 2001)

April 24, 2001 CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"The Future of the Caspian Sea Region"
Speaker: Elizabeth Jones U.S. Department of State
Speaker: Howard Chase BP-Amoco
Presider: Richard W. Murphy Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Related Project(s): Middle East Roundtable
[www.cfr.org]

2001 April 26: The Directors of the Dabhol Electricity Plant of India, owned by Enron of the U.S., decide to halt electricity sales to the Maharashtra state electricity board. The state has declared its willingness to renegotiate the power purchasing agreement with Enron, but the company appears skeptical. The government would have to pay about $384 million to Enron if the project is terminated. (WMO)

2001April 27: Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Ali al-Naimi meets with a number of senior US officials, including Vice-President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham. Al-Naimi, in a statement before the meetings, says leading oil producers would not allow record-high gasoline prices to spin out of control. (WMO, Reuters)

2001 April 27: The Holy Cross Health and Adventist Healthcare forms a joint venture to support Biotech companies that want to get a product to market have to cross paths with the Food and Drug Administration
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2001/04/30/newscolumn5.html

2001 April 30: Vice President Cheney's national energy plan is publicly released. 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]
Bush Energy Plan Heavy On Increased Production With Less Emphasis On Conservation & Alt Fuels
SITUATION
Cheney intro'd Bush energy plan that focuses on added oil, natural gas & electric production/infrastructure
Increases domestic oil production including drilling Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Plan calls for construction of additional NG pipelines
Will be massive expansion of electrical power grid
Construction of nuclear, hydroelectric, oil & coal-fired power plants also part of project
SIGNIFICANCE
Energy conservation & alternative fuels minimized in plan
Plan development group is meeting in secret
Opponents allege undue influence by former Bush/Cheney oil interests
Appears Bush Admin approach is drilling, production & construction of additional NG & Oil sources http://www.arifleet.com/aripush/push165.html#seven May 7, 2001, #165 News digested April 30-- May 4, 2001

2001 April: An Enron memo, which Lay gave Cheney during their one-on-one meeting, makes eight energy-policy recommendations. Seven out of eight recommendations were adopted in the administration's final energy plan.

 

2001 May: A conference held at the Brookings Institution provides evidence that the exploitation of Caspian Basin and Asian energy markets was an urgent priority for the Bush administration, and the centerpiece of its energy policy

2001 May: Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, a career covert operative and former Navy Seal, travels to India on a publicized tour, while CIA Director George Tenet makes a quiet visit to Pakistan to meet with Pakistani leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Armitage has long and deep Pakistani intelligence connections. It would be reasonable to assume that while in Islamabad, Tenet, in what was described as "an unusually long meeting," also met with his Pakistani counterpart, Lt. Gen. Mahmud Ahmad, head of the ISID. [Source: The Indian SAPRA news agency, May 22, 2001]

2001 May 2: Enron Vice Chairman John Clifford Baxter resigns. (His body will be found on 25 January 2002). ("Enron press release", http://www.enron.com/corp/pressroom/releases/2001/ene/41- CliffBaxter-05-02-01-LTR.html)

2001 May 4: David Addington, counsel to Vice President Cheney, responded with a letter to Reps. Tauzin and Burton in which he refused to identify whom the task force had met with or who served on the task force staff. Mr. Addington also declined to turn over records produced or received by the task force in connection with its meetings with outside groups.
[http://www.house.gov/reform/min/inves_energy/energy_cheney_chrono.htm]

2001 May 7: Cheney's energy task force adopts many [17 ?] Enron proposals. ("Key Dates in Enron Case", http://www.newsday.com/ny-g1enro0117.graphic?coll=ny-top-headlines)

2001 May 8: Bush announced a new Office of National Preparedness for Terrorism at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. At the same time, he proposed to cut FEMA's budget by $200 million. Bush said that day that Cheney would direct a government-wide review on managing the consequences of a domestic attack.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wpdyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A8734-2002Jan19

2001 May 15: Regarding the placement of the Unocal Pipeline, a U.S. Official delivered this ultimatum to the Taliban (via the Pakistani delegation acting as their interlocutors): "Either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs." (Ref: Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie in "Forbidden Truth") (Book's Preface online-pdf format)

2001 May 15: Reps. Waxman and Dingell again wrote to Mr. Lundquist expressing their concern over the White House's refusal to provide basic information about the task force and reiterating their desire to obtain this information.
[http://www.house.gov/reform/min/inves_energy/energy_cheney_chrono.htm]

2001 May 16: Counsel to the Vice President Addington wrote to GAO asking whether GAO's investigation was appropriate, legal and productive. Mr. Addington suggested that the investigation might intrude into "Executive deliberations."

2001 May 17: BP and Shell say that they will build a $150 million, 100-mile natural gas pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico. The Okeanos pipeline will have the capacity to move as much as one billion cubic feet of gas per day from offshore production fields in ultradeep waters. (WSJ)

2001 May 17: The U.S. indirectly gives $43 million to Afghanistan's Taliban government as a reward for its efforts to stamp out opium-poppy cultivation. The same day, White House's energy policy recommended, "the president direct the Secretaries of State and Energy to work with India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to help India maximize its domestic oil and gas production."

2001 May 18: Saudi Arabia selects the eight foreign companies to take part in its "Gas Initiative," three core venture gas projects that have an anticipated worth of $25 billion. They are: Core Venture 1: ExxonMobil (lead), Shell, BP, and Phillips; Venture 2:ExxonMobil (lead), Occidental and Enron (a joint bid); Venture 3: Shell (lead), TotalFinaElf, and Conoco. The Gas Initiative is the first major reopening of Saudi Arabia's upstream hydrocarbon sector since nationalization in the 1970s. (WMO)

2001 May 21: The Enron Corporation's power generating venture in India, the Dabhol Power Company, serves formal notice that it will terminate its power supply contract and pull out. The $2.9 billion Dabhol project represents the single largest foreign investment in India. The gas-fired plant already had a generating capacity of 740 megawatts and another 1,444 megawatts was scheduled to go on line in June.

2001 May 22: Reps. Waxman and Dingell wrote to Mr. Addington to express their dismay at his unwillingness to cooperate with GAO and his questioning of GAO's authority to conduct an investigation. The letter dismissed Mr. Addington's ill-defined attempt to protect executive deliberations and explained that by precedent, executive privilege could only be invoked by the President himself [http://www.house.gov/reform/min/inves_energy/energy_cheney_chrono.htm]

2001 May 23: Shell announces that it has discovered a huge reserve of oil in Oil Mining Lease 118 offshore Nigeria. This is the same block where Shell is developing the 600-million barrel Bonga field. The discovery would appear to confirm the immense potential of Nigeria's deepwater offshore area. (WMO)

2001 May 23: Zalmay Khalilzad is appointed to a position on the National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Gulf, Southwest Asia and Other Regional Issues. Khalilzad is a former official in the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations. During the Clinton years, he worked for Unocal. [Independent, 1/10/02, State Department profile, 2001]
Khalilzad, a fellow Pashtun and the son of a former government official under King Mohammed Zahir Shah, was, in addition to being a consultant to the RAND Corporation, a special liaison between UNOCAL and the Taliban government. Khalilzad also worked on various risk analyses for the project. Khalilzad's efforts complemented those of the Enron Corporation, a major political contributor to the Bush campaign. Enron, which recently filed for bankruptcy in the single biggest corporate collapse in the nation's history, conducted the feasibility study for the CentGas deal. Vice President Cheney held several secret meetings with top Enron officials, including its Chairman Kenneth Lay, earlier in 2001. These meetings were presumably part of Cheney's non-public Energy Task Force sessions. A number of Enron stockholders, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, became officials in the Bush administration. In addition, Thomas White, a former Vice Chairman of Enron and a multimillionaire [The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]

2001 May 24: Sen. James Jeffords leaves the Republican party, turning control of the Senate over to the Democrats for the first time since 1994. Enron can no longer count on controlling both the Executive and Legislative branches of the United States government. ("Democrats regain Senate power with Jeffords' bolt", http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/05/24/jeffords.senate.03/ )

2001 May 2001: Around this time, intercepts from Afghanistan warn that al-Qaeda could attack an American target in late June or on the July 4 holiday. However, The White House's Counterterrorism Security Group does not meet to discuss this prospect. This group also fails to meet after intelligence analysts overhear conversations from an al-Qaeda cell in Milan suggesting that bin Laden's agents might be plotting to kill Bush at the European summit in Genoa, Italy, in late July. In fact, under Bush, the group only meets twice before 9/11 (June 3 and September 4). Under Clinton, the group met two or three times a week between 1998 and 2000. The White House later "aggressively defend[s] the level of attention, given only scattered hints of al-Qaeda activity." [cooperativeresearch.org]

2001 May 30: Iraqi Oil Minister Amir Mohammad Rasheed signs an oil and gas cooperation agreement with his Algerian counterpart, Chekib Khelil. The deal is thought to include an Algerian role in the development of the Touba oil field in southern Iraq and a new natural gas field in the Western Desert of Iraq. (WMO)

2001May 31: The United States and Britain win Security Council approval of a one-month extension of the United Nations oil-for-food program. A vote on the new "smart sanctions" on Iraq proposed by the United States and Britain is delayed at least one month. Iraq demands the usual six-month extension, and says that it will cut off oil exports in response. (WSJ) The Wall Street Journal summarizes tens of thousands of pages of evidence disclosed in a recently concluded trial of al-Qaeda terrorists. They are called "a riveting view onto the shadowy world of al-Qaeda." The documents reveal numerous connections between al-Qaeda and specific front companies and charities. They even detail a "tightly organized system of cells in an array of American cities, including Brooklyn, N.Y.; Orlando, Fla.; Dallas; Santa Clara, Calif.; Columbia, Mo., and Herndon, Va." (Apparently nothing is done. The 9/11 hijackers had ties to many of these same cities and charities.) [ cooperativeresearch.org]

2001 June: Dr. Christos Tsonas, Holy Cross, 4701 North Federal Highway in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida had to confirm to the FBI, that he probably examined in this month a member of the 911 "hijackers", Ahmed Alhaznawi. Tsonas is member of the American Board of Emergency Medicine. The survey list of Holy Cross' participants at the financial services is the Pentagon Federal Credit Union. http://www.hra-nca.org/about.asp Parts of that story, without mentioning any names had been already leaked in October/November 2001. It was refreshed in on March 23rd, 2002 in the NY Times. http://www.nypost.com/apstories/V0416.htm
Dr. Thomas Inglesby helps the FBI in their investigation and comes to the conclusion, that Alhaznawi has anthrax, while the FBI later didn't.

2001 June 1: GAO formally responded to Mr. Addington by explaining that its investigation was lawful and appropriate

2001 June: Construction halted on the Dabhol plant.

 

2001 June 27: Cheney stepped in to try to help Enron collect a $64 million debt from Dabhol. Conducted at a Washington meeting between Cheney and the leader of India's opposition, Sonia Gandhi.

 

2001 June 28: "Good news" a NSC staff member wrote in a e-mail memo: "The Veep mentioned Enron in his meeting with Sonia Gandhi." An unnamed government staff member wrote that (s)he would "ask the Indians" if Kenneth Lay "is invited to the dinner" with India's national security adviser, Brajesh Mishra. The memo is part of a series uncovered by the Washington Post that revealed that the National Security Council led a "Dabhol Working Group."

 

2001 June 30: Another Dabhol Working Group memo states the need to "broaden the advocacy" and recommends diplomatic action by the U.S. Embassy and the Ambassador. The memo also notes that Christina Rocca, in charge of Central Asian affairs for the U.S. government, met with a top aide to the Indian prime minister. The memo is marked as a "Confidential Business Communication."

2001 June 3: Iraq halts crude oil exports in response to a United Nations Security Council resolution that extends the oil-for-food program by only one month, instead of the normal six-month period. The oil-for-food program affects revenues from Iraqi sales of about 2.1 million barrels per day. However, it has been reported Iraq will continue to sell several hundred thousand barrels per day to its neighbors through sales that are outside of the oil-for-food program. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announces that, if need be, it will make up for lost Iraqi production. Oil prices do not change greatly in response to either announcement. (NYT) The eight energy companies selected by Saudi Arabia on May 18 to take part in its Gas Initiative formally sign agreements to develop the projects. It is expected that the conversion of Saudi Arabia's power plants from oil to natural gas, which is part of the deal, will free up more crude oil for export. (LAT, WP)

2001 June 5: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets final health and safety standards for a proposed nuclear waste depository at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert. This is a key step in allowing construction of the facility, which is essential to efforts to rejuvenate the U.S. nuclear power industry. The following day, the EPA sets ground water standards for this same site. (WP) Karl Rove divests his stocks in energy, defense and pharmaceutical companies. Rove owned holdings worth more than $100,000 in each Enron, Boeing, General Electric and Pfizer. ("Timeline of Enron's Collapse ", http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25624- 2002Jan10.html)

2001 June 6: A report from the National Academy of Sciences on global warming that had been requested by the Bush Administration is released. The report affirms the view that global warming is a real problem, i.e., that greenhouse gases are accumulating in the earth's atmosphere, and that air and ocean temperatures are rising. (NYT)

2001 June 7: Mr. Addington informed GAO that he did not believe that its investigation had a legal basis. Mr. Addington conceded that GAO was empowered to evaluate programs or activities which "the Government carries out under existing law," but he made the far-fetched argument that this provision did not extend to the activities of the energy task force because the task force carried out its operations under the authority of the Constitution. Mr. Addington further asserted that GAO's authority to investigate matters related to the use of public money was extremely limited.

2001 June 9: After four days of talks, the U.S. and China reach consensus on issues holding up Beijing's entry to the WTO and say they will work toward bringing China into the global trade body by year-end. the Chinese are determined to join the WTO, win the bid for the 2008 Olympics, and host a successful APEC summit meeting. With these goals in mind, Chinese leaders have opted to not retaliate against Bush administration ---instead sending signals to the United States that they wish to put the EP-3 (US spy plane mid air collision) incident in the past and get the bilateral relationship on the right track

2001 June 9: Robert Wright, an FBI agent who spent ten years investigating terrorist funding, writes a memo that slams the FBI. He states, "There is virtually no effort on the part of the FBI's International Terrorism Unit to neutralize known and suspected international terrorists living in the United States." He claims "FBI was merely gathering intelligence so they would know who to arrest when a terrorist attack occurred," rather than actually trying to stop the attacks. Wright claims the FBI shut down his 1998 criminal probe into alleged terrorist-training camps in Chicago and Kansas City. He says his superiors repeatedly blocked his attempts to shut off money flows to al-Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist groups. Yet his story is largely ignored by the media because the FBI will not allow Wright to provide details. He is now suing the FBI so he can tell his story. [copperativeresearch.org]

2001 June 11: Saudi Arabia announces that it has seized ownership, effective June 7, of the 1.6-million barrel-per-day IPSA pipeline that had carried Iraqi crude oil to the Saudi Red Sea port of Mu'jiz prior to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The seizure includes pumping stations, storage tanks, and the maritime terminal. Saudi Arabia claims that the asset was confiscated as a result of aggressive Iraqi actions. Iraq insists that it still owns the pipeline. (DJ)

2001 June 11: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
Milt Bearden: ... Nothing I have said suggested Osama bin Laden is not a component in international terrorism. I challenge the fact that Sudan [is] always assumed to be a component in all of the current international terrorism. I think any of those statements that you made should have been trumped at about the time the Sudanese said, "Okay, this is a bad guy, we'll kick him out." And they took that step which was very visible, absolutely documentable, and they did it. ...
Frontline: You're not saying Osama bin Laden is not a terrorist or is not an enemy of the United States?
Milt Bearden: Osama bin Laden has chosen to make himself an enemy of the United States. He has issued these disputable fatwahs, these Islamic proclamations, to kill all ... Americans and Jews. Therefore, he's made himself a component, and I think that the United States is absolutely justified in taking out Osama bin Laden. But to oversimplify it by linking him to every known terrorist act in the last decade is an insult to most Americans. And it certainly doesn't encourage our allies in this to take us very seriously. Osama bin Laden is a legitimate target for the United States, period. But then, to completely reinforce it with all of these insupportable accusations, I think is a disservice and an oversimplification
Frontline: And you think that we're a target just simply because we're a superpower.
Milt Bearden: Partly, but we're also a superpower who insists on being perceived by the least fortunate of the Islamic world as being somehow against them. It is not missed in Friday prayers that we sent 75 million dollars worth of missiles flying against the two poorest Islamic countries in the world, Afghanistan and Sudan. I spent too many years living in the shadow of one mosque or another not to take what happens at Friday prayers seriously. And that's what's going on. ...
Frontline: Because so much of what we hear about Osama bin Laden comes out of his Afghanistan experience, I'm trying to get this straight, he was mostly a philanthropist and a financial contributor, and a minor combat figure, who happened to dabble in combat?
Bearden: What I can say is that the hype that surrounds Osama bin Laden--most of it generated by the US media and backed up by statements that verge on hyperbole from the United States government--that this man was literally swinging through the valleys of the Hindu Kush with a dagger in his teeth and single-handedly driving out the Soviet army, this did not happen. The Afghan people did that. The Arab role in the combat situation on the ground was minimal to nonexistent, period. And to suggest otherwise is simply to either gloss over history or to create history for your own reasons.
Frontline: I can imagine someone out there watching saying. "This is the CIA talking." You're not going to admit that you created the most dangerous public enemy in the world.
Bearden: You bet I would. If I could look you in the eye and say, "Trust me, Osama bin Laden was my guy. If it wasn't for the CIA he wouldn't be anything then, he wouldn't be anything today," if I could say that with a straight face, I think that would speed up the process of removing Mr. bin Laden as a source of great, great concern for the United States. I can't say that because it's simply not true. You can find nobody who is familiar with the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan in those years that would say bin Laden played any role other than the fund-raiser. ...
Frontline: We've talked to people that say not only was bin Laden in combat, but there are photographs of him with a helmet on, a rifle, commanding troops.
Bearden:... Afghanistan, the jihad, was one terrific photo op for a lot of people. I will give you that he possibly was engaged in a battle in 1987 where the Saudi contingent and the Gulf Arab group carried off their role reasonably well. I have said that. ... But to carry that beyond ... that series of battles, I simply won't go along with [that] regardless of how many pictures someone can cough up showing bin Laden with a walkie talkie or bin Laden with a Kalishnakov. Anybody that goes in can get a photo op in Afghanistan in those years. ...
Frontline: So, really what we're looking at is some fact but a lot of fiction.
Bearden: There's a lot of fiction in there. But we like that. It's the whole Osama bin Laden mythology. It's almost part entertainment. We don't have a national enemy. We haven't had a national enemy since the evil empire slipped beneath the waves in 1991. And I think we kind of like this way. We like this whole international terrorist thing oddly enough at a time when it probably is changing its character dramatically."The Evolving Role of the World Bank"
Speaker: Paolo F. Gomes Alternative Executive Director (Africa), World Bank
Speaker: Pieter Stek Executive Director (Europe), World Bank
Presider: Nancy Birdsall Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
[www.cfr.org]

2001 June 12: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
This meeting was rescheduled from May 24, 2001.
"Negotiating Holocaust Assets: A Study in Multilateral Diplomacy"
Speaker: Stuart E. Eizenstat Special Representative for the President and Secretary of State on Holocaust Issues; Deputy Secretary, Treasury Dept. (1999–2001)
Presider: Sidney Harman Executive Chairman, Harman International Industries Inc.
[www.cfr.org]

2001 June 14: President Bush meets with European leaders at a European Union (EU) gathering. After the meeting, European Commission President Romano Prodi announces that EU member nations will soon begin a concerted drive to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, an international pact to combat global warming that Bush has rejected. (LAT).

2001 June: President Bush discussed at a CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies ) meeting, "how biotechnology innovations may help meet domestic energy".
On the board of the CSIS e.G.:
R. James Woolsey
James R. Schlesinger
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Henry A. Kissinger
Robert S. Strauss, (Emeritus) Robert S. Strauss is director of Hollinger Inc., a company by Richard Perle, another member of the "Wolfowitz Cabal" Strauss is also in the Law Firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, which is now partnered with Kroll

2001 June 15: ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum sign a letter of intent for a natural gas to liquids (GTL) project that would be the largest in the world. The plant would have a production capacity of 80,000 to 90,000 barrels per day, and would use about 640 million to 720 million cubic feet of natural gas per day as feedstock. The project is expected to cost between $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion to construct. (OD)

2001 June 16: The Iraqi Trade Minister, Mohammed Mehdi Saleh, states that Iraqi crude oil exports will not resume as long as the U.S.-British changes to the memorandum governing the oil-for-food program (i.e."smart sanctions") are being considered. (AP)

2001 June 18: General Electric CEO Jack Welch calls White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card to ask for assistance in pressuring the European Union to approve GE’s proposed merger with Honeywell. The next day, Bush interrupts his tour of Poland to tell reporters, "I am concerned that the Europeans have rejected it." The head of the EU antitrust review committee subsequently complains that he is being coerced by the Bush Administration to see things General Electric’s way.("The Payoff", http://makethemaccountable.com/podvin/media/020131_Payoff.htm)

2001 June 22-23: The same crew (see May 2000 re: the Johns Hopkins Center, in collaboration with the ANSER
Institute for Homeland Defense, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Oklahoma Memorial Institute for the Study of Terrorism organised their last big scenario before Sep11th. They called it DARK WINTER. It was about a possible
Smallpox attack. Jerome Hauer participated as well, this time "playing" the director of the FBI. The whole list is still mirrored at:
http://www.hopkins-biodefense.org/participants.html http://www.mipt.org/darkwinter06222001.htmlhttp://www.homelanddefense.org/darkwinter/index.cfm Among the other participants once again: James Woolsey, ex-CIA director Hon. Sam Nunn George Terwilliger etc. Observing, among many others, Thomas Inglesby, at that time Senior Fellow Johns Hopkins Institute On July 14th, 2001 the testimony on DARK WINTER was released: http://www.csis.org/press/ma_2001_0723.htm

2001 June 22: GAO's General Counsel responded to Mr. Addington explaining in painstaking detail the legal basis for the investigation. The ten-page letter observed that "GAO has broad authority . . . to conduct the subject review and obtain [the] information requested." The letter pointed out that GAO has conducted numerous reviews of White House programs and activities in the past, such as President Clinton's Task Force on Health Care Reform and the White House China Trade Relations Group. The letter pointed to two statutes which "provide clear authority for the subject inquiry" and which give GAO tremendous discretion in performing its investigations. According to GAO, "[i]t would be difficult to conceive of language giving any official greater discretion than does the language in the statutory provisions at issue."

2001 June 23: Reuters reports that "Followers of exiled Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden are planning a major attack on US and Israeli interests in the next two weeks." The report is based on the personal impression of a reporter who interviewed bin Laden and some of his followers two days earlier. This reporter is quoted as saying: "There is a major state of mobilization among the Osama bin Laden forces. It seems that there is a race of who will strike first. Will it be the United States or Osama bin Laden?" [cooperativeresearch.org]

2001 July 24: An Iranian warship in the Caspian Sea threatens a BP oil exploration ship off the coast of AzerbaiJanuary This prompts BP to suspend exploration in the area. The two vessels were in the Araz-Alov-Sharg field 90 miles southeast of Baku. Iran claims the field is in Iranian waters. Caspian Sea region countries have been unable to agree on a division of the Sea. (NYT)

2001 June: Construction halted on the Dabhol plant.
 
2001 June 27: Cheney stepped in to try to help Enron collect a $64 million debt from Dabhol. Conducted at a Washington meeting between Cheney and the leader of India's opposition, Sonia Gandhi.
 
2001 June 28: "Good news" a NSC staff member wrote in a e-mail memo: "The Veep mentioned Enron in his meeting with Sonia Gandhi." An unnamed government staff member wrote that (s)he would "ask the Indians" if Kenneth Lay "is invited to the dinner" with India's national security adviser, Brajesh Mishra. The memo is part of a series uncovered by the Washington Post that revealed that the National Security Council led a "Dabhol Working Group."
2001 June 28: Enron and Mirant are cited for contempt by California's Senate Select Committee to Investigate Market Manipulation. The documents — which include details on bidding, pricing and other aspects of power sales — had been requested in subpoenas issued earlier to Enron Corp., Mirant Inc. and four other generating companies [which?]. ("Contempt Motion For Energy Giants", http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,297073-412,00.shtml)
 
2001 June 30: Another Dabhol Working Group memo states the need to "broaden the advocacy" and recommends diplomatic action by the U.S. Embassy and the Ambassador. The memo also notes that Christina Rocca, in charge of Central Asian affairs for the U.S. government, met with a top aide to the Indian prime minister. The memo is marked as a "Confidential Business Communication."

2001 June 30: ENI of Italy signs a $550 million contract to develop Iran's Darquain (Darkhovin) field, with expected production of 160,000 barrels per day. This deal may be seen as a test of the U.S. government's resolve to enforce sanctions against foreign companies investing in Iran's energy sector. (LAT) The White House acknowledges Karl Rove was involved in shaping the administration's energy policy at a time when he owned equities in energy companies. ("Timeline of Enron's Collapse ", http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25624-2002Jan10.html)

2001 July 2: U.S. Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton states that the Bush Administration will seek to let oil companies drill on about 1.5 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico out of the 6 million originally under consideration. This removes acreage closest to the shores of Alabama and Florida. (NYT) The United Nations (U.N.) Security Council, facing an almost certain Russian veto, agrees to postpone indefinitely a vote on the U.S.-led "smart sanctions" package for Iraq, despite support by the four other council members. Instead, it will extend, most likely through the end of the year, the program that allows Iraq to export oil and import food and other commodities under U.N. supervision. (WSJ)

2001 July 3: At a meeting of its oil ministers, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agrees to maintain current production quotas. Ministers indicate that, if Iraqi oil returns to the market, they may cut production in response to maintain their desired level of prices. (WP)

2001 July 4-14: Osama bin Laden meets with an unnamed CIA agent while being treated for kidney problems in Dubai. CNN will corroborate the renal-failure story on Jan 21, 2002. ("Report: bin Laden Treated at U.S. Hospital", http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/10/31/114942.shtml) This STORY was release October 31, 2001.
"While he was hospitalised [in the American Hospital in Dubai in July, 2001], bin Laden received visits from many members of his family as well as prominent Saudis and Emiratis." 'Le Figaro': (6)

2001 July 10: Amerada Hess agrees to acquire Triton Energy for $2.7 billion in cash. Both companies' boards have approved the transaction. Triton Energy is an international exploration and production company with major oil and natural gas assets in West Africa and Latin America. Triton's total proved reserves are estimated at 293.5 million barrels of oil equivalent. Amerada Hess' total proved reserves are estimated at 1.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent. (DJ)

2001 July 10: Phoenix, Arizona FBI agent Ken Williams sends a memo to FBI headquarters and several other FBI offices, warning about suspicious activities of 10 Middle Eastern men taking flight training lessons in Arizona. The memo specifically suggests that bin Laden's followers might be trying to infiltrate the civil-aviation system as pilots, security guards or other personnel, and recommends a national program to track suspicious flight-school students. The memo is ignored and no action is taken, not even surveillance of the 10 suspected students. One of the students mentioned periodically roomed and trained with hijacker Hani Hanjour for several years in Arizona. In May 2002, Vice President Cheney states that the memo should never be released to the media or public. [copperativeresearch.org]

2001 July 11: Iraq resumes oil exports, ending a 5-week halt in protest of a U.S. and British-sponsored United Nations (U.N.) Security Council resolution that would have overhauled U.N. sanctions, after this resolution did not come to a vote (see July 2). The oil-for-food program will be extended for five months. (NYT)

2001 July 11: congressional letter to President Bush on U.S. pipeline policy in the Caucasus. Baku-Ceyhan pipeline undermines US interests in the region. Azerbaijan’s demand that the pipeline bypass Armenia runs counter to US policy for the region

2001 July 12: A bomb attack shuts down pumping at Colombia's Cano Limon Pipeline, the country's second-largest crude oil export pipeline, just 19 hours after it had been returned to service after an earlier bombing. The 485-mile pipeline, which can transport 120,000 barrels per day to the port of Covenas, has been bombed over 100 times in 2001. In the previous week, the 110,000-barrel-per-day Colombia Pipeline was also bombed, shutting down production there. For the year-to-date, Colombia's oil exports have fallen 28.7% compared to the previous year. (OD, DJ)

2001 Mid-July: John O'Neill, FBI counter-terrorism expert, privately discusses White House obstruction in his bin Laden investigation. O'Neill says:"The main obstacles to investigate Islamic terrorism were US oil corporate interests and the role played by Saudi Arabia in it." He adds:"All the answers, everything needed to dismantle Osama bin Laden's organization, can be found in Saudi Arabia." O'Neill also believes the White House is obstructing his investigation of bin Laden because they are still keeping the idea of a pipeline deal with the Taliban open. [CNN, 1/8/02, CNN, 1/9/02, Irish Times, 11/19/01, Bin Laden: The Forbidden Truth, released 11/11/01 (the link is an excerpt containing Chapter 1)] In the few months leading up to September 11, O'Neill was now suddenly the subject of a series of seemingly unrelated controversies -- the first, in July, involving his dispute with the State Department over the conduct of the bin Laden investigation in Yemen; [The mystery surrounding the death of John O'Neill The Propaganda Preparation for 9-11, by Chaim Kupferberg.htm]

2001 July 16: British spy agencies warn that al-Qaeda is in "the final stages" of preparing a terrorist attack in the West. The report states there is "an acute awareness" that the attack is "a very serious threat." In early August, the British add that the attack will involve multiple airplane hijackings. This warning is included in Bush's briefing on August 6. [copperativeresearch.org]

2001 July 18: Faced with continued White House intransigence, the Comptroller General wrote to the Vice President "to demand full and complete access" to the information, pursuant to 31 U.S.C. § 716. This represents only the 32nd time that GAO has issued a formal demand letter. By law, the Vice President had 20 days to respond to the letter. [http://www.house.gov/reform/min/inves_energy/energy_cheney_chrono.htm]

2001 July 21: Three American officials, Tom Simons (former US Ambassador to Pakistan), Karl Inderfurth (former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs) and Lee Coldren (former State Department expert on South Asia) meet with Pakistani and Russian intelligence officers in a Berlin hotel. [Salon, 8/16/02] It is the third of a series of back-channel conferences called "brainstorming on Afghanistan." Taliban representatives sat in on previous meetings, but boycotted this one due to worsening tensions. However, the Pakistani ISI relays information from the meeting to the Taliban. [Guardian, 9/22/01] At the meeting, former US State Department official Lee Coldren passes on a message from Bush officials. He later says, "I think there was some discussion of the fact that the United States was so disgusted with the Taliban that they might be considering some military action." [Guardian, 9/26/01] Accounts vary, but former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Niaz Naik later says he is told by senior American officials at the meeting 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. Uzbekistan and Russia would also participate. Naik also says "it was doubtful that Washington would drop its plan even if bin Laden were to be surrendered immediately by the Taliban." [BBC, 9/18/01] One specific threat made at this meeting is that the Taliban can choose between "carpets of bombs" - an invasion - or "carpets of gold" - the pipeline. [Bin Laden: The Forbidden Truth, Guillaume Dasquié and Jean-Charles Brisard, released 11/11/01 (the link is an excerpt containing Chapter 1)] Niaz Naik says Tom Simons made the "carpets" statement. Simons claims: "It's possible that a mischievous American participant, after several drinks, may have thought it smart to evoke gold carpets and carpet bombs. Even Americans can't resist the temptation to be mischievous." Naik and the American participants deny that the pipeline was an issue at the meeting. [Salon, 8/16/02] So then what was the "carpets of gold" phrase referring to? FTW According to the Washington Post, the Special Envoy of Mullah Omar, Rahmatullah Hashami, even came to Washington bearing a gift carpet for President Bush from the one-eyed Taliban leader. The Village Voice reported that Hashami, on behalf of the Taliban, offered the Bush administration to hold on to bin Laden long enough for the United States to capture or kill him but, inexplicably, the administration refused. Meanwhile, Spozhmai Maiwandi, the director of the Voice of America's Pashtun service, jokingly nicknamed "Kandahar Rose" by her colleagues, aired favorable reports on the Taliban, including a controversial interview with Mullah Omar. [The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]

2001 July 23: Following days of intense negotiations at the CoP-6 meeting in Bonn, an agreement is reached by 178 countries that would require industrialized countries to cut emissions of gases linked to global warming. The final product is a modified version of the Kyoto Protocol. The United States declines to participate in the agreement. (NYT)

2001 July 24: An Iranian warship in the Caspian Sea threatens a BP oil exploration ship off the coast of AzerbaiJanuary This prompts BP to suspend exploration in the area. The two vessels were in the Araz-Alov-Sharg field 90 miles southeast of Baku. Iran claims the field is in Iranian waters. Caspian Sea region countries have been unable to agree on a division of the Sea. (NYT)

2001 July 25: Faced with declining oil prices, OPEC ministers agree to cut crude oil production quotas by about 4%, or one million barrels per day. The cut will take effect September 1, and is aimed at maintaining the price of the OPEC basket of crude oils at around $25 per barrel. Crude oil futures for September delivery climbed 47 cents per barrel, to $26.78, on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) after the announcement. (DJ)

2001 July 26: CBS News reports that Attorney General Ashcroft has stopped flying commercial airlines due to a threat assessment, but "neither the FBI nor the Justice Department ... would identify [to CBS] what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it." The San Francisco Chronicle later concludes, "The FBI obviously knew something was in the wind ... The FBI did advise Ashcroft to stay off commercial aircraft. The rest of us just had to take our chances." CBS's Dan Rather later says of this warning: "Why wasn't it shared with the public at large?" [cooperativeresearch.org]

2001 July 30: The flow of natural gas from Iran to Turkey through the Tabriz-Ankara pipeline, completed on July 26, is delayed. Turkey states that its state gas company, Botas, wants to conduct additional tests on the pipeline. The National Iranian Gas Company claims that the delays are a tactic by Turkey to avoid paying compensation to Iran for not being technically prepared on the agreed start-date for exports. Under the 23- year deal signed in 1996, Iran was to have begun exporting 106-billion cubic feet per day, increasing to 353- billion cubic feet per day from 2007 onward. (AP)

2001 July 31: Ken Lay completes the sale of $101 million worth of stock over a nine-month period. ("Key Dates in Enron Case", http://www.newsday.com/ny-g1enro0117.graphic?coll=ny-top-headlines)
Between July 10th and early August (when the FBIHQ and (John) O'Neill received the Kenneth Williams Phoenix-Memo), John Pickard takes over the job of NY-FBI director Louis Feesh. Pickard was involved in the TWA flight 800 investigation and the embassy bombings in Africa. In 1979 he worked undercover on the money laundering case code named "ABSCAM". http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel01/pickard103101.htm

2001 July late: David Schippers, noted conservative Chicago lawyer and the House Judiciary Committee's chief investigator in the Clinton impeachment trial, later claims that FBI agents in Chicago and Minnesota contact him around this time and tell him that a terrorist attack is going to occur in lower Manhattan. According to Schippers, the agents had been developing extensive information on the planned attack for many months. However, the FBI soon pulls them off the terrorist investigation and threatens them with prosecution under the National Security Act if they go public with the information. As a result, they contact Schippers hoping he can persuade the government to take action. Schippers tries to pass the information on to high government officials but apparently his efforts are ignored. Partly in conjunction with Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm, Schippers is now representing at least ten FBI agents in a suit against the US government in an attempt to have their testimony subpoenaed, which would enable them to legally tell what they know without going to jail. [cooperativeresearch.org]

2001 July: CSIS host a discussion on U.S. sanctions policy and suggest to relax the trade embargo on Cuba.
http://www.csis.org/press/ma_2001_0710.htm Among its board members: Harold Brown (member of the boards of directors of Cummins Engine Company, Philip Morris, Mattel, and Evergreen Holdings, Inc. He is a trustee of the California Institute of Technology, RAND, and the Trilateral Commission (North America). James R. Schlesinger (associated with the RAND Corporation as a senior staff member (1963-67), and Director of Strategic Studies, (1967-1969). He left the Bureau of the Budget in August 1971 when President Nixon selected him to become chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. He held that post until February 1973 when he was named director of the CIA. Both Schlesinger and Brown are also on the board of Daily Telegraph UK, owned by Hollinger Inc, which owns 400 newspapers worldwide is Richard Perles company (who is the top advisor of the Pentagon) Other members of the board of CSIS: James Woolsey, ex CIA director and Perle/Wolfowitz friend Henry A. Kissinger , Mr. "Everywhere" Zbigniew Brzezinski , "Conspirator Specialist" William S. Cohen, codirector at Empower America, U.S. senator (1979-1997) Senior Advisor is Anthony Zinni

2001 August: Hamza Alghamdi ("WTC-south tower") rents an unit 1504 at the Delray Racquet Club, 755 Dotterel Rd.(confirmed on 10/13, rented by Gloria Irish, wife of Editor Michael Irish of the Sun) . Bob Stevens later becomes the first anthrax victim. His paper Sun Sentinel was in the same building as National Equirer, who had been attacked in 2000 by an upset President Bush because of their negative articles about his daughter. This disturbing connection to the Sun Sentinel is later ignored by the main media http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/florida/digdocs/065965.htm
Coincidentally enough, the woman who happened to find an apartment for one of the alleged hijackers was the wife of the senior editor of the National Enquirer. Moreover, her husband, Michael Irish, also happened to make use of an airfield that served as flight training for some of the hijackers. In intelligence operations, foreign assets are often placed with resident "controllers" whose job it is to supervise the asset as well as provide accommodations as the need arises. Who are Michael and Gloria Irish? Or, perhaps more revealingly, what kind of social circles do they run with? This is certainly an avenue worth exploring -- by reason of its many synchrocities if for nothing else. Again, the seam that shows. [The mystery surrounding the death of John O'Neill The Propaganda Preparation for 9-11, by Chaim Kupferberg.htm]

2001 August: False Flag 11 preparation: New York Air National Guard Unit sent to Saudi Arabia as Part of Operation Southern Watch. Fighters from Langley Air Force Base are deployed to Iceland for Operation Northern Guardian.

2001 August 2: The last meeting between U.S. and Taliban representatives took place five weeks before the attacks on New York and Washington, the analysts maintain. On that occasion, Christina Rocca met the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan in Islamabad.

2001 August 2: Christina Rocca, the Director of Asian Affairs at the State Department, secretly meets the Taliban ambassador in Islamabad, apparently in a last ditch attempt to secure a pipeline deal. Rocca was previously in charge of contacts with Islamic guerrilla groups at the CIA, and oversaw the delivery of Stinger missiles to Afghan mujaheddin in the 1980's. [Irish Times, 11/19/01, Salon, 2/8/02, Bin Laden: The Forbidden Truth, Guillaume Dasquié and Jean-Charles Brisard, released 11/11/01 (the link is an excerpt containing Chapter 1)] FTW
The Taliban visits to Washington continued up to a few months prior to the September 11 attacks. The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research's South Asian Division maintained constant satellite telephone contact with the Taliban in Kandahar and Kabul. Washington permitted the Taliban to maintain a diplomatic office in Queens, New York headed by Taliban diplomat Abdul Hakim Mojahed. In addition, U.S. officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca, who is also a former CIA officer, visited Taliban diplomatic officials in Islamabad. [The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]

2001 August 2: Ultimatum issued to Taliban.

2001 August 2: The last secret meeting between US officials and the Taliban is held, apparently in a last ditch attempt to secure a pipeline deal. Talks break off, and the US prepares plans to invade and occupy Afghanistan. [cooperativeresearch.org]

2001 August 2: Vice President Cheney rebuffed GAO's formal demand for information. In a letter to the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Vice President asserted that the Comptroller General has "exceed[ed] his lawful authority" and that GAO's investigation "would unconstitutionally interfere with the functioning of the Executive Branch."

2001 August 3: U.S. President George Bush signs into law the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) Extension Act of 2001. This Act provides for a 5-year extension of ILSA with amendments that affect certain of the investment provisions. ILSA sanctions foreign companies that provide new investments of over $40 million for the development of petroleum resources in Iran or Libya, or that violate existing United Nations prohibitions against trade with Libya. The law allows the president to waive sanctions against a foreign company if doing so is deemed to be in the U.S. national interest. U.S. companies are prohibited by U.S. law from engaging in any commercial or financial transactions with Iran or Libya.

2001 August 6: Richard Perle (Head of the Defense Policy Board) said: "...We're concerned about Saddam Hussein, we're concerned about the North Koreans, about some future Iranian government that may have the weapon they're now trying so hard to acquire - we're in a unique position as the sole super power.." http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/roguestate/interviews/perle.htm
Richard Perle One of Bush's Foreign Policy Advisors and chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board. He had worked as Bush's Jewish national security campaign advisor. A very likely Israeli agent, Perle was expelled from Senator Henry Jackson's office in the 1970's after the National Security Agency (NSA) caught him passing Highly-Classified (National Security) documents to the Israeli Embassy. He later worked for the Israeli weapons firm, Soltam. Perle is also Director of Hollinger Inc, Hollinger Digital also owns Onset Technology which cooperates with spy messenger software of Comverse and Odigo. Hollinger Inc. owns more than 400 newspapers worldwide and controls almost 50% of the Canadian press. They are the third largest newspaper chain in the Western world, after Gannett and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Chairman and CEO of Hollinger is Conrad Black who controls about 78% of Hollinger through a private holding company. Hollinger also owns the Sydney Morning Herald, the Chicago Sun Times and the Daily Telegraph. On the board of Daily Telegraph is Henry Kissinger, ex-CIA-Director James Woolsey, Newt Gingrich, former Admiral David Jeremiah, Dan Quayle, former US-ministers James Schlesinger and Harold Brown. On 26th of October Daily Telegraph tried to promote the Iraq-October-anthrax theory: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2001%2F10%2F26%2Fwirq26.xml
Hollinger and their board members, including Henry Kissinger, have connections to Sunday Times, Chase Manhattan Bank, AT&T, American Express, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Hasbro and Israeli Yellow Pages.
Hollinger also owns the Jerusalem Post. It's very convenient to follow Richard Perle’s strategy, supported by his friends James Woolsey, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Armitage.

2001 August 6: In a written statement, GAO said "Contrary to the Vice President's statements, we are not interested in obtaining his daily schedule or reviewing communications involving the President, the Vice President, the President's senior advisors and others. We have made this clear in several communications to the Vice President's representatives. We are simply asking for facts that the Vice President, as Chair of the National Energy Policy Development Group, or others representing the group, would be in a position to provide to GAO." GAO's statement pointed out that the Comptroller General had attempted to speak with the Vice President the previous week, without success.

2001 August 6: President Bush receives a 11.5 page report including a warning about an "attack with planes". A shorter memo goes to Dick Cheney, Andrew Card, Condoleeza Rice, Sen. Richard Shelby, Sen. Bob Graham, GOP Rep. Porter Goss, Rep. Nancy Pelosi. President Bush receives classified intelligence briefings at his Crawford, Texas ranch indicating that bin Laden might be planning to hijack commercial airliners. The memo read to him is titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US", and the entire 11 page memo focuses on the possibility of terrorist attacks inside the US. The contents have never been made public. The existence of this memo is kept secret until May 2002. Vice President Cheney later calls the memo just a "rehash" containing nothing new or interesting. But he says Congress and the public should not see it, "because it contains the most sensitive sources and methods. It's the family jewels." [MSNBC] [cooperativeresearch.org]

2001 August 10: The United States and Great Britain reject a proposal by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to permit the Iraqi government to use $1 billion per year to fund infrastructure improvements and to increase oil production capacity. It has been suggested that without infrastructure investment, Iraq's production could fall significantly over the next few years. (WMO)

2001 August 13: Iraqi Vice-President Ramadan announces that Syria will soon hire contractors to build a new oil pipeline stretching from the Iraqi border to Syria. The pipeline would replace an old one that was shut down in 1982, but is reported to be operating. (DJ)

2001 August 14: Devon Energy buys Mitchell Energy for $3.1 billion in cash and stock. The transaction, which was approved by the boards of trustees of both companies, also involves the assumption by Devon of $400 million of Mitchell's debt. This deal makes Devon the second-largest independent producer of natural gas in the United States. (WSJ, DJ) President Bush names Pat Wood III to be the new chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, effective September 1, to succeed Curtis Hebert, who announced his resignation on August 6. (WSJ) Ken: Lay writes an email message to his employee/stockholders: "Our performance has never been stronger; our business model has never been more robust. ...We have the finest organization in American business today." ( http://www.truthout.com/01.16A.Pitt.Enron.htm )

2001 August 15: Enron vice president for corporate development, Sherron Watkins, warns Lay of "a veil of secrecy" around off-book partnerships and predicts the company will "implode in a wave of accounting scandals" ("Enron chief got early warning", http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45822-2002Jan14.html ;

2001 August 17: The Comptroller General issued a formal report regarding the White House's refusal to cooperate with GAO's investigation. As stipulated in 31 U.S.C. § 716, the report was filed with the President and Congress. This represents just the fifth such report that GAO has issued in the 21 years since § 716 was enacted, and it is the first report regarding non-cooperation by the President or Vice-President. [http://www.house.gov/reform/min/inves_energy/energy_cheney_chrono.htm]

2001 August 19: John O'Neill's briefcase with important documents is stolen during a Miami conference and is recovered later.- In the few months leading up to September 11, O'Neill was suddenly the subject of a series of seemingly unrelated controversies –the first, in July, involving his dispute with the State Department over the conduct of the bin Laden investigation in Yemen; and the second, in August, in which he was reported to be under an FBI probe for misplacing a briefcase of classified documents during an FBI convention in Tampa. In the light of the aftermath of this second controversy -- the documents were found, "untouched", a few hours later. Why this seemingly minor news would merit such lengthy coverage in the Washington Post and New York Times a mere three weeks before he was to die in the rubble of the Twin Towers. (in a job arranged for him by Jerry Hauer) (O’Neill had complained that the White House was obstructing his investigation into Bin Laden to protect oil interests) [The mystery surrounding the death of John O'Neill The Propaganda Preparation for 9-11, by Chaim Kupferberg.htm]

2001August 20: A Superior Court Judge in San Jose, California signs a settlement agreement between the environmental group Communities for a Better Environment and five large oil companies (Shell, Chevron, Texaco, Equilon Enterprises, and Unocal) that will force the companies to clean up their sites that have been contaminated with the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). Arco, Tosco, and ExxonMobil are still in litigation. (DJ)
Week of August 20th "...three weeks before the attack of September 11 security at the World Trade Center was abruptly heightened..." Source: counterpunch.com This was also confirmed by financial analyst Ben Fountain "...over the past few weeks we'd been evacuated a number of times, which is unusual..." http://people.aol.com/people/special/0,11859,174592-5,00.html

2001 August 22: Counter-terrorism expert John O'Neill, "committed tracker of Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network of terrorists," quits the FBI because of the recent power play against him led by Tom Pickard, interim director of the FBI, and because of repeated obstruction of his investigations into al-Qaeda. O’Neill never hears the CIA warning about hijackers Alhazmi and Almihdhar sent out just one day later nor Ken Williams' flight school memo, nor of Walid Arkeh's warning, nor about the arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui, nor is he at a June meeting when the CIA revealed some of what it knew about Alhazmi and Almihdhar. [The next day he begins a new job as head of security at the WTC. He dies in the 9/11 attack, one day after moving into his office inside the WTC.]

2001 August 22: After Colleen Rowley's memo was ignored by the FBIHQ including Dale Watson (Ex-CIA),she tries to get in touch on her own with the NSLU. She answers in an e-mail message, from an attorney at the National Security Law Unit (NSLU). "...Of course, with (ever important!) 20-20 hindsight, I now wish I had taken more time and care to compose my response..."
When asked by NSLU for my "assessment of (our) chances of getting a criminal warrant to search Moussaoui's computer", I answered, "Although I think there's a decent chance of being able to get a judge to sign a criminal search warrant, our USAO seems to have an even higher standard much of the time, so rather than risk it, I advised that they should try the other route..."
"...I believe that Minneapolis agents actually brought this point to FBIHQ's attention on August 22, 2001, but HQ personnel apparently ignored the directive..." Colleen Rowley's memo was also ignored by John O'Neill, head of the FBI's counterterrorism branch.

2001 August 23: The CIA sent out an urgent cable, labeled IMMEDIATE, to the State Department, Customs, INS and FBI, telling them to put the two men on the terrorism watch list..."

2001 August: Jerome Hauer arranged a new job for John O'Neill - the resigning chief of the FBI Terror Task Force - as head of security at the World Trade Center.

2001 August 24: The United States decides to support a modified British proposal to tighten procedures for pricing Iraqi crude oil. According to reports, Iraq is attempting to price its oil at artificially low levels, and favoring buyers willing to pay surcharges to secret accounts, thereby circumventing United Nations (U.N.) control over Iraqi oil revenue. Britain had proposed that the U.N. and Iraq set prices every 10 days, instead of the current 30 days, to make it more difficult for Iraq to exploit fluctuations in the market. The United States and Britain today agreed to 15 days instead of 10. (WP)

2001 August 28: After "a series of emails between Minneapolis and FBI HQ" concerning Colleen Rowley's mission to examine the case of Massaoui, she finally gave up.

2001 August: Russian President Vladimir Putin orders Russian intelligence to warn the U.S. government "in the strongest possible terms" of imminent attacks on airports and government buildings. [Source: MSNBC interview with Putin, Sept. 15, 2001] Russian President Putin later states that during this month, "I ordered my intelligence to warn President Bush in the strongest terms that 25 terrorists were getting ready to attack the US, including important government buildings like the Pentagon." He states that suicide pilots are training for attacks on US targets. The head of Russian intelligence also states, "We had clearly warned them" on several occasions, but they "did not pay the necessary attention." A Russian newspaper on September 12, 2001 claims that "Russian Intelligence agents know the organizers and executors of these terrorist attacks. More than that, Moscow warned Washington about preparation to these actions a couple of weeks before they happened."
August Independent Recount of Florida Votes shows Al Gore won the Florida vote by a wide margin Eight major media corporations—the New York Times, the Washington Post, Dow Jones and Company, which publishes the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, the Tribune Company (the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, among others), the Palm Beach Post, the St. Petersburg Times and CNN (which later dropped out)—formed a commission early in 2001 to count more than 170,000 Florida votes rejected as "unreadable" in November, at a cost of over $1 million. Results are not being released. "Our belief is that the priorities of the country have changed, and our priorities have changed," said Steven Goldstein, VP of corp. communications at Dow Jones. Catherine Mathis, (New York Times), said "The consortium agreed that because of the war, because of our lack of resources, we were postponing the vote-count investigation. But this is not final. The intention is to go forward." David Podvin, investigative journalist "Make Them Accountable," lays out evidence that the media consortium squelched the recount results because they showed a clear, wide margin of victory for Gore. Consortium members, were "shocked" to find that, in a blind count by an impartial third party, Gore won at least two-thirds of the disputed ballots. The terrorist attacks and subsequent war, Podvin argues, merely presented a convenient excuse for hiding results the consortium had not predicted and wished to cover up. A former media executive says the consortium "is deliberately hiding the results of its recount because Gore was the indisputable winner." He also claims that a New York Times journalist involved in the recount project said the Gore victory margin was big enough to create "major trouble for the Bush presidency if this ever gets out." Why the cover-up? Prior to September 11, "The de facto majority shareholders in the publicly traded New York Times Company reportedly quashed the recount results and convinced the other participants to shelve the story....most important decisions at the Times are made by the influential money center banks that exercise actual voting control of a majority of stock. These banks are extremely pro-Bush. In addition to their control of the Times, they have substantial financial clout with the Washington Post Company, Dow Jones and Company, and the Tribune Company. As a result, the banks exert tremendous influence on a majority of the consortium." The consortium also reportedly received intense pressure from members of the Bush inner circle. www.makethemaccountable.com.

2001 August 27: Kenneth Lay wrote another email to his employee/stockholders extolling the value of an employee stock option program, describing a "significantly higher price" the stock would bring in the near future.

2001 September 5: Lay announces that the company will divest itself of $4-$5 billion in assets in the next two years.

2001 August/September: According to a detailed 13-page memo written by Minneapolis FBI legal officer Colleen Rowley, FBI headquarters ignores urgent, direct warnings from French intelligence services about pending attacks. In addition, a single Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) in Washington expends extra effort to thwart the field office's investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui, in one case rewriting Rowley's affidavit for a search warrant to search Moussaoui's laptop. Rowley's memo uses terms like "deliberately sabotage," "block," "integrity," "omitted," "downplayed," "glossed over," "mis-characterize," "improper political reasons, "deliberately thwarting," "deliberately further undercut," "suppressed," and "not completely honest." These are not terms describing negligent acts but rather, deliberate acts. FBI field agents desperately attempt to get action, but to no avail. One agent speculates that bin Laden might be planning to crash airliners into the WTC, while Rowley ironically noted that the SSA who had committed these deliberate actions had actually been promoted after Sept. 11. [Source: Associated Press, May 21, 2002]
Battelle to make genetically altered anthrax. In the first few days of September 2001 - prior to the attacks of the 11th, the New York Times carried a major investigation which at any other time would have been a story of huge significance... It revealed three secret bio-defence projects at a time when the American people believed none was taking place. One - run by a contractor - Battelle - was to create genetically altered anthrax. The question now is - are there more such projects? The private contractor companies linked to the military and jokingly referred to as "beltway bandits" because they're sprinkled around the Washington beltway ring-road, is where individuals with the right mix of skills might be working. Some of these contractors are now known to have been involved in classified bio-defence projects. One of these secret projects, carried out in the Nevada desert, was part of a series of three

2001 September 1-10: Massive Troop Buildup in MiddleEast, 25,000 British troops and the largest British Armada since the Falkland Islands War, part of Operation ""Essential Harvest,"" are pre-positioned in Oman, the closest point on the Arabian Peninsula to Pakistan. At the same time two U.S. carrier battle groups arrive on station in the Gulf of Arabia just off the Pakistani coast. Also at the same time, some 17,000 U.S. troops join more than 23,000 NATO troops in Egypt for Operation ""Bright Star."" All of these forces are in place before the first plane hits the World Trade Center. [Sources: The Guardian, CNN, FOX, The Observer, International Law Professor Francis Boyle, the University of Illinois.]

2001 September 3: Libya's Foreign Minister announces that U.S. companies will be given one year to resume oil operations in the country before Libya decides whether their licenses should be revoked and given to other firms. Current U.S. sanctions forbid companies from operating in Libya due to previous Libyan involvement in terrorist acts against the United States and other people. (Reuters)

2001 September 4: Devon Energy agrees to buy natural gas-producer Anderson Exploration of Canada for $3.4 billion. Under the merger plan, Devon will commence a tender offer for at least two-thirds of Anderson's outstanding shares while Anderson agrees not to solicit further offers while also paying a $135 million breakup fee. The deal gives Devon access to large undeveloped gas reserves in Canada. The transaction will increase Devon's proven reserves by 35%, to about 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Natural gas production will rise to 2.2 billion cubic feet per day, making Devon the largest independent producer of natural gas in North America. (DJ)

2001 September 5: "Five hundred websites -- many of them with an Arab or Muslim connection -- crash when an anti-terrorism taskforce raids InfoCom Corp. in Texas," reported Britain's the Guardian on Sept. 10, 2001. A taskforce of approximately 80 federal agents and officials from the FBI, Secret Service, INS, Customs, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, IRS, and Commerce Department occupied InfoCom's office building in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, Texas for four days, "copying every hard disc they could find." InfoCom hosts many websites for Middle Eastern clients and is located across the street from the Holy Land Foundation, a charitable organization which has been alleged to have connections with terrorist groups. InfoCom's vice president of marketing, Ghassan Elashi, is also the chairman of the Holy Land Foundation. [Source: The Guardian, Sept. 10, 2001, http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,549590,00.html]

2001 September 5: Enron Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth Lay announces that the company will divest itself of $4-$5 billion in assets in the next two years. Enron, one of the world's largest energy companies, is restructuring itself and placing more emphasis on its trading operations. (DJ)

2001 September 6: MSNBC The story refers to an article that was to be published the following day in the weekly magazine Science, reporting the 1918 flu virus had recently been RNA sequenced. Researchers had traced down and obtained virus samples from archived lung tissue of WWI soldiers, and from an Inuit woman who had been buried in the Alaskan permafrost.

2001 September 6: A child in a class of Pakistani immigrants points towards the WTC, and says: "Do you see those two buildings? They won't be standing there next week." The FBI later confirms the event. One official at the school says many Arab-American students have come forward with their own stories about having prior knowledge before 9/11: "Kids are telling us that the attacks didn't surprise them. This was a nicely protected little secret that circulated in the community around here."

2001 September 6: Twelve crude-oil pipelines at China's largest refinery, Maoming, explode. About 20,000 people are evacuated and six workers are injured. The refinery's output is lowered by 73,000 barrels per day. Maoming is a unit of the China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec). The oil pipelines begin functioning at a reduced capacity on September 16. (DJ)

2001 September 6-7: Put options (a speculation that the stock will go down) totaling 4,744 are purchased on United Air Lines stock, as opposed to only 396 call options (speculation that the stock will go up). This is a dramatic and abnormal increase in sales of put options. Many of the United puts are purchased through Deutschebank/A.B. Brown, a firm managed until 1998 by the current executive director of the CIA, A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard. [Source: The Herzliyya International Policy Institute for Counterterrorism (ICT), http://www.ict.org.il/, Sept. 21, 2001 (Note:The ICT article on possible terrorist insider trading appeared eight days *after* the 9/11 attacks.); The New York Times; The Wall Street Journal; The San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 29, 2001] Deutsche Bank and the Terror Money Trail," Bank Handling terrorist funds for Al-Qaeda. October 9, 2001, stating that 10 accounts linked to Al Qaeda had been found at the bank, holding $1 million. [CNN]

2001 September 6-10: Highly abnormal levels of put options are purchased in Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, AXA Re(insurance) which owns 25 percent of American Airlines, and Munich Re. All of these companies are directly impacted by the Sept. 11 attacks. [Source: ICT, above;
FTW, Oct. 18, 2001, http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/oct152001.htmlhttp://www.mdsme.de/cgi-bin/nph-spinnerproxy.cgi/110110A/http/www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/oct152001.html] On Sunday night, September 17, 2001 CBS's "60-Minutes" revealed that President Bush's close associates had suddenly, and inexplicably, sold all their airline stock just days before the terrorist attacks. The story was completely overlooked by mainstream newspapers thereafter.

2001 September 6-11: No other airlines show any similar trading patterns to those experienced by United and American. The put option purchases on both airlines were 600 percent above normal. This at a time when Reuters (Sept. 10) issues a business report stating, "Airline stocks may be poised to take off."

2001 September 7: BP decides to withdraw from negotiations with PetroChina for a stake in the construction of PetroChina's planned $4.8-billion, 2,485-mile natural gas pipeline from Xinjiang to Shanghai. ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch/Shell, and Gazprom are still in negotiations with PetroChina. (DJ)

2001 September 7: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission approves Chevron's bid to buy Texaco. Texaco must sell its Equilon Enterprises and Motiva Enterprises units in order to complete the $39-billion deal. The new company, ChevronTexaco, will have a market value of over $100 billion, assets of $83 billion, net proven reserves of 11.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), and daily production of 2.7 million boe. (DJ)

2001 September 7: Florida Governor Jeb Bush signs a two-year emergency executive order (01-261) making new provisions for the Florida National Guard to assist law enforcement and emergency-management personnel in the event of large civil disturbances, disaster or acts of terrorism. The executive order was EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY [Source: State of Florida website listing of Governor's executive orders]

2001 September 7: GAO declared that the "limited amount of information from the Vice President's office" was "clearly inadequate in light of GAO's request." GAO also indicated that it is "preparing for possible litigation."

2001 September 8: False Flag 11 preparation for profit: "U.S. OK's plan to topple Taliban a day before 9/11." - MSNBC

2001 September 9: A "game plan to remove al-Qaeda from the face of the Earth" is placed on Bush's desk for his signature. The plan deals with all aspects of a war against al-Qaeda, ranging from diplomatic initiatives to a military invasion in Afghanistan. According to NBC News reporter Jim Miklaszewski, the "directive outlines essentially the same war plan ... put into action after the Sept. 11 attacks. The administration most likely was able to respond so quickly to the attacks because it simply had to pull the plans 'off the shelf.'" Bush was expected to sign it but still hadn't done so by 9/11. Sandy Berger, Clinton's National Security Advisor, has stated, "You show me one reporter, one commentator, one member of Congress who thought we should invade Afghanistan before September 11 and I'll buy you dinner in the best restaurant in New York City." In July 2002, British Prime Minister Tony Blair will state: "To be truthful about it, there was no way we could have got the public consent to have suddenly launched a campaign on Afghanistan but for what happened on September 11." [Cooperativeresearch.org]

2001 September 9-10: Donald Rumsfeld threatens to urge a veto if the Senate proceeds with a plan to divert $600 million from missile defense to counter-terrorism. The next day, Attorney General Ashcroft rejects a proposed $58 million increase in financing for the bureau's counter-terrorism programs. On the same day, he sends a request for budget increases to the White House. It covers 68 programs, but none of them relate to counter-terrorism. He also sends a memorandum to his heads of departments, stating his seven priorities - none of them relating to counter-terrorism. This is more than a little strange, since Ashcroft stopped flying public airplanes in July due to terrorist threats and he told a Senate committee in May that counter-terrorism was his "highest priority."

2001 September 9: the head of the Afghani National Alliance -- a cultishly popular figure within that group, and one who stood adamantly for Afghani independence -- was assassinated by two terrorists posing as cameramen. Keeping in mind the fact that, throughout the '90's, American leaders such as Clinton, and American companies such as Unocal, were largely throwing their support over to the Taliban in opposition to the National Alliance, it seems rather convenient that, in the aftermath of 9/11, the way was now cleared for the National Alliance to be co-opted as an instrument for setting up a more pliant Afghani government (now headed, incidentally, by a former consultant to Unocal). One wonders what the fiercely independent, now-deceased, former leader of the National Alliance would have had to say on that point. [The mystery surrounding the death of John O'Neill The Propaganda Preparation for 9-11, by Chaim Kupferberg.htm]

2001 September 9: [Pakistani] ISI Chief Lt-Gen Mahmood's week-long presence in Washington has triggered speculation about the agenda of his mysterious meetings at the Pentagon and National Security Council. Officially, State Department sources say he is on a routine visit in return to [sic] CIA Director George Tenet's earlier visit to Islamabad . . . What added interest to his visit is the history of such visits. Last time Ziauddin Butt, Mahmood's predecessor, was here during Nawaz Sharif's government the domestic politics turned topsy-turvy within days. That this is not the first visit by Mahmood in the last three months shows the urgency of the ongoing parleys. . . . Interestingly, his visit also saw two CIA reports expressing concern on issues related to Pakistan this week. One of them was about the effects of demographic explosion and Pakistan's continued build up in its nuclear and missiles programme."

2001 September 10: "Those who control the oil routes out of Central Asia will impact all future direction and quantities of flow and the distribution of revenues from new production," wrote energy expert James Dorian in Oil & Gas Journal, published the day before the terrorist attacks.

2001 September 10: Put options totaling 4,516 are purchased on American Airlines as compared to 748 call options. [Source: Herzliyya Institute - above]

2001 September 10: Plan to invade Afghastan finalized.

2001 September 10: Police say that a sixth-grade student of Middle Eastern descent in Jersey City, New Jersey, warns his teacher to "to stay away from lower Manhattan because something bad was going to happen." A few days before 9/11, a Seattle security guard of Middle Eastern descent tells an East Coast friend on the phone that terrorists will soon attack the US; the FBI later verifies the story. Three presumed terrorists talk threateningly in a Florida bar the night before the attacks, one saying: "Wait 'til tomorrow. America is going to see bloodshed."

2001 September 10: John O' Neill celebrated his new job at the Twin Towers together with Jerry Hauer and Robert Tucker, a friend and security-company executive at the China Club, a night spot in midtown. Other sources claim, he started on August 23rd, the day when the CIA sent their "cable".

2001 September 10: Jerome "Jerry" Hauer, started to work for the NIH under Tommy Thompson on September 10, 2001 as an adviser on national security. On September 11th, he told the White House to take Cipro, the antibiotic that works against the anthrax virus, without bothering to reveal his warning to the American nation. Hauer seems to specialize in the art of holding down several different jobs at the same time. While he started to work for the NIH in September 2001, he remained a Managing Director at Kroll Associates - the official security and bodyguard company for all American presidents since World War II. The Pentagon was on High Alert on September 10th and didn't allow their employees to fly the following day. [Lihop manifesto]

2001 September 11-12: Diaoyutai Hotel, Bejing, China, The Third U.S./China Oil & Gas Industry Forum, took place in Beijing, September 11, 2001. The second day of this meeting was canceled; however, proceedings for the entire two-day agenda are posted on this website. The Forum continues to use a panel-discussion format, facilitating open dialogue. Discussions were focused around three themes - National Energy Policies and Plans, Regulatory Issues, and The Specifics of Implementation. In addition, several case study sessions examined natural gas contracts, clean transportation fuels in the U.S., and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's project, Expanding Natural Gas Utilization in China. Attendees.

2001 September 11: As the attacks were occurring, the Carlyle Group was having a conference at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Washington, DC with members of the Bin Laden family, one of their investors, and General Mahmud, who allegedly financed the attack was meeting with members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, and according to Senator Bob Graham, who attended the meeting, General Mahmud had just received a gift (a book about the American Civil War) from Rep. Porter Goss -- then Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a former CIA agent who would go on to become CIA Director in 2004.

2001 September 11: The CIA is Running Simulation of a Plane Crashing into a Building. Most interceptors from the northeast are in Canada and Alaska for war games. With as many as 22 hijacked planes of undetermined origin on radar, interception is impossible for the 8 remaining fighters in the northeast. During the morning of 9/11, five U.S. sponsored war games were taking place, some involving "live-fly" exercises where actual aircraft were simulating the behavior of hijacked airliners in real life, which successfully paralyzed the FAA, NORAD and the Air Force ("Is this real world or an exercise?" - Co Robert M. Marr Jr, Northeast Air Defense Sector. "We have reports of 11 aircraft off course ..." - FAA Administrator Jane Garvey. "We didn't know how many more were there. - Lt. Col. William E. Glover Jr., NORAD Air Defense Operations.) from using the same Standard Operating Procedure they had applied between 09/00 and 06/01 when they successfully launched fighters on 67 occasions to escort wayward aircraft (FAA 08/09/02). -- "Crossing the Rubicon, The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil" by Michael Ruppert. Cheney: "The orders still stand" as Flight 77 approaches the Pentagon with no action taken to defend it Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta was in the Presidential Emergency Operating Center with Vice President Cheney as Flight 77 approached Washington, D.C. On May 23, 2003, in front of the 9/11 Commission, Secretary Mineta testified: "During the time that the airplane was coming in to the Pentagon, there was a young man who would come in and say to the Vice President, "The plane is 50 miles out." "The plane is 30 miles out." And when it got down to "the plane is 10 miles out," the young man also said to the Vice President, "Do the orders still stand?" And the Vice President turned and whipped his neck around and said, "Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary? Other discussion.

2001 September 11: "Agency planned drill for plane crash last Sept. 11." "... one US intelligence agency [NRO, National Reconnaissance Office] was planning an exercise last Sept. 11 [2001] in which an errant aircraft crashed into one of its buildings." Honegger states that Dick Cheney was ultimately in charge of the NRO exercise on the morning of 9/11. He was in the White House Situation Room for that purpose. - The Associated Press, 22 August 2002.

2001 September 11 8:13 AM: American Airlines Flight 11 is instructed by air traffic controllers at the FAA's Boston Center, in Nashua, New Hampshire, to climb to 35,000 feet. The plane did not obey the order and its transponder was turned off. Air traffic control manager Glenn Michael said, "we considered it at that time to be a possible hijacking."

2001 September 11 8:25 AM: Boston Flight Control Tells Other Centers About Hijack, But Not NORAD.

2001 September 11 8:34 AM: Atlantic City Jet Fighters Not Reached; Not Redeployed Until Much Later.

2001 September 11 between 8:31 and 8:40: Before contacting NORAD, Boston air traffic controllers watched Flight 11 make an unexpected 100-degree turn and head south toward New York City.

2001 September 11 8:37 AM: Boston Flight Control Notifies NEADS, Against Normal Procedures; Timing Disputed.

2001 September 11 After 8:37 AM: NORAD Scramble Order Moves Through Official and Unofficial Channels.

2001 September 11 8:40 AM: 'Hubbub' at NEADS Headquarters initially mistaken by Commander Robert Marr as a NORAD training exercise (presumably Vigilant Guardian). Mike Ruppert believes the exercise was intended to confuse NORAD to make a "stand-down" order unnecessary. Even if a stand-down order were issued by Cheney, he could justify it by saying any shoot-down over the area would have resulted in additional loss of life on the ground and he had no way of knowing the WTC 1 and WTC 2 would collapse merely as a result of fire.

2001 September 11: Employees of Odigo, Inc. in Israel, one of the world's largest instant messaging companies with offices in New York, receive threat warnings of an imminent attack on the WTC less than two hours before the first plane hits. Law enforcement authorities have gone silent about any investigation of this. The Odigo research and development offices in Israel are located in the city of Herzliyya, a ritzy suburb of Tel Aviv that is the same location as the Institute for Counter Terrorism, which eight days later reports details of insider trading on 9-11. [Source: CNN's Daniel Sieberg, Sept. 28, 2001; MSNBC Newsbytes, Brian McWilliams, Sept. 27, 2001; Ha'aretz, Sept. 26, 2001]

2001 September 11: For 50 minutes, from 8:15 AM until 9:05 AM, with it widely known within the FAA and the military that four planes have been simultaneously hijacked and taken off course, no one notifies the President of the United States. It is not until 9:30 that any Air Force planes are scrambled to intercept, but by then it is too late. This means that the National Command Authority waited for 75 minutes before scrambling aircraft, even though it was known that four simultaneous hijackings had occurred. [Source: CNN; ABC; MSNBC; Los Angeles Times; The New York Times; www.tenc.net]

2001 September 11: The 9/11 attack: four planes are hijacked, two crash into the WTC, one into the Pentagon, and one crashes into the Pennsylvania countryside. At least 3,000 people are killed. A more detailed timeline focusing on the hours of this attack appears on a separate page. John O'Neill, WTC security chief, and former deputy director of the FBI, where he headed investigation of the al-Qaeda network, was killed in those buildings on that day. O'Neill claimed in the book "Forbidden Truth," that Dale Watson sabotaged him and leaked information about him to the New York Times. Therefore he was discouraged but many people also speculated that O'Neill was silenced or bribed with this new job in the Towers. If this is true, they silenced him forever, because O' Neill died in the Towers and President Bush never took notice.
The report of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says the first thing the FAA does when there's a hijacking is notify the Secretary of Defense. But according to Assistant Secretary of Defense Victoria Clarke, it was she who first told Rumsfeld about the World Trade Center attack. And after that, what did he do? According to Clarke, he stayed in his office until after the Pentagon was hit. He did not join her in the National Military Command Center. Now, this is an unbelievable behavioral response. It can't be explained by saying there were no hijackings for many years. This woman comes in and tells Rumsfeld the two biggest buildings in the New York have just been hit by hijacked planes and Rumsfeld says, "I have to make some phone calls." What would be the reason for him staying out of the National Military Command Center for 45 minute or more? What would be the *sane* reason? The only reason that we could think of was that if he wasn't in there he couldn't be held responsible for the lack of response that he knew was going to take place. So it was important for him *not* to be in there at that timee.
Hours after the attacks, five Israelis are arrested--neighbors alerted police after seeing them film the burning WTC from the roof of a building, then shouting in what was interpreted as cries of joy and mockery. One man was found with $4,700 in cash hidden in his sock, another had two passports on him, and a box cutter was found in the van they were driving when arrested. Investigators say that "There are maps of the city in the car with certain places highlighted... It looked like they're hooked in with this. It looked like they knew what was going to happen." One of these Israelis later says, "Our purpose was to document the event." ABC News later reports that the FBI determined at least two are Mossad agents, and that all were on a Mossad surveillance mission. The FBI holds them on immigration violations and interrogates them for weeks. They are released on November 20, 2001 as part of a deal with the Israeli government. The owner of the moving van company they all worked for flees to Israel on September 13 and is still wanted by US authorities. The FBI later claims that none of them had any advanced knowledge of the 9/11 attacks.
Why was the distribution of Cipro to White House staff on Sept. 11 classified for such a long time (AP)? http://www.infowars.com/saved%20pages/Prior_Knowledge/bush_cipro.htm
School Video shows Bush lied - Video showing President Bush sitting in Booker Elementary School and not reacting for 20 minutes after he heard about the 2nd crash on the Twin Towers. This video was produced on September 11th at Booker Elementary. In the meantime it is mirrored worldwide.We would like to show this video and compare it with a 5-week-old photo
from the White House website, which shows members of his staff pointing to a TV screen while watching the attacks on the Towers. This was impossible, because President Bush was at the school, as this video proves. We also have statements by President Bush made later where he stated that he watched the first crash live on TV, which was impossible. In these two transcripts he also states he thought the first crash was caused by a "bad pilot." President Bush claims he had no prior knowledge or received any warnings about an attack involved with planes. This was later debunked as a lie by CBS on May 15th, 2002. After 30 minutes in a school, he started to react to the attack on America. Months later he still claimed that the first plane crash must have been an accident by a "lousy pilot." President Bush and Vice Presidnet Cheney try to stop an investigation of 911 and later denied this again. Tom Daschle can prove that this was a lie.

2001 September 11: After the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon occur, National Public Radio's congressional correspondent David Welna reports, "I spoke with congressman Ike Skelton, a Democrat from Missouri and a member of the Armed Services Committee, who said that just recently the director of the CIA warned that there could be an attack -- an imminent attack - on the United States of this nature. So this is not entirely unexpected." [Source: http://www.thememoryhole.org/updates.htm]
Jerry Hauer identifies the dead body of John O'Neill in the rubble of the Twin Towers. He said, that his "remains were nothing the family ought to view" That means, neither O'Neills girlfriend Valerie James, his father John P. O'Neill or his wife or childrens John, Jr., and his younger sister, Carol had been allowed to identify the body. http://www.lauriegarrett.com/wtc_day12.html
Jerry Hauer also helped with the construction of the OEM center known as "the bunker" on an upper floor of 7 World Trade Center. http://www.politicsny.com/reports/february02/2-14-02-sheirer.shtml The CIA later confirmed, that they had an office there. Building 7 collapsed for unknown reasons on September 11th. Officially it started to burn because of an explosion of an illegal gas tank inside the building. This gas tank was confirmed weeks after Sep11th.

2001 September 12: The passport of hijacker Satam Al Suqami is found a few blocks from the WTC. The Guardian says, "the idea that [this] passport had escaped from that inferno unsinged [tests] the credulity of the staunchest supporter of the FBI's crackdown on terrorism." (Note the passport did not belong to Atta, as is sometimes claimed.)

2001 September 13: China is admitted to the World Trade Organization quickly, after years of unsuccessful attempts. [Source: The New York Times, Sept. 30, 2001]
"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our : number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." : ~ George Bush Jr. 2001-09-13

2001 September 14: Canadian jailers open the sealed envelope from Mike Vreeland in Toronto and see that is describes attacks against the WTC and Pentagon. The U.S. Navy subsequently states that Vreeland was discharged as a seaman in 1986 for unsatisfactory performance and has never worked in intelligence. [Source: The Toronto Star, Oct. 23, 2001; Toronto Superior Court records]

2001 September 14: FAA removes public information in its enforcement files including inforamtion about security violations from the agency’s website (March 2002: Homefront Confidential: How the War on Terrorism Affects Access to Information and the Public ’s Right to KnowThe Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press) Sun Sentinel claims, that "..twelve of 19 people the FBI believes hijacked four jetliners in Tuesday's deadly terrorist attacks stayed in Florida.." http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-914flaties.story
UNOCAL issued the following statement:
"The company is not supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan in any way whatsoever. Nor do we have any project or involvement in Afghanistan. Beginning in late 1997, Unocal was a member of a multinational consortium that was evaluating construction of a Central Asia Gas pipeline between Turkmenistan and Pakistan [via western Afghanistan]. Our company has had no further role in developing or funding that project or any other project that might involve the Taliban."

2001 September 14: Unocal issued the following statement: "The company is not supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan in any way whatsoever. Nor do we have any project or involvement in Afghanistan." Lay also writes to the Prime Minister of India, insisting that his $2.3 billion asking price is reasonable "compared to the size of our legal claim," which Enron placed at $5 billion. September 19, 2001: Enron invokes a clause in its Dabhol power plant contract, claiming that because the Maharashtra State Electricity Board has violated its power purchase agreement, the Maharashtra state government and the government of India are liable for $5 billion.

2001 September 14: Sun Sentinel claims, that "..twelve of 19 people the FBI believes hijacked four jetliners in Tuesday's deadly terrorist attacks stayed in Florida.." http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-914flaties.story

2001 September 11 week of: The former head of the ISI was discovered to have organized a wire transfer of $100,000 to the enigmatic alleged 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta in Summer of 2001, and yet also wound up visiting Washington D.C. for high-level meetings with US officials the week of 9/11. (The CIA close has close connections with the ISI in Pakistan which was a main supporter of the Taliban before 9/11.
The CIA, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Tri Lateral Commision channel major funding to the Ford Foundation which in turn channels funding to the so called "left media". Why would the Ford foundation support alternative media if it actually looked deeply into the long-running control over US foreign policy exerted by the private and secretive Council on Foreign Relations. It is more likly that the Ford Foundation would favor those that would support the CFR, the Trilateral Commission and ultra rich and powerful multinational corporations. Foundations invested heavily in Big Oil would not fund the kind of alternative journalists and researchers that are not asking challenging questions about the formative role of oil politics in 9/11 and the so-called "War on Terrorism", or anyone pursuing urgent investigations into the stunning array of evidence pointing to Bush administration complicity in the 9/11 attacks?)

2001 September 15: CIA Director Tenet briefs Bush with a military plan to conquer Afghanistan that was developed before 9/11 (mostly in May 2001), and is nearly exactly the same as the plan eventually used to conquer Afghanistan. In contrast, the Defense Department is caught relatively unprepared and has to defer to the CIA plans. Tenet then divulges a top secret document called the "Worldwide Attack Matrix," which describes covert operations against al-Qaeda in 80 countries that are either underway or now recommended. The actions range from routine propaganda to lethal covert action [cooperativeresearch.org]

2001 September 15: The New York Times reports that Mayo Shattuck III has resigned, effective immediately, as head of the Alex Brown (A.B.) unit of Deutschebank.

2001 September 16: Bin Laden denied again that he was involved in the Sep11th attack. He faxed a statement to Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2001-09/17/article17.shtml bin Laden states "that dozens of terrorists organizations from countries like Israel, Russia, India and Serbia could be responsible" (i.e., it was the work of Satan) and "insisted that al Qaida does not consider the United States its enemy."

2001 September 16: Barry Mawn, FBI, classified a recovered passpord in the rubble of Vesey Street, by one of the hijackers. The name of the owner, which he didn't disclose, was later revealed by ABC as Satam M. A. Al Suqami. Mawn was one of the few FBI agents, who also convinced John O' Neill to start a job at the Twin Towers:
"...It would be a powerful position," Mawn says. "That person would have direct contact with the FBI and turn around and influence top Cabinet people, and possibly even the president..." http://www.indybay.org/2001/11/109645.php
Mawn was involved in a controversial Boston investigation years ago http://www.laborers.org/HartfordCourant_12-23-99.html, in the EgyptAir investigation http://www.yowusa.com/authors/srussell/4Q99/flight990_1/EgyptAir_Flight_990_1.ht mL in the UNAbomber case in 1993. He was appointed as an Assistant Director of the FBI on March 30, 2000 by former New York-FBI director Louis J. Freeh.

2001 September 17: Phillips completes its $7.36-billion stock acquisition of Tosco, after getting approval from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. This makes Phillips the second-largest oil refiner in the United States, with a capacity to refine 1.7 million barrels per day. (WSJ, LAT) Major trading markets in the United States, including the New York Stock Exchange and the
New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), reopen for the first time since September 11.

2001 September 17: CFR Meeting
"The World Bank: Is it Time to Redefine its Mission?"
Speaker: Jessica P. Einhorn Author, The World Bank’s Mission Creep, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2001; Consultant, Clark & Weinstock; Former Managing Director, The World Bank
Presider: Caroline Atkinson Senior Fellow, International Economics, Council on Foreign Relations
[www.cfr.org]

2001 September 18: The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that Milwaukee police were called to the home of a highly educated (and drunk) scientist on this date, supposedly because of a domestic dispute about a lawnmower. While at his home, the scientist actually told Milwaukee police that he was building "an anthrax delivery system" in his basement! Ten days later, using a search warrant, the FBI took away his computer and some other objects, but didn't see any "anthrax delivery system". The scientist's specialty is in the areas of radio chemistry, military ordnance and munitions, and decontamination - and he previously worked for a company that handled anthrax. Since he was in Milwaukee on this date, he had a perfect alibi - he couldn't have been in Trenton, New Jersey, mailing the anthrax letters. But what a coincidence that he just happened to have the police pay a visit on this date! And it was certainly handy for a potential suspect to have the FBI specifically verify via a search warrant that he had no anthrax! The man's employment history was verified with a former employer, the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio. He was fired twice - in 1996 and 1999. The searchers found chemicals that were not illegal to possess, but an informant told the FBI that the man "has the knowledge and experience to utilize the chemicals that were found in his basement to make a lethal chemical agent," the affidavit says.

2001 September 18: The first anthrax letters are mailed out, two days after the anti-terrorism bill USA Patriot Act is first proposed. But the anthrax crisis won't begin until October 4 with the first confirmed sickness. [CNN, 11/18/01, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 12/01] With only one week between 9/11 and the first mailing, doesn't it seem likely planning for the anthrax attacks began before 9/11 [cooperativeresearch.org]

2001 September 19: Enron invokes a clause in its Dabhol power plant contract, claiming that because the Maharashtra State Electricity Board has violated its power purchase agreement, the Maharashtra state government and the government of India are liable for $5 billion. India could avoid facing liabilities that could total $5 billion by choosing to settle the dispute by paying offshore sponsors and foreign lenders, according to Enron's Dabhol unit. (Reuters)

2001 September 20: Iraq accuses Kuwait of excessive extraction of the joint al-Ratqa border oilfield. Iraq's foreign minister requests compensation from Kuwait. (Reuters)

2001 September 20: Four days after the attack Top Pentagon Advisor Richard Perle tries to blame the attack on Iraq. In a meeting with the Wolfowitz Cabal they discussed a strategy and finally sent a letter to Bush with 41 signatures to continue their strategy. http://24.104.35.12/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/000/040pvmoi.asp "The only way to eliminate Saddam Hussein's governance is by organizing a coup d'etat against him..." (http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1998/10/981019-in.htm, 1998)

2001 September 21: Jerry Hauer (now Ex-FBI), National Health Institute assumes on a audtiorium on the Rockefeller campus , that 911 and possible bio attacks are connected with Iraq. http://www.lauriegarrett.com/wtc_day12.html

2001 September 23: Osama did some building for the infidels in Afghanistan as well. That was during the late 1980s. Under contract with the CIA, he and the family company built the multi-billion dollar "caves" (1) in which he is now, supposedly, hiding, thus causing the U.S. and Britain to bomb the Red Cross, the Red Crescent, and other strategic military installations:
"He (bin Laden) brought in engineers from his father's company and heavy construction equipment to build roads and warehouses for the Mujaheddin. In 1986, he helped build a CIA-financed tunnel complex, to serve as a major arms storage depot, training facility and medical center for the Mujaheddin, deep under the mountains close to the Pakistan border."
('Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,' 23 September 2001 Sunday, Two Star Edition, pg. A-12, "How a Holy War against the Soviets turned on US" by Ahmed Rashid)

2001 September 25: An envelope at NBC was tested negative. (The same envelope who later tested positive in October). This information didn't become public. Barry Mawn, FBI doesn't allow to investigate the NBC-Anthrax
http://www.policetalk.com/anthrax-fbi.html

2001 September 26: Bob Stevens, photo editor for the Sun Sentinel, travels to North Carolina

2001 September 28: GAO reiterated that it remains "very concerned regarding the failure of the Vice President to provide the information that we requested" but added that "given our current national focus on combating terrorism and enhancing homeland security, this matter is not a current priority."

2001 September 28: Bin Laden in an interview with Ummat: "...I have already said that I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States.." He confirmed this statement in 3 other magazines including to AFP:
http://www.khilafah.com/1421/category.php?DocumentID=2392&TagID=2

2001 September 28: Thomas Inglesby of Hopkins Institute wants to have a BioDefense Budget: "..the Pentagon spent $264 billion to deter regional conflicts, $28 billion to protect against a "peer" nuclear attack and $3 billion on all other biological, chemical, cyber and nuclear assaults. Of that, he said, $250 million went to public health systems. "It would be a mistake not to change the funding patterns of the past". http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37610-2001Sep27.html
Inglesby, still only "professor and researcher", participated in a panel called "Covering Terrorism: What Every Editor Should Know." http://www.apme.com/2001conf/bioterrorism.shtml
The Carlyle Group: George Bush senior specializes in Asia and has been in and out of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait (countries that revere him thanks to the Gulf War) often on business since his presidency. Baker, the pin-striped midwife of 'Election 2000' was working his network in the 'stans' before the ink was dry on Clinton's first inaugural address. The Bin Laden family (presumably the friendly wing) is also invested in Carlyle. Carlyle's portfolio is heavy in defense and telecommunications firms, although it has other holdings including food and bottling companies. The Carlyle connection means that George Bush Senior is on the payroll from private interests that have defense business before the government, while his son is president. Charles Lewis of the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity said "George W. Bush could, some day, benefit financially from his own administration's decisions, through his father's investments. And that to me is a jaw-dropper." Why can we assume that global businessmen like Bush Senior and Jim Baker care about who runs Afghanistan and NOT just because it's home base for lethal anti-Americans? Because it also happens to be situated in the middle of that perennial vital national interest -- a region with abundant oil. By 2050, Central Asia will account for more than 80 percent of our oil. On September 10, an industry publication, Oil and Gas Journal, reported that Central Asia represents one of the world's last great frontiers for geological survey and analysis, "offering opportunities for investment in the discovery, production, transportation, and refining of enormous quantities of oil and gas resources." We need unimpeded access in the 'stans' for our geologists, construction workers and pipelines if we are going to realize the conservation-free, fossil-fueled future outlined recently by Vice President Cheney. A number of pipeline projects to carry Central Asia's resources west are already under way or have been proposed. They would go through Russia, through the Caucasus or via Turkey and Iran. Each route will be within easy reach of the Taliban's thugs and could be made much safer by an American vanquishment of Muslim terrorism.
There's also lots of oil beneath the turf of our politically precarious newest best friend, Pakistan. "Massive untapped gas reserves are believed to be lying beneath Pakistan's remotest deserts, but they are being held hostage by armed tribal groups demanding a better deal from the central government," reported Agence France Presse just days before September 11. So many business deals, so much oil, all those big players with powerful connections to the Bush administration. It doesn't add up to a conspiracy theory. But it does mean there is a significant MONEY subtext that the American public ought to know about as "Operation Enduring Freedom" blasts new holes where pipelines might someday be buried. [Nina Burleigh for TomPaine.com. ] ....JH, 10/30

2001 September 29: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that $2.5 million in put options on American and United airlines are unclaimed. This is likely the result of the suspension in trading on the New York Stock Exchange after the attacks, which gave the Securities and Exchange Commission time to be waiting when the owners showed up to redeem their put options.

2001 September 29: It's a small world after all. In the September 29, 2001 article of PressPlus, Yusufszai's ABC colleague, John Miller, mused about running into his buddy John O'Neill in Yemen while reporting on the U.S.S. Cole bombing the year before. "He said, `So this is the Elaine's of Yemen.' " "There is a terrible irony to all this," Miller said. I'll say: Miller, the only American who can give a first-hand account of bin Laden, bumps into his friend, bin Laden's chief investigator while both are investigating a bombing in Yemen that will later be tagged onto bin Laden -- and only a year before O'Neill dies at the hands of . . . allegedly . . . bin Laden.

2001 October 1: Dr. Leonard Horowitz, a Public health consumer advocate and author of "Death in the Air" first hand delivered a memo to his regional F.B.I. office on October 1, 2001, almost two weeks before the first anthrax letter was sent from Trenton, New Jersey to the American media building in Boca Raton, Florida. His action was prompted by reading, the Final Report-the Oklahoma City bombing grand jury investigation commissioned study by then State Representative Charles Key

2001 October 1: Jerry Hauer (now ex-FBI), National Health Institute warns to prepare of "consequences of a bio-terrorist attack." in an interview with Sarah Wallace, Eyewitness News
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/WABC_investigators_100101bioterror.html

2001 October 1: Dr. Thomas Inglesby, John Hopkins Institute, gets the position of Deputy Director. Tara O'Toole, M.D., M.P.H. is named Director of the Hopkins Center D.A. Henderson turns into Director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Public Health Preparedness, named by Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.
http://www.hopkins-biodefense.org/pages/news/quarter.html

 2001 October early: BIOPORT has problems to distribute CIPRO vaccines. BAYER from Germany finally promise to send their vaccines and increased their stocks.
Thomas Inglesby, M.D. assumed the position of Deputy Director at Hopkins. Former Center Director. D.A. Henderson turned into Director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Public Health Preparedness, named by Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.
Tara O'Toole, M.D., M.P.H. was named Director of the Hopkins Center. Toole was nominated by President Clinton to be assistant secretary of Energy for Environment Safety and Health and served in this position until 1997
http://www.jhsph.edu/bioterrorism/Bnr_11_02.htm She often works with Inglesby together.

2001 October 1: Dr. Horowitz, hand delivered a memo to his regional F.B.I. office on October 1, 2001, almost two weeks before the first anthrax letter was sent from Trenton, New Jersey to the American media building in Boca Raton, Florida. His action was prompted by reading, The Final Report—the Oklahoma City bombing grand jury investigation commissioned study by then State Representative Charles Key. It stated that German-based neo-Nazi’s were known to have "masterminded" both airline hijackings and U.S. military installation bombings by the PLO. This matched what the F.B.I. reported, and what Dr. Horowitz knew about the German-based Bayer Corporation. The news reinforced his concerns about the Nazi-German connection to what was obviously a "CIPRO sales scam" linked to the anthrax mailings.(4)

2001 October: The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Tommy Thompson, and other Bush cabinet members have been meeting secretly (that is, illegally) with officials of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) to develop plans for their Emergency Preparedness Task Force
http://www.tetrahedron.org/news/NR011112.html

2001 October 2: The "anti-terrorism" USA Patriot Act is introduced in Congress, but is not well received by all. One day later, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D) says he doubts the Senate will take up this bill in the one week timetable the administration wants. As head of the Senate, Daschle has great power to block or slow passage of the bill. Attorney General Ashcroft accuses Senate Democrats of dragging their feet. [Washington Post, 10/3/01]

2001 October 2: Two days before the first anthrax case was reported in Boca Raton, Florida and a week and a half before the first anthrax was sent through the mail to NBC News in New York - Advanced Biosystems received an $800,000 grant from NIH to focus on very specific defenses against anthrax: Remember that Hauer joined the NIH on September 10, 2001 as an adviser on national security. Told the White House to take Cipro, (anti-anthrax) om September 11, didn’t warn the American nation and remained Managing Director at Kroll Associates - the official security and bodyguard company for all American presidents since World War II Hauer also got John O’Neil (ex FBI) his new job at WTC just before September 11. Coincidence or connection? Hmmmm.
http://www.counterpunch.org/madsenanthrax.html

2001 October 2: "United Arab Emirates emerges as key link in money trail that led to attacks," [Knight Ridder Washington Bureau] Sniper 5:20 p.m.: Shot fired through Michaels crafts store window in Wheaton, Md. No one was injured. 6:04 p.m.: James D. Martin, 55, killed in parking lot of grocery store in Wheaton, Md. [CBC News]

2001 October 3: Sniper 7:41 a.m.: James Buchanan, 39, killed while mowing lawn of mall in White Flint, Md. 8:12 a.m.: KuMarch Walekar, 54, killed filling tank at Aspen Hill, Md. 8:37 a.m.: Sarah Ramos, 34, killed outside post office in Silver Spring, Md. 9:58 a.m.: Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, 25, killed at gas station in Kensington, Md. 9:15 p.m.: Pascal Charlot killed crossing street in Washington, D.C. [CBC News]

2001 October 3: Cheney meets with India External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. The NSC sends "Dabhol talking points" to Cheney's staff.

2001 October 4: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D) accuses the Bush administration of reneging on an agreement on the anti-terrorist bill. Leahy is in a key position to block or slow the bill. Some warn that "lawmakers are overlooking constitutional flaws in their rush to meet the administration's timetable." Two days later, Ashcroft complains about "the rather slow pace…over his request for law enforcement powers… Hard feelings remain." [Washington Post, 10/4/01]
Sniper 2:30 p.m.: Woman shot, wounded outside craft store in Fredericksburg, Virginia. [CBC News]

2001 October 4: First report of anthrax case (in Florida). Bob Stevens (63), photo editor for the Sun Sentinel, AMI Building, Lantana/Florida, learns from the TV and internet, that he has anthrax. Steve Coz, AME Director: "..We found out that Bob Stevens had anthrax on the Internet at 3:00 on Thursday.." Sun Production Editor learned on CNN, Bob Stevens sitting next to him from another editor: "Bob Stevens is on the news. He has anthrax." http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ami13oct13.story?coll=sf la-home-headlines (Bob Stevens had traveled to travel to North Carolina on 9/26/01)
The Sun Sentinel was in the same building as National Equirer, (National Enquirer ran negative articles Bushes daughter in 2000) http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/florida/digdocs/065965.htm
Gloria Irish had found an apartment for one of the alleged hijackers and was the wife of the senior editor of the National Enquirer. Her husband, Michael Irish, also used the airfield that served as flight training for some of the hijackers. In intelligence operations, foreign assets are often placed with resident "controllers" whose job it is to supervise the asset as well as provide accommodations as the need arises. Who are Michael and Gloria Irish? Or, perhaps more revealingly, what kind of social circles do they run with? This is certainly an avenue worth exploring -- by reason of its many synchrocities if for nothing else. Again, the seam that shows. [The mystery surrounding the death of John O'Neill The Propaganda Preparation for 9-11, by Chaim Kupferberg.htm]

2001 October 4: a commercial jetliner traveling from Israel to Novosibirsk, Siberia was shot down over the Black Sea by an "errant" Ukrainian surface-to-air missile, killing all on board. The missile was over 100 miles off-course. Despite early news stories reporting it as a charter, the flight, Air Sibir 1812, was a regularly scheduled flight. According to several press reports, including a Dec. 5 article by Barry Chamish and one on January 13 by Jim Rarey (both available at www.rense.com), the plane is believed by many in Israel to have had as many as five passengers who were microbiologists. Both Israel and Novosibirsk are homes for cutting-edge microbiological research. Novosibirsk is known as the scientific capital of Siberia, and home to over 50 research facilities and 13 full universities for a population of only 2.5 million people.

2001 October 5: After 48 hours in advance, the National Health Department comes to AMI-Building, Boca Raton. Bob Stevens, the photo editor in Florida becomes the first respiratory anthrax fatality since 1976, when he dies at 4 PM at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis, Fla. No envelope was found until today. American Media Editorial Director Steve Co speculates: "..We know Mohamed Atta was within three miles of the building, We know he was within a mile of Bob Stevens house.." AME is told by FBI not to mention "too much details." Mohammed Atta took some of his flight lessons at the Palm Beach Flight School Lantana, Florida and Jones Aviation at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport,Vero Beach.
A meeting of the Center for Law and the Public Health (CLPH) was convened on Oct. 5 (2001). This group is run jointly by Georgetown University Law School and Johns Hopkins Medical School, and was founded under the auspices of the Center for Disease Control (CDC). CLPH was formed one month prior to the 2000 Presidential election. The purpose of the October meeting was to draft legislation to respond to the then current bioterrorism threat.

2001 October 5: Bob Stevens, the photo editor in Florida becomes the first respiratory anthrax fatality since 1976, when he dies at 4 PM at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis, Fla. No envelope was found until today. American Media Editorial Director Steve Co speculates: "..We know Mohamed Atta was within three miles of the building, We know he was within a mile of Bob Stevens house.." AME is told by FBI not to mention "too much details." Mohammed Atta took some of his flight lessons at the Palm Beach Flight School Lantana, Florida and Jones Aviation at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport,Vero Beach.

2001 October 5: Thomas Inglesby, John Hopkins Institute is interviewed in the article: "Exploring Whether Humans Have an Anti-Anthrax Gene". http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hsbio022399575oct05.story?coll=ny-health-headlines

2001 October 5: Afghanistan "has significant oil and gas deposits. During the Soviets' decade-long occupation of Afghanistan, Moscow estimated Afghanistan's proven and probable natural gas reserves at around five trillion cubic feet and production reached 275 million cubic feet per day in the mid-1970's." Nonstop war since has prevent further exploitation, but that soon changes. [Asia Times, 10/5/01] The country may also have as much copper as Chile, the world's largest producer, and significant deposits of coal, emeralds, tungsten, lead, zinc, uranium ore and more. Estimates of Afghanistan 's natural wealth may even be understated, because surveys were conducted decades ago, using less-advanced methods and covering limited territory. [Houston Chronicle, 12/23/01

2001 October 7: (Sniper) 8:08 a.m.: 13-year-old boy wounded arriving at school at Bowie, Md. [CBC News]

2001 October 7: Military operations with aerial bombardment began in Afghanistan
Air raids by the United States and its coalition partner, Great Britain, begin against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets in Afghanistan, after the Taliban refuse to hand over alleged terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden and his associates. The raids are intended to "…disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime," according to U.S. President George Bush. (Reuters) The US administration has now seized upon the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington to press ahead with its long-held designs on Central Asia. Without providing any evidence, Bush immediately held bin Laden responsible for the devastation in the US and issued a series of ultimatums to the Taliban regime: hand over bin Laden, shut down Al Qaeda installations and give the US access to all "terrorist training camps". When the Taliban rejected his open-ended demands, Bush gave his generals the signal to unleash thousands of bombs and cruise missiles on Afghanistan, with the openly avowed aim of bringing down the regime.[The Taliban, the US and the resources in Central Asia] Bin Laden had been living in Sudan since 1991. The Sudanese government collected a "vast intelligence database on Osama bin Laden and more than 200 leading members of his al-Qaeda terrorist network... [The US was] offered thick files, with photographs and detailed biographies of many of his principal cadres, and vital information about al-Qaeda's financial interests in many parts of the globe." In April 1996, the US again rejects Sudan's offer of the files. An American involved in the secret negotiations later says that the offer was blocked by another arm of the federal government: "I've never seen a brick wall like that before. Somebody let this slip up... We could have dismantled his operations and put a cage on top. It was not a matter of arresting bin Laden but of access to information... and that's what could have prevented September 11. I knew it would come back to haunt us." Sudan again offers the US the files in May 2000, and again is turned down. In 1996 Sudan also offers their files to British intelligence, and are also rebuffed. Sudan makes a standing offer to the British to take the information at any time, but the offer is not taken up until after 9/11. The US begins bombing Afghanistan. Note that shortly after 9/11 former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Niaz Naik claimed that in July 2001 he was told by senior US officials that a military action to overthrow the Taliban in Afghanistan would "take place before the snows started falling in Afghanistan, by the middle of October at the latest." [cooperativeresearch.org]
At first he (Osama bin Laden) denied involvement, saying "that dozens of terrorists organizations from countries like Israel, Russia, India and Serbia could be responsible" (i.e., it was the work of Satan) and "insisted that al Qaida does not consider the United States its enemy."
But a week later he (bin Laden) issued a video tape where he said "God Almighty hit the United States at its most vulnerable spot....When Almighty God rendered successful a convoy of Muslims, the vanguards of Islam, He allowed them to destroy the United States. I ask God Almighty to elevate their status and grant them Paradise."
This latter statement was pre-recorded and released immediately after the U.S. government started bombing Afghanistan, that is, precisely when Mr. Bush needed the emotional impact of just such a statement in order to 'justify' yet another illegal war; (3)
[http://emperors-clothes.com/news/probestop-i.htm]

2001 October 7: saw reports that British scientists were planning to exhume the bodies of 10 London victims of the 1918 type-A flu epidemic known as the Spanish Flu. An October 7 report In The Independent, UK said that victims of the Spanish Flu had been victims of "the world's most deadly virus." British scientists, according to the story, hope to uncover the genetic makeup of the virus, making it easier to combat. (in four months (on2/8/02) Rockefeller scientists will perfect a method of reviving dead cells by rebuilding the DNA)

2001 October 8: Second Anthrax Case confirmed in co-worker of Bob Stevens. Ernesto Blanco, a 73-year-old Cuban American in the mailroom of American Media office building in Boca Raton. After 4 days ignoring a connection to Mohammad Atta, the Media writes that, Bob Stevens lived 1 mile from Palm Beach County Park Airport, where Atta took flight lessons at a simulator. Since today no one wonders about that coincidence. Finally the FBI announces at 4:30 PM that the anthrax Incidents is a result of terrorism or criminal action, Attorney General John Ashcroft said .

2001 October 8: Wall Street Journal (subscription):
Chevron Texaco Can Grow from Merger, Company to Focus on Promising Projects.
" Chevron Texaco Corp. world's fourth-largest publicly held producer of oil and gas, with $116.9 billion in combined revenue last year. But while the company would be far bigger than the major independent oil companies, Chevron's $38 billion acquisition of Texaco ... still would leave it considerably smaller than the so-called super majors, including leader Exxon Mobil Corp., which had $232.7 billion in revenue last year." ...
"... the relative smaller size of Chevron Texaco is prompting some analysts to speculate that the company would try to make an additional acquisition to vault the company to true super-major status. Analysts say Unocal Corp., an oil and gas producer based in El Segundo Calif., might be attractive, in part because of its assets in Southeast Asia, where Chevron and Texaco aren't especially strong. Among the other possibilities: Conoco Inc., Marathon Corp. and Anadarko Corp., all of Houston."
Sun Oct 8, 2001: In the early morning, Balitmore police find a man sleeping in his Chevrolet Caprice parked on a city street. The driver, John Muhammad, presents his Dictrict of Columbia driver's licence and identifies his passenger as John Lee Malvo. The police take down the driver's name and his New Jersey licence plate numbers. They conduct a background check, find no outstanding warrants for Muhammad and let them go. [CBC News]
Wednesday OCTOBER 9 a cosmically significant day in the conspirousy

2001 October 9, 2001: Very potent anthrax letters to Senators Daschle and Leahy were being mailed in Trenton NJ on October 9
Tom Daschle (Nebraska) Senate Majority Leader, "top Democrat". Opposed proposed "Anti-Terror Bill" which would have permitted indefinite jailing of non-Americans suspected of terrorist offenses, would have permitted law enforcement agencies to share wire-tap information without a court order, etc. Senator Leahy was highly visible on this issue as he worked to negotiate acceptable alternatives that wouldn't violate the rights of all Americans. At this same time, Attorney John D. Ashcroft was forcefully declaring that the legislation was vital to preventing another terrorist attack. A person obsessed with stopping bioterrorism would certainly see quibbling over civil rights as being absurd when terrorists could strike again at any time. Sending anthrax to Senator Leahy (and Daschle) would be sending the "right" message, showing them very clearly how easy it was for a bioterrorist to create havoc.
Senator Leahy (Vermont) high-ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee - which approves spending on government projects. He's also known to be an environmentalist, and environmentalists are seen by some as enemies of bioweapons research. The terrorist's motive for targeting Senator Leahy could be key to this case.

2001 October 8-9: The Ames, Iowa strain of anthrax, determined to be the one mailed from Trenton to Florida and Washington's capitol, had been suspiciously selected for destruction.(49,50) Iowa State officials suddenly confessed that they were ordered by CDC and FBI officials to destroy all of the remaining Ames, Iowa anthrax strain on or about October 8-9.

2001 October 9: Senator Feingold (D) blocks an attempt to rush the USA Patriot Act to a vote with little debate and no opportunity for amendments. Feingold criticizes the bill as a threat to liberty. [AP, 10/10/01] One day earlier, in the story "Cracks in Bipartisanship Start to Show," the Washington Post reports, "Congress has lost some of the shock-induced unity with which it first responded to the [9/11] attacks." [Washington Post, 10/8/01] Also on October 9, identical anthrax letters are postmarked in Trenton, New Jersey, with lethal doses to Senators Daschle and Leahy. Inside both letters are the words: "Death to America, Death to Israel, Allah is Great. [South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 12/01]

2001 October 9: US Ambassador Wendy Chamberlain meets with the Pakistani oil minister. She is briefed on the gas pipeline project from Turkmenistan, across Afghanistan, to Pakistan, which appears to be revived "in view of recent geopolitical developments." [Frontier Post, 10/10/01] FTW Deutsche Bank and the Terror Money Trail," Bank Handling terrorist funds for Al-Qaeda. October 9, 2001, stating that 10 accounts linked to Al Qaeda had been found at the bank, holding $1 million. [CNN]

2001 October 9: As reported by The Times of India: "While the Pakistani Inter Services Public Relations claimed that former ISI director-general Lt-Gen Mahmud Ahmad sought retirement after being superseded on Monday, the truth is more shocking. Top sources confirmed here on Tuesday that the general lost his job because of the "evidence" India produced to show his links to one of the suicide bombers that wrecked the World Trade Centre. The US authorities sought his removal after confirming the fact that $100,000 were wired to WTC hijacker Mohammed Atta from Pakistan by Ahmad Umar Sheikh at the instance of Gen Mahmud. Senior government sources have confirmed that India contributed significantly to establishing the link between the money transfer and the role played by the dismissed ISI chief. While they did not provide details, they said that Indian inputs, including Sheikh's mobile phone number, helped the FBI in tracing and establishing the link."

2001 October 9: Royal Dutch/Shell announces that it will acquire Texaco's interests in two U.S. refining ventures, Motiva Enterprises and Equilon Enterprises, for $2.1 billion in cash, $1.4 billion in debt, and $300 million in pension liabilities. Texaco agreed to sell the companies as part of an agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in order to complete its merger with Chevron. Motiva will be wholly owned by Shell, and Equilon will be majority owned by Shell and minority owned by Saudi Refining. Motiva and Equilon own over 20,000 gasoline stations and eight refineries in the U.S. (DJ)

2001 Ocober 9: (Sniper) 8:18 a.m.: Dean Harold Myers, 53, killed filling gas tank near Manassas, Va.

2001 October 10: Oil & Gas Journal: Chevron and Texaco complete long-delayed, $35 billion merger. "Texaco Inc. and Chevron Corp. said their stockholders approved the $35 billion merger of their companies, which was completed later Tuesday."

2001 October 10: CONGESSIONAL MEETING (one month after September 11)
THE CAUCASUS AND CASPIAN REGION: UN-DERSTANDING U.S. INTERESTS AND POLICY
Mr. Gilman: " I am--concerned about the likelihood that the current effort against terrorism and the Taliban is attracting hitchhikers, thus we will be asked to overlook problems in democracy and human rights and the like among our allies no matter how impor-tant or unimportant their contribution." (hours of discussion followed about the geopolitical situation effect on oil and gas pipelines and how to solve it. )

2001 October 10-11: The FBI allows the original batch of the Ames strain of anthrax to be destroyed, making tracing the anthrax type more difficult.[New York Times, 11/9/01, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 12/01]
Orders to destroy that particular strain were issued by FBI and CDC officials. This strongly suggests a conspiracy at the highest levels of the federal government. Incriminating is the fact that this one strain, of more than 1,000 anthrax strains available, had been used in various labs for decades. Allegedly by mistake, these two agencies-the FBI and CDC-simultaneously urged/approved the strain's destruction. http://www.tetrahedron.org/articles/anthrax/anthrax_espionage.html

2001 October 10: TN Senator Dr Bill Frist, peddles biofear (on TV). Dr. Frist's family business, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), America's largest cartel of hospitals, paid the largest criminal fine in US history after caught stealing $1-Billion from the US gov't in racketeering and organized crime via Medicare fraud sending several of his executives to prison. Who knows how many more billions it got away with stealing? Frist's business was also sued by stockholders for insider trading (included below), sued by gov't for predatory antitrust monopolies, bankrupting competing hospitals and price gouging of hospital patients and insuarance policy holders (included below), prosecuted by the IRS for tax fraud (included below), and sued by families of murder victims for deadly medical malpractice committed for profit (included below). Currentling in England, a medical doctor stands trial as England's most prolific serial killer, prosecuted with over 400 homicides of his hospital patients—has Dr. Frist killed more in the name of profiteering?
However, medical experts, both MDs and research scientists, explain that anthrax is useless as a bioweapon of mass destruction. Most cases of anthrax are not lethal, unlike the Pentagon's helpers allege. Unlike farm animals that eat their food with their faces in the dirt, humans are not exposed to enough spores to get sick. Bioweapons that fail to deliver the required 10,000 spores to each intended victim will simply fails to cause disease. Only huge factories with hundreds of millions of dollars to play with can produce the lethal forms of anthrax. Only USA and Russia are rich enough to waste money on anthrax production, and USA has 300 universities playing around with it for benifit of tax welfare from the Pentagon. If an anthrax "mist" were ever sprayed over a city, anyone indoors is safe, and anyone outdoors is safe unless directly under an anthrax cloud (and without a $1 dust mask). It would appear the hype is an intention to manipulate stock prices at BioPort Corp, Lansing, Michigan, and to salvage the Pentagon's limp sales of anthrax vaccine, which itself is more dangerous—and more deadly—than anthrax. Pentagon's anthrax vaccine is linked to Gulf War Syndrome, the disabling disease affecting 200,000 veterans and their families. The aluminum content of the vaccine is perhaps the deadly ingredient for humans, since aluminum is linked to such dreaded diseases as Alzheimers and Parkinsons.

2001 October 11: Rumours about Small Pox at VICE Magazine, New York. Evacuation and tests. No media involved.

2001 October 11: Sniper: 9:30 a.m.: Kenneth H. Bridges, 53, killed filling gas tank near Fredericksburg, Va.

2001 October 11: Colonel Edward M. Eitzen testified as follows: "...I mentioned at the start of my statement, that potential biological terrorism is really a spectrum of possible events - from a letter with an inert powder and a threat in it...."
http://intelligence.house.gov/PDF/eitzen101101.pdf

2001 October 11: President Bush puts Malaysia on the list of countries that harbor terror organisations He also decides to send an anti-terror-team to Philipines. http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/10/11/phil.ustroops/index.html

2001 October 12: 2nd "Malaysia"-story on that day: Microsoft office in Reno, Nevada gets an envelope from from Malaysia All Employees tested negative.

2001 October 12: Sun Sentinel still wonders, why the FBI sees no link between Mohammad Atta and the anthrax attack. American Media Editorial Director Steve Co speculates: "..We know Mohamed Atta was within three miles of the building, we know he was within a mile of Bob Stevens house.." AME told by FBI not to mention "too much details." A few 911-skeptics speculate, that the "masterplan" was already changed in these weeks. The connection 911 terrorists-anthrax" was sabotaged by the OSI, CIA + Co.

2001 October 13: American Media Editorial Director Steve Coz said he thinks the anthrax found at the Boca Raton building was placed there as part of a bioterrorist attack. It arrived on Bob Stevens' desk," Coz said Friday on ABC's Good Morning America http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ami13oct13.story?coll=sf la-home-headlines

2001 October 13: Jim Woolsey, CIA director from 1993 to 1996, recently visited London on behalf of the hawkish Defence Department to 'firm up' other evidence of Iraqi involvement in 11 September. Some observers fear linking Saddam to the terrorist attacks is part of an agenda being driven by US hawks eager to broaden the war to include Iraq, a move being resisted by the British government. The hawks winning the ear of President Bush is assembled around Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, and a think tank, the Defence Policy Advisory Board, dubbed the 'Wolfowitz cabal'. [www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0%2C1361%2C573908%2C00.html]

2001 October 14: (Sniper) 9:15 p.m.: Linda Franklin, 47, killed outside a store in Falls Church, Va.

2001 October 14: Story in Sunday Times gives a new bizarre twist: Now it looks like, "..the wife of Bob Stevens's boss rented an apartment to Atta while he was doing his flight training in preparation for the attacks. The FBI is also investigating reports that Atta visited a local pharmacy and asked for medicine for a skin complaint..." http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/10/14/stiusausa02038.html

2001 October 15: Senator Daschle's office opens the letter mailed October 9, containing a lethal dose of anthrax. Senator Leahy's similar letter is misrouted to Virginia on October 12, and isn't discovered until November 17. [South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 12/8/01] The BBC says "Bush has pointed the finger at Osama bin Laden" for the anthrax attacks. Bush states, "There may be some possible link. We have no hard data yet, but it's clear that Mr. Bin Laden is an evil man." [BBC, 10/16/01]

2001 October 15: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"China, the WTO, and U.S. Interests"
Speaker: Kevin G. Nealer Senior Fellow, Forum for International Policy
Speaker: Jeffrey Fiedler Consultant, Food and Allied Service Trades (FAST), AFL-CIO
Speaker: Robert D. Hormats Vice Chairman, Goldman, Sachs International
Presider: David E. Sanger White House Correspondent, New York Times
[www.cfr.org]

2001 October 15: According to the Moscow Times, the Russian government sees the upcoming US conquest of Afghanistan as an attempt by the US to replace Russia as the dominant political force in Central Asia, with the control of oil as a prominent motive: "While the bombardment of Afghanistan outwardly appears to hinge on issues of fundamentalism and American retribution, below the surface, lurks the prize of the energy-rich Caspian basin into which oil majors have invested billions of dollars. Ultimately, this war will set the boundaries of US and Russian influence in Central Asia - and determine the future of oil and gas resources of the Caspian Sea." [Moscow Times, 10/15/01]

2001 October 15: The first tanker loading of the new $2.5-billion Kazakh-Russia Pipeline takes place. This is a trial run that informally inaugurates the pipeline. Initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to be 28.2 million metric tons per year (around 560,000 barrels per day). The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), led by ChevronTexaco, runs the pipeline. (Reuters)
Tengiz gamble starting to pay off. Chevron-led operation ready to deliver yield from showcase project. "Last week the first tanker ship laden with Tengiz oil left the gleaming new terminal near Novorossiysk, on the Russian coast of the Black Sea. The oil traveled there through a new 990-mile pipeline costing $2.8 billion, known as the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, or CPC. Chevron invested $750 million in the partnership that built a 990-mile pipeline around the top of the Caspian and across the North Caucasus to the Black Sea." Houston Chronicle
From Walter Kessinger: Broken Links (a young gas/oil tech guy journal notes on his website)
Over the last three weeks my access logs have contained a lot of refers from search engines with inquiries like "Bush Unocal stock, Afghanistan pipeline." I started poking around, and discovered that there is currently a conspiracy theory out there (way out there) that Dubya Bush and Dick Cheney are trying to take over Afghanistan so that some oil company can build an oil pipeline across it.
I'm a little hazy on the conspiracy details, though. Do they think Unocal (or Chevron?) recruited the terrorist suicide bombers?

2001 October 16-17: 28 congressional staffers test positive for anthrax. The Senate office buildings are shut down, followed by the House of Representatives. [South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 12/8/01]

2001 October 16: Over the last couple of months BIOPORT has failed countless US inspections and are NOT permitted to produce any vaccine for civilian use.Today as reported by CNN they have asked the US gov't for permission to start mass producing for the public. But the Health Control FDA didn't renew their license twice in the last three years. Government tried to give new contract for DynCorp , but failed because under big media pressure of the Anthrax attacks. BAYER got the ok for the distribution. Some 911 sceptics wonder if they had been sabotaged on purpose to avoid investigative reports about them

2001 October 17: (sniper) in an angry telephone call from a man claiming to be the sniper. Law enforcement officials say the man on the phone furiously insisted to a startled employee of the Montgomery County police, "I am God! . . . You know who you're dealing with? Just check out the murder-robbery in Montgomery if you don't believe me!"

2001 October 17: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"If Not Kyoto, What?"
Speaker: James L. Connaughton Chairman, White House Office on Environmental Quality
Speaker: David Hawkins Program Director of Air & Energy, Natural Resources Defense Council
Speaker: Paul Portney President, Resources for the Future
Presider: Jessica T. Mathews President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
[www.cfr.org]

2001 October 18: Canada overrides Bayer's patent for Cipro and orders a million tablets of a generic version from another company. The US says it is not considering a similar move. Patent lawyers and politicians state that adjusting Bayer's patent to allow other companies to produce Cipro is perfectly legal and necessary. [New York Times, 10/19/01] The New York Times notes that the White House seems "so avidly to be siding with the rights of drug companies to make profits rather than with consumers worried about their access to the antibiotic Cipro," and points out huge recent contributions by Bayer to Republicans. [New York Times, 10/21/01]

2001 October 18: (sniper) the caller made at least two phone calls to priests -- one in Ashland, Va., and the other in Bellingham, Wash. -- in an effort to enlist a messenger to establish his credibility with the police, the officials say. They say the caller told the priest in Ashland that investigators should check the murder in Montgomery, this time specifying that he meant Montgomery, Ala.

2001 October 19: Sniper8:00 p.m.: 37-year-old man shot outside a Ponderosa restaurant in Ashland, Va.

2001 October 20: Investigators act on an apparent boast from the sniper and contact the police chief in Montgomery, Ala. about a liquor store robbery on Sept. 21 in which one person was killed and another wounded. A gun magazine from the scene has fingerprints from John Lee Malvo, a Jamaican national living in Tacoma, Wash., whose prints are on file for an immigration violation.

2001 October 22: Sniper 5:56 a.m.: Conrad Johnson, a 35-year-old bus driver, shot in the abdomen in Silver Spring, Ma. He later died of his injuries.

2001 October 23: Arthur Andersen auditor, David B. Duncan, orders the destruction of documents. ("Andersen LLP Firing Enron Auditor", (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020115/ts/enron_auditor_11.html) Two weeks later, in a desperate e-mail, his assistant said, ``Stop the shredding.'' A day before that, Andersen had received a federal subpoena for the documents... Duncan called an urgent meeting on Oct. 23 to organize an ``expedited effort'' to destroy documents, Andersen said, a few days after he learned that the SEC had requested information. The SEC sent a letter to Enron on Oct. 17 asking for information after the company reported hundreds of millions of dollars in third-quarter losses. The fact that Andersen employees destroyed documents after learning of the SEC inquiry ``is more than just unethical. It could be criminal as well,'' said Ken Johnson, spokesman for Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

2001 October 23: Police investigate the Tacoma, Wash. home where Malvo and Muhammad lived nine months previous. They remove a tree stump neighbours claimed Muhammad used for target practice, as well as other items from the home's yard. Investigators run a check on Muhammad's name and find the Baltimore police report from Oct. 8. Authorities issue a federal arrest warrant for Muhammad for firearms violations and say he may be travelling with a juvenile, Malvo. Police in the D.C. area search for a blue or burgundy 1990 Chevrolet Caprice with New Jersey licence plates, the vehicle Muhammad may be travelling in.

2001 October 24: New Scientist writes, that the anthrax bacteria is likely to be US military strain http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991473
Congress shut down and evacuated on eve of its vote for Bush's "anti-terrorism" bill to create Police-State USA

2001 October 24: As midnight approached on Wednesday, the Montgomery County police chief, Charles Moose, was once again on national television, delivering the latest cryptic message to the sniper -- "You asked us to say, 'We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose' " -- but also to announce that the police were interested in speaking with Muhammad as part of their investigation. The sighting of the Caprice with the sleeping pair came in less than two hours.
A motorist spots the Caprice at a rest top near Myersville, Md. around 1 a.m. Police find Muhammad and Malvo sleeping in the car. Members of the sniper investigation team arrest the two men shortly after 3:30 a.m. on the firearms warrant and as material witnesses in the sniper case. Police report finding a .223-calibre Bushmaster rifle in the car. They believe the two men are those responsible for the sniper attacks. Officials say ballistic tests on the rifle seized from Muhammad's car match the weapon to the bullets in all but three of the 14 Washington-area shootings. Initial reports showed no direct link between the arrest of Williams, a.k.a. John Allen Muhammad, and the sniping. ABC internet news even specifically mentioned in an early article that no weapon was found in the Chevrolet Caprice when the two were captured. Soon thereafter the story suddenly changed, with officials (and all subsequent news stories) claiming that a .223 caliber XM-15 assault rifle, plus scope and tripod, had been found in the vehicle. Later on Thursday, the FBI ballistics lab (which has a history of falsifying reports) determined this rifle matched the sniper bullets recovered from victims. Case closed.
There are gaping holes in this story, the strange telephone confessions with priests and police hotlines and notes left behind by the supposed sniper. For instance, a caller to the sniper tip line claimed responsibility for not only the DC area attacks, but also the Sept. 21 shooting in Montgomery, Ala., in which one woman was killed and another wounded. It is strange that this cool and savvy sniper would confess to a separate deed that would just happen to open up a paper trail leading back to himself, but this is the assertion by the news reports. A piece of paper at the scene of the Alabama shooting was found to bear the fingerprints of Malvo. Police traced Malvo to a Tacoma, WA, home where he had been living with John Allen (Muhammad) Williams. This week police searched the premises in Tacoma and hauled away a tree trunk with bullets imbedded. During another call, the sniper supposedly requested a toll-free number to speak with police, $10 million and wanted the police to say, "We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose." Such erratic demands contrast sharply with the sophisticated way in which the sniper conducted his attacks. On the other hand, if the real sniper team wanted to finger a patsy to take the blame, this would have been an excellent way to point the police in the wrong direction.
The media put together a surprisingly extensive background dossier on Williams in less than one day. Robert Holmes, said Williams showed him his Bushmaster rifle, along with a scope and a silencer, and said, "Can you imagine the damage you could do if you could shoot with a silencer?" The media source was a set of court papers filed by the FBI earlier this week, indicating that they knew about this guy long before yesterday. The quote indicates Williams doesn’t know anything about silencers or sniping. Silencers only work on bullets traveling at subsonic speeds. The .223 travels in excess of 3,000 fps and would make a very loud sonic crack after leaving the silencer. In fact, Williams’ military training was as an engineer, so he had no formal sniper training, although he shot "expert" class with the M-16 which is noteworthy, but not that difficult. Williams is also being touted by various former friends as a "sympathizer" with the 9/11 attackers. This will undoubtedly lead to an "al Qaeda connection," boosting the administration’s illusory crusade against domestic terror. The media even tried to tie this story to a training camp in Alabama with presumed ties to terrorist groups. In point of fact, the camp is owned and operated by one of the numerous private government contractors, with CIA connections, which train law enforcement personnel (and some other secretive groups given the nod by the CIA).
Witnesses cited a number of getaway vehicles used in the sniper attacks: a white box truck, a late model white Chevy van with a top rack, and a white Ford Econoline van. The 1990 Caprice was not among the vehicles witnesses saw. The number of vehicles involved indicates there were multiple shooters involved. Even if Williams and Malvo were among them, they were probably not the main ring leaders. Williams’ impoverished condition would preclude access to multiple modern vehicles for use as getaways. Williams’ has traffic convictions, but no felony convictions, his military record is clean, and his ex-military friends have attested that they never noticed any psychopathic tendencies in him. While he has some minor domestic violence charges against him (which led to the arrest warrant for his having purchased a weapon in contravention of a court restraining order--a standard proceedure in the US), he doesn’t seem the type of guy capable of this kind of indiscriminate, random killing. But, it does match the M.O. of agent provocateurs.
I suspect we are dealing with a team of professional hit men who were paid to engender sufficient terror to spawn a new round of gun control legislation. Predictably, in response to the sniping, the media has been awash in new gun control proposals, especially "ballistic fingerprinting" of all new weapons. Newsweek had a magnified view of a rifle round on its cover this week. Even the Bush administration was quick to succumb to the media pressure and began working on its own gun control proposal. The real object, two or three legislative steps down the road, is to give the government some excuse for a call in of all guns to be fingerprinted and registered. Maryland is the only state that requires ballistic fingerprinting. It kind of serves as a test platform, and the media lost no opportunity to promote this new gun control agenda. The current governor of Maryland was trotted out on several talk shows to promote his pet anti-gun program. Of course, ballistic fingerprinting wouldn’t stop any attacker from using one of the millions of prior-existing weapons which have no ballistic fingerprint. Like all gun control laws, this proposal wouldn’t stop crime, but simply restrict legal gun ownership. The Montgomery County location brought one particular sheriff into national focus: Charles A. Moose, a poorly spoken, black American Chief of Police transplanted from Portland, Oregon. He came to Montgomery County in the wake of a trumped up case against the county during the Janet Reno years, charging police officials with racial profiling of blacks (too many blacks were getting traffic tickets). In October of 1999 Janet Reno threatened Montgomery County with harassment and/or lawsuits if the police didn't reverse racial profiling. Bill Lann Lee, an attorney for the NAACP, which brought these trumped up charges against Montgomery County, was illegally appointed head of the DOJ Office of Civil Rights by Bill Clinton and Janet Reno while this case was pending. His first task was to take over the federal investigation of the charges he had created from inside the NAACP – an obvious conflict of interest. Lee forced Montgomery County into a "voluntary" agreement to require racial identification of all traffic stops in a vain effort to statistically improve the driving habits of blacks. It didn’t work however, so the county recruited Moose to defuse the charges. They figured he, being a black cop from Portland, would be immune from further harassment. He was, to a large extent (although blacks continue to garner a high percentage of traffic violations), and now he appears to be in the process of being promoted for something else. I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes a national spokesman for ballistic fingerprinting.
Gun control is high on the agenda of Homeland Security for disarming Americans. Our federal police forces would like nothing more than to ensure that Americans are completely dependent on police and military task forces to counter violent crime. But despite all the anti-gun propaganda, gun sales in Virginia have skyrocketed. Honest citizens have realized the police cannot protect them from crime or terror. What these task forces do is shut down all traffic for so long as to make living in DC a veritable hardship. During 9/11, there was no good reason for the FAA to shut down the entire air traffic system for more than a few hours. They could have simply done a more thorough check on Middle Eastern passengers, and sent everyone on their way, with fighters monitoring the skies for more highjackings. Instead, they nearly bankrupted the airline system and destroyed billions in commerce--not to mention the terrible inconvenience in the lives of those stranded for weeks. [THE DC SNIPER: UNANSWERED QUESTIONS WORLD AFFAIRS BRIEF October 25, 2002 Copyright Joel M. Skousen ]

2001 October 24: The House of Representatives passes the final version of the USA Patriot Act and other previously unpopular Bush projects: Alaska oil drilling, $25 billion in tax cuts for corporations, taps into Social Security funds and cuts in education. [CNN, 10/25/01] Republican Congressman Ron Paul states: "It's my understanding the bill wasn't printed before the vote - at least I couldn't get it. They played all kinds of games, kept the House in session all night, and it was a very complicated bill. Maybe a handful of staffers actually read it, but the bill definitely was not available to members before the vote." It is later found that only two copies of the bill were made available in the hours before its passage, and most House members admit they voted for the Act without actually reading it first. [Insight, 11/9/01] Two days later, the Senate passes the final version of the USA Patriot Act. Anthrax targets Senators Daschle and Leahy now support the bill. Bush signs it into law the same day. [Fox News, 10/26/01] Were the anthrax attacks a deliberate plot to help pass the USA Patriot Act, and whip up public support?

2001 October 25: Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Tommy Thompson also asked Congress for another $500 million to produce enough of Acambis's smallpox vaccine "so every American will be assured there is a dose with his or her name on it if it is needed" Many argue, that the vaccines are reported with various side effects, including a sudden death.

2001 October 25: Prosecutors from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., debate over where trials should be held. Filing multiple charges, both Virginia and Maryland say they may seek the death penalty, but the latter can't execute Malvo because he's considered a juvenile. Authorities in Alabama say they're also planning to seek the death penalty, naming Muhammad in the September 21 killing of Claudine Parker at a Montgomery liquor store. Louisiana also lays charges, issuing its own arrest warrants after tests showed the rifle found on the suspects was the same as the one used in the September 23 murder of Hong Ballenger outside her beauty supply shop in Baton Rouge.

2001 October 26: http://www.cjr.org/owners/disney.asp Confirmation that Bentonite isn't the indicator for the Anthrax Spores, but Seneca, as used in the States. Iraq was falsly accused by ABC News and their "four well-placed and separate sources" to be the only country to use Bentonite and writes wrong, that the spores had been indicated with bentonite.
http://www.cjr.org/owners/disney.asp Bentonite, Hydrated (Intestinal) is a natural clay that comes from volcanic ash. It is often used as a thickener in facial masks as it absorbs excess oil and dirt from the skin.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/WTC_Investigation.html
Between October and November the media pushes various reports about new control systems, surveillance camera systems, Opinion Mining, Wireless Biometry, Nanosatellites, Face Recognition, Chat- and Boardsniffer, Brain Scans, the National ID, The Pentagon Smart ID, the VeriChip or other Tracking Tools. Other special magazines reveal news about Skin color spectrum monitor programs or Nanobarcodes.

2001 October 26: Daily Telegraph,who is owned by Top Pentagon advisor Richard Perle (Hollinger Inc.) starts with a series of articles about a possible connection of Mohammed Atta and an iraqi diplomacy. The paper quotes also his best friend, James Woolsey (ex-CIA director): "I doubt very seriously if this was simply a social relationship or that they liked to drink Czech beer together." This story was picked up by other british papers and reached the States within a few days. The story was finally debunked as false in late November 2001, but often reappared again in 2002. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2001%2F10%2F26%2Fwirq26.xml
On the 26^th of October The Daily Telegraph tried to promote the Iraq-October-anthrax theory: Hollinger Inc owns the Daily Telegraph, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Chicago Sun Times and. On the board of Daily Telegraph is Henry Kissinger, ex-CIA-Director James Woolsey, Newt Gingrich, former Admiral David Jeremiah, Dan Quayle, former US-ministers James Schlesinger and Harold Brown. The Director of Hollinger Inc. is Richard Perle. Perle is also Head of the Defense Policy Board, Department of Defense which advises the Pentagon. Hollinger Digital also owns Onset Technology which cooperates with spy messenger software of Comverse and Odigo. Hollinger Inc. owns more than 400 newspapers worldwide and controls almost 50% of the Canadian press. They are the third largest newspaper chain in the Western world, after Gannett and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Chairman and CEO of Hollinger is Conrad Black who controls about 78% of Hollinger through a private holding company.

2001 October 26: The FBI says a third man has been arrested in connection with the Washington-area attacks. Nathaniel Osbourne is not considered a suspect in the actual killings, but he's being held as a material witness after police found him listed as the co-owner of the Caprice found with Malvo and Muhammad.

2001 October 27: Growing concern within Europe over the direction of the US campaign and a fear that the US will be the sole beneficiary of the war. The official reasons for targeting Afghanistan have given rise to a number of reports that depart from invocation that the ongoing military campaign is a war against terrorism. The most significant of these reports was an item on the The Gulf War was largely about oil., this one is too. Halligan called oil an important subtext to the struggle over Afghanistan. The US, is the worlds biggest importer of oil, consuming 22 million barrels a day. The US relies heavily on the Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia, which produces seven million barrels a day.
Oil and Gas International: Japanese JV to shoot 3D on Azadegan.
"The Azadegan Field is believed to be one of the largest discovered in the Middle East, with more than 26 billion bbl of oil in estimated reserves. It lies in western Iran near the Iraqi frontier."

2001 October 29: ExxonMobil announces a consortium it leads will spend $4 billion over 5 years to develop large offshore oil and natural gas fields in Russia's far eastern Sakhalin region. The fields are estimated to contain 2.3 billion barrels of oil and 17 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. ExxonMobil will be the operator and own a 30% interest in the fields. Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development of Japan will own 30%, ONGC Videsh of India 20%, Sakhalinmorneftegas-Shelf of Russia 11.5%, and RN-Astra of Russia 8.5%. The total investment could grow to $12 billion over the 30-40 year project life. This is the single largest foreign investment in Russia, as Russia continues to undertake market reforms. (WSJ, NYT)

2001 October 29: CFR Monday
"Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War"
Speaker: William Broad
Science Writer, The New York Times
Speaker: Stephen Engelberg
Investigations Editor, The New York Times
Speaker: Judith Miller
Senior Writer, The New York Times
Presider: Charlie Rose
Executive Producer and Host, Charlie Rose Show
Related Project(s): America's Response to Terrorism

2001 October 29: (Sniper) The U.S. federal government levels a 20-count complaint against Muhammad, accusing him of using a firearm in an extortion scheme, after identifying the handwriting on a note requesting $10 million US, found at the scene of a Virginia shooting. Tacoma, Wash., police believe they can tie Muhammad to the February killing of Keenya Cook, whose aunt worked at Muhammad's auto repair business and sided with his estranged ex-wife after a bitter break-up.

2001 October 30: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"The WTO and the New Global Trade Round: What's at Stake?"
Speaker: Robert B. Zoellick U.S. Trade Representative
Presider: C Fred Bergsten Director, Institute for International Economics
[www.cfr.org]

2001 October: James Woolsey (ex CIA Director).. wanted a war against the Taliban for years, but was even more interested in a war against Iraq. The Iraqi National Congress, the exiled group that opposes Saddam Hussein, said in October 2001 that it held meetings in London with Mr Woolsey. Administration sources have said his trip was funded and approved by Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy Defense secretary. But Woolsey made no comment about the exact nature of his brief. He told The Telegraph: "I was in London and that's it." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2001%2F10%2F26%2Fwirq26.xml
Unocal & Afghanistan
(10/29/01) There can be no doubt that the tragic terrorist attack on New York City and Washington requires apprehension and bringing to justice those responsible. They and their organization were in all likelihood led by the terrorist linchpin Osama bin Laden, who is harbored in Afghanistan, from which he is believed to have directed, trained, and financed this and other terrorist acts. And there can be no question that the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan are aiding and abetting him and his al-Qaida organization. But, despite how much this terrorist and his henchmen and the Taliban themselves are despised by most of the civilized world and the majority of Afghans themselves, can that be a justification for the present bombing of the country and soaring number of innocent casualties? Or, as is being said throughout the Middle East, is there an ulterior motive? Is it to put another regime in power that may be more favorable to the West?
Author Ahmed Rashid has revealed that since 1995, Unocal has sought to build US$1.9 billion, 790-mile oil and gas pipelines from the 25 Tcf Dauletabad Field in Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistani ports on the Arabian Sea as an alternate route for transporting Caspian region oil and gas to the enormous Indian subcontinent markets and perhaps beyond to Southeast Asia. But, Rashid points out, this requires an agreeable administration in Afghanistan, which the Taliban no longer is.
Unocal tried courting Taliban leaders after they took Kabul in 1996, taking them to Houston, where they were treated royally. They were offered US$.15 per 1000 cf of gas that passed through Afghanistan, and they agreed after US Assistant Secretary of State Robin Raphael lobbied them for the Unocal pipeline. During their first year running the country.
The Taliban were unopposed by the US government. Rashid says in 1997, he was told by an American diplomat, "The Taliban will probably develop like the Saudis did. There will be Aramco, pipelines, an emir, no parliament, and lots of Sharia law. We can live with that." But when the Taliban began to enforce strict sharia edicts, particularly against women, policies began to change. Nevertheless, Rashid says, Unocal told a 1998 US congressional hearing that Asian energy demands and the sanctions against Iran made Afghanistan "the only other possible route" for its proposed million b/d pipeline, but when the Taliban demanded more than the $100 million a year in rent for the pipeline route in the form of the construction of roads, water supplies, telephone lines, and electricity power lines, as well as a tap in the pipeline to provide oil and gas for Afghanistan, Unocal balked, and finally dropped its plans after the East Africa embassy bombings.
The US Energy Information Agency says, "Afghanistan's significance from an energy standpoint stems from its geographical position as a potential transit route for oil and natural gas exports from Central Asia to the Arabian Sea. This potential includes the possible construction of oil and natural gas export pipelines through Afghanistan."
If the Taliban is overthrown, terrorism may take a major blow, but in doing so, the primary stumbling block to the Caspian-Pakistan pipeline will also be removed. In the Middle East, where oil has always dominated political decisions, this is the rationale for the US-led strike against Afghanistan. The question is asked, if bin Laden were still in Saudi Arabia, would the same punishment be given that country?

2001 October 31: OPEC President (and Algerian Oil Minister) Chakib Khelil states that OPEC oil producers are prepared to cut supply to get weak oil prices back up to the group's $25-per-barrel target price. OPEC member Kuwait states that it will support any move that OPEC makes. (Reuters)

2001 October 31: almost all british and US-papers ignored another article, first released as a radio report about a meeting of Bin laden and CIA agent Larry Stevens in June 2001, by Richard Labevierre (Radio France International, "Terror Dollars" (2000, about illegal Al-Quaida accounts), which was picked up on same day by ananova, yahoo singapore, GROUND ZERO Forum NYC, Le Figaro, DER SPIEGEL and DrudgeReport.

2001 October late: Johnson + Johnson now wants to give away their product Levaquin, an anti anthrax sirup, for free. They got ignored. Other companies like Pfizer start to work on their drug Vibramycin. GlaxoSmithKline und Aventis promised to offer other drugs for other bio weapon diseases or symptoms.

2001 October end: The FBI claims, they have visited Dr. Tsonas (Holy Cross) to ask him something about some hijackers.
Now, let's go back to the Oct. 31 story by Le Figaro -- the one that has Osama bin Laden meeting with a CIA officer in Dubai in July 2001.The story says, "Throughout his stay in the hospital, Osama Bin Laden received visits from many family members [There goes the story that he's a black sheep! --MCR] and Saudi Arabian Emirate personalities of status. During this time the local representative of the CIA was seen by many people taking the elevator and going to bin Laden's room. "Several days later the CIA officer bragged to his friends about having visited the Saudi millionaire. From authoritative sources, this CIA agent visited CIA headquarters on July 15, the day after bin Laden's departure for Quetta. "According to various Arab diplomatic sources and French intelligence itself, precise information was communicated to the CIA concerning terrorist attacks aimed at American interests in the world, including its own territory. "Extremely bothered, they [American intelligence officers in a meeting with French intelligence officers] requested from their French peers exact details about the Algerian activists [connected to bin Laden through Dubai banking institutions], without explaining the exact nature of their inquiry. When asked the question, What do you fear in the coming days?' the Americans responded with incomprehensible silence. "On further investigation, the FBI discovered certain plans that had been put together between the CIA and its 'Islamic friends' over the years. The meeting in Dubai is, so it would seem, consistent with 'a certain American policy.'" Even though Le Figaro reported that it had confirmed with hospital staff that bin Laden had been there as reported, stories printed on Nov. 1 contained quotes from hospital staff that these reports were untrue. On Nov. 1, as reported by the Ananova press agency, the CIA flatly denied that any meeting between any CIA personnel and Osama bin Laden at any time. Who do you believe?

2001 October: The Bush White House drafted an unprecedented executive order sealing presidential records including those of prior administrations. October 31, 2001, the French daily "Le Figaro" reported that Osama bin Laden had met with a high-level CIA official in July 2000. At that time, bin Laden was already being sought for trial for his involvement in two U.S. embassy bombings and the U.S.S. Cole attack. The meeting was held in bin Laden's private suite in a Dubai hospital. Though he was eligible for elimination, according to President Bill Clinton's intelligence findings, on July 14th he was let go and left Dubai on his private jet.

2001 November: Bush signs Executive Order 13233 restricting public access to papers of former presidents.

2001 November 2: Crude oil production begins at BP's Northstar field located off Alaska's north shore. Production of 65,000 barrels per day is expected by next quarter. Northstar is the first field to be successfully developed in federal waters off Alaska's North Slope, coming online 18 years after it was initially discovered. The Northstar production module is the largest ever built in Alaska, with 22 wells planned. Recoverable crude oil reserves are estimated at 175 million barrels. (OD)

2001 November 6: ChevronTexaco signs an exploration and production sharing agreement with Bahrain. ChevronTexaco expects to drill its first well by the end of 2002. Bahrain recently gained sovereignty over the Hawar Islands through an International Court of Justice decision in March 2001, opening a formerly disputed area of the Persian Gulf to exploration. (OD)

2001 November 6: Jerome Hauer participated in the "Independent Task Force on America's Response to Terrorism" at the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations). Participants there included James J. Zogby (President of the Arab American Institute and Central Asian Enterprise Fund), Newton L. Gingrich (Chief Executive Officer, The Gingrich Group), Harold Brown (former secretary of defense and counselor at CSIS: the Center for Strategic and International Studies), Henry A. Kissinger (Senior Fellow in National Security and European Affairs), Richard C. Holbrooke (Counselor, CFR and Vice Chairman of Perseus, LLC) and Philip A. Odeen (Executive Vice President, Washington Operations of TRW, Inc. and CEO of Reynolds + Reynolds, Dayton).
Their agenda, eight weeks after the attack of Sept. 11, was strange indeed:
http://www.cfr.org/Public/publications/PubDiplom_TF.html
"....Release a White Paper explaining our goals and rationale for the war in Afghanistan, and outlining the evidence that the al-Qa'eda network was responsible for the 9/11 attacks....
...Disseminate stories of particular victims to convey the range of people killed in the 9/11 attacks-stress range of religions, races, income levels, etc...
...counteract myth that Mossad was behind the attacks by showing Jews killed, etc...
...Routinely monitor the regional press in real time to enable prompt responses...

2001 November: Thomas Picking retires from the FBI

2001 November: Jerome Hauer was still ignoring the investigations by Barbara Rosenberg, who had a list of possible anthrax suspects, scientists who would have been able to gain access to the original Ames strain from USAMRIID, Fort Detrick. http://www.fas.org/bwc/news/anthraxreport.htm Suspects were Battelle and the Battelle Memorial Institute administrators, who supplied the Dugway anthrax proving facility in Utah, where the only virtually identical Ames strain of silica-impregnated hyper-weaponized anthrax was found: http://www.stlimc.org/print.php3?article_id=1295 Jerome Hauer started an initiative known as "De-Mystifying the Biological Weapons Debate," and as a member of this group he claimed at the time that the main suspects for the anthrax attacks included "Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network and sympathizers to US right wing extremists" http://www.basicint.org/BWreport.htm

2001 November: DynCorp, who is strongly connected with ENRON and the government, gets a new contract for $51 million to upgrade the FBI's information technology network, as well as an $8.2 million contract to manage SEC information technology.
ENRON's Kenneth Lay who worked at the Department of Defense under Robert McNamara, as did the Herbert S. "Pug" Winokur (former DynCorp excutive), another member of the Enron Board of Directors and member of the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) DynCorps auditor of record is Arthur Andersen.
On the board of DynCorp is also General P.C. Carns, a retired US Air Force general who served as vice chief of staff and as director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to the DynCorp Proxy statement, Carns is also a member of the Defense Science Board and the Board of Advisors, National Security Agency DynCorp also worked with the PROMIS sofware DynCorp is involved in many bizarre cases, like Bosnia Sex Scandals, aircraft crashes in Afghanistan and many CIA-connected business deals in South- and Middle America.
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/main.cfm/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/2296 90.html

2001 November 1: Bush signed Executive Order 13233 which limits public access to papers of all presidents since 1980 including George W. Bush. Another memo written this day states that talking points for Bush were prepared for his meeting with the India Prime Minister. Bush did not discuss Enron during the meeting.

 

2001 November 6: OPIC President Peter Watson contacts a top aide of the Indian Prime Minister: "The acute lack of progress in this matter has forced Dabhol to rise to the highest levels of the United States government."

2001 November 6: CFR"Globalization: Has Everything Changed?"
Speaker: Stanley Fischer
Senior Adviser to the Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
Presider: John A. Ross
Corporate Chief Operating Officer, Deutsche Bank AG

2001 November 7: (Sniper) Federal officials announce they're dropping charges in the D.C. attacks and the men will be instead tried first in Virginia, the state most likely to achieve successful death penalty sentences. Atlanta, Ga., police say the September 21 murder of liquor store employee Million Waldemariam might be connected to the so-called Beltway Snipers after ballistics tests confirm the weapon used also matches one recovered near the Alabama slaying.

2001 November 8: (Sniper) Muhammad and Malvo make their first appearance in separate Virginia courtrooms The Washington Post publishes an interview with Mildred Muhammad, who says she believes the shootings were part of a plan by her ex-husband to murder her and gain custody of their children. She believes Muhammad came to Washington to kill her and that all of the victims "died because of me."

2001 November 8: Larry Johnson, former CIA officer with close links to serving intelligence officials said "We're hostage to oil, that's as simple as you can put it. We have let the economic considerations take precedence,". BBC News

2001 November 8: Enron president Lawrence "Greg" Whalley called Treasury Undersecretary Peter Fisher in late October and disclosed that it had overstated earnings dating back to 1997 by almost $600 million. That same day, an e-mail ("Importance: High"), whose sender and recipient are blacked out, warned, "President Bush cannot talk about Dabhol."

 

2001 November 9: An e-mail noted that Lawrence Lindsey, chairman of Bush's National Economic Council, had met India's National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra on Nov. 7, but it said Lindsey was "advised that he could not discuss Dabhol." Lindsey is a former Enron consultant and had served on its board of advisers.

2001 November 9: The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose 3.1% in the year 2000, and have risen 14% since 1990. EIA reports that the emissions increase between 1999 and 2000 was a result of strong economic growth and more use of fossil fuels due to cold weather and a drought that reduced hydroelectric power generation. (LAT)

2001 November 9: Enron, the world's largest electricity and natural gas trading company, agrees to an all-stock takeover by former competitor Dynegy. ChevronTexaco, a 27% stakeholder in Dynegy, will immediately inject $1.5 billion cash into Enron, and an additional $1 billion into the combined entity. The merged company will be called Dynegy Inc., and Dynegy executives will occupy all top positions. The deal is expected to take at least six months to close. (WMO)

2001 November 9: Officially on this day a video of Bin Laden is produced in Jahlalabad. On the same day the Northern Alliance have their first success, storming Mazar-el-Sharif. Many journalists wrote, that this attack was provoked by the CIA and lead to the first big loss of the Taliban. Donald Rumsfeld claims, "someone" found this video two weeks later in Kandahar.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2001/t12132001_t1213sd.html
At that time, none of the Northern Alliance or the US Troops had been arrived in Kandahar or Jahlalabad.

2001 November 10: "Bin Laden, the Forbidden Truth", written by Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie is released. It includes an interview with former (and dead) FBI agent John O'Neill and many oil pipeline maps of Afghanistan.

2001 November 11: "..The New York Times (November 11, 2001) reported that F.B.I. agents were denied access to "some pharmaceutical companies in New Jersey http://www.tetrahedron.org/news/NR011112.html

2001 November 12: (Sniper) Judge Leroy Millette denies a request from FOX, CNN, ABC and other networks to televise the trial of Muhammad, saying coverage would compromise his right to fair trial. A trial date for Muhammad is set for October 14, 2003. Eight weeks are cleared for the case to be given enough time.

2001 November 12: The beginning of numerous mysterious deaths of renowned microbiologists. A good place to start learning about this is a Globe and Mail article, which calls these deaths a "tale only the best conspiracy theorist could dream up" yet hard to explain [Globe and Mail, 5/4/02] (The Memphis Flyer also provides a good overview, but is much more speculative: [Memphis Flyer, 3/7/02]). The first dead microbiologist is Dr. Benito Que, 52, was "an expert in infectious diseases and cellular biology at the Miami Medical School. Police originally suspected that he had been beaten on November 12 in a carjacking in the medical school's parking lot. Strangely enough, though, his body showed no signs of a beating. Doctors then began to suspect a stroke." [Globe and Mail, 5/4/02]
Benito Que, 52, was found comatose in the street near the laboratory where he worked at the University of Miami Medical School. He died on Dec. 6. Benito Que an expert in infectious diseases and cellular biology at the Miami Medical School. The public relations office at the University of Miami Medical School said only that Benito Que was a cell biologist, involved in oncology research in the hematology department. This research relies heavily on DNA sequencing studies. The circumstances of his death raise more questions than they answer. Que had left his job at a research laboratory at the University of Miami Medical School, apparently heading for his Ford Explorer parked on NW 10th Avenue. The Miami Herald, referring to the death as an "incident," reported he had no wallet on him, and quoted Miami police as saying his death may have been the result of a mugging. Police made this statement while at the same time saying there was a lack of visible trauma to Que's body. There is firm belief among Que's friends and family that the PhD was attacked by four men, at least one of whom had a baseball bat. Que's death has now been officially ruled "natural," caused by cardiac arrest. Both the Dade County medical examiner and the Miami Police would not comment on the case, saying only that it is closed. Benito Que worked for medical research facilities that received grants from Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). HHMI funds a tremendous number of research programs at schools, hospitals and research facilities, and has long been alleged to be conducting "black ops" biomedical research for intelligence organizations, including the CIA.
The research the microbiologists were doing could have developed methods of treating diseases like anthrax and smallpox without conventional antibiotics or vaccines. Pharmaceutical contracts to deal with these diseases will total hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars. If epidemics could be treated in non-traditional ways, MEHPA might not be necessary. Considering the government's actions nullifying many civil liberties since last September, MEHPA seems to be a law looking for an excuse to be enacted. Maybe the microbiologists were in the way of some peoples' or business' agendas.
DNA sequencing research can be used to develop pathogens that target specific genetically related groups. One company, DynCorp, handles data processing for many federal agencies, including the CDC, the Department of Agriculture, several branches of the Department of Justice, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the NIH. On Nov. 12 DynCorp announced that its subsidiary, DynPort Vaccine, had been awarded a $322 million contract to develop, produce, test, and store FDA licensed vaccines for use by the Defense Department. It would be incredibly easy for DynCorp to hide information pertaining to the exact make-up, safety, efficacy and purpose of the drugs and vaccines the US government has contracted for.

2001 November 12: DynCorp, also major government contractor for data processing, military operations and intelligence work, was awarded a $322 million contract to develop, produce and store vaccines for the Department of Defense DynCorp and Hadron, both defense contractors connected to classified research programs on communicable diseases, have also been linked to a software program known as PROMIS. DynCorp is connected with the CIA as the nation's twenty-second largest defense contractor with 1998 U.S. Government contract revenues of $475 million James Woolsey, former CIA director and friend of Pentagon advisor Richard Perle (Hollinger Inc.= Daily Telegraph, Jerusalem Post etc..) was director of DynCorp some years ago ENRON executive Herbert S. "Pug" Winokur was on the board of DynCorp from 1988 to 1997, Winokur was also the Chairman and CEO of DynCorp. It was said, that ENRON worked with 20 CIA agents to bribe business deals. DynCorp is one of the lead contractors for the new phony War on Drugs in South America called "Plan Colombia". DynCorp helped clients such as the U.S. Army,s Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP), the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Postal Service. On the list of DynCorp clients from the public sector: U.S. Postal Service (USPS), Centers for Disease Control, Department of Defense etc..
http://www.dyncorp.com/world/public.htm DynCorp is also responsible for the crashes of the helicopters in Afghanistan, as confirmed by tech mag insight, reported by investigative reporter Kelly Patricia O'Meara . http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/main.cfm/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/2296 90.html
Investigative reporter Kelly O Meara of Insight Magazine, (February 4), disclosed massive US military investigation of how DynCorp employees in Bosnia engaged in a widespread sex slave ring, trading children as young as eight and videotaping forced sexual encounters. She reviewed government documents and interviewed Army investigators looking into the activities which had spread throughout DynCorp's contract operations to service helicopters and warehouse supplies for the US military. Videos and other evidence of the crimes are in the Army s possession. And in a February 23rd story, veteran journalist Al Giordano of www.narconews.com reported that a class action suit had been filed in Washington, D.C. by more than 10,000 Ecuadorian farmers and a labor union against DynCorp for its rampant spraying of herbicides which have destroyed food crops, weakened the ecosystem and caused more than 1,100 documented cases of illness. DynCorp's current Chairman, Paul Lombardi responded to the suit by sending intimidating letters in an unsuccessful attempt to force the plaintiffs to withdraw. [As Connections To Dyncorp, Hadron, Promis Software & Disease Research Emerge - A Career In Microbiology Can Be Harmful To Your Health (Revised/Updated - 20 March 2002) By Michael Davidson FTW Staff Writer and Michael C. Ruppert 3-3-2]
DynCorp, who is strongly connected with ENRON and the government, gets a new contract for $51 million to upgrade the FBI's information technology network, as well as an $8.2 million contract to manage SEC information technology.
ENRON's Kenneth Lay who worked at the Department of Defense under Robert McNamara, as did the Herbert S. "Pug" Winokur (former DynCorp excutive), another member of the Enron Board of Directors and member of the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) DynCorps auditor of record is Arthur Andersen.
On the board of DynCorp is also General P.C. Carns, a retired US Air Force general who served as vice chief of staff and as director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to the DynCorp Proxy statement, Carns is also a member of the Defense Science Board and the Board of Advisors, National Security Agency DynCorp also worked with the PROMIS sofware DynCorp is involved in many bizarre cases, like Bosnia Sex Scandals, aircraft crashes in Afghanistan and many CIA-connected business deals in South- and Middle America.
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/main.cfm/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/2296 90.html

2001 November 13: Len Horowitz, Harvard trained medical researcher, best-selling author, and biowarfare expert writes a letter to the FBI on anthrax. Bayer was a company connected to WWII Nazis (IG Farben).

2001 November 14: Thomas Inglesby, Hopkins Institute in an article about the Postal Workers, who died on Anthrax: "...According to NIH researcher Dr. Luciana Borio, the two workers' symptoms were initially misidentified as flu.."
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/global/hiv/01111401.htm

2001 November 14: At its meeting in Vienna, Austria, OPEC announces that it intends to cut its crude oil output quotas by 1.5 million barrels per day effective January 1, but only if non-OPEC producers cut their output by 500,000 barrels per day as well. The production cuts are an effort to steady or raise world oil prices, which have fallen markedly since September. (DJ) Mexico pledges to cut its crude oil exports by 100,000 barrels per day as of January 1, 2002, in order to strengthen world oil prices in concert with OPEC actions. Mexico is the world's seventh-largest crude oil producer and exported 1.6 million barrels per day in September 2001. (Reuters) The NYMEX crude oil price for December delivery falls 11.6% to $17.45 per barrel, after Russia appeared to reject OPEC's proposal to cut oil production. Over the last week the December delivery price has fallen 21%. Oil prices have not been this low in over two years. (NYT)

2001 November 16: Microbiologist: Dr. Don Wiley, 57, Loeb Professor of Biophysics and Biochemistry, disappears during a business trip to Memphis, Tennessee. [Fox News, 11/24/01] He had just bought tickets to take his son to Graceland the following day. Police found his rental car on a bridge outside Memphis. His body was later found in the Mississippi River. Forensic experts said he may have had a dizzy spell and fallen off the bridge. Police will only say, "We began this investigation as a missing person investigation. From there it went to a more criminal bent." [CNN, 11/29/01] "Wiley is seen as one of the world's leading researchers of deadly viruses, including HIV and the Ebola virus." [CNN, 12/22/01] Wiley worked at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Harvard University, and was an expert on the immune system's response to viral attacks. He was widely regarded as the nation's foremost expert in using special X-ray cameras and mathematical formulas to make high-resolution images of viruses. [Boston Globe, 12/21/01] The FBI is monitoring the investigation because of his research knowledge. [Globe and Mail, 5/4/02] January 14, almost two months after his disappearance, Shelby County Medical Examiner O.C. Smith announced that his department had ruled Wiley s death to be "accidental;" the result of massive injuries suffered in a fall from the Hernando de Soto Bridge. Smith said there were paint marks on Wiley's rental car similar to the paint used on construction signs on the bridge, and that the car's right front hubcap was missing. There has been no report as to which construction signs Wiley hit. There is also no explanation as to why this evidence did not move the Memphis police to consider possibilities other than a "missing person."

2001 November 17: Senator Leahy's anthax letter is discovered

2001 November 18: Phillips Petroleum and Conoco agree to merge into a new company to be called ConocoPhillips, which would be the third-largest oil and natural gas company in the United States, and the sixth-largest in the world, in terms of production. The company also would be the largest gasoline retailer in the United States and the fifth-largest refiner in the world. Combined total reserves of the new company would be 8.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent, and production would be 1.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The new company expects to be able to compete more effectively with its larger rivals and to achieve significant cost savings. The new company will be based in Houston, Texas. (NYT)

2001 November 20: Non-OPEC oil exporter Oman indicates that it will cut production by about 3% or 25,000 barrels per day, in order to reduce oil supply and cooperate with OPEC's contingent cuts. (Reuters)

2001 November 20: The five Israelis on a Mossad surveillance mission arrested after filming the burning of the WTC while shouting in cries of joy and mockery are released on November 20, 2001 as part of a deal with the Israeli government. The owner of the moving van company they all worked had fled to Israel on September 13 and is still wanted by US authorities. The FBI later claims that none of them had any advanced knowledge of the 9/11 attacks.

2001 November 21: The British paper The Independent runs a story headlined, "Opium Farmers Rejoice at the Defeat of the Taliban." The story reports that massive opium planting is underway all over the country.

2001 November 21: Dead microbiologist: World-class microbiologist and high-profile Russian defector Dr. Vladimir Pasechnik, 64, dies of a stroke. Pasechnik, who defected to Britain in 1989, had played a huge role in the development of Russian biowarfare, heading a lab of 400 "with an unlimited budget" and "the best staff available." He says he succeeded in producing an aerosolized plague microbe that could survive outside the laboratory. He was connected to Britain's spy agency and recently had started his own company. "In the last few weeks of his life he had put his research on anthrax at the disposal of the [British] Government, in the light of the threat from bioterrorism." [London Times, 11/30/01, New York Times, 11/23/01, Globe and Mail, 5/4/02]

2001 November 22: Norway's Oil and Energy Minister announces that he has a mandate to reduce the country's current crude oil production of about 3.2 million barrels per day by as much as 200,000 barrels per day. The cut would be pro rata, meaning that all companies will have to participate in the output cut. The timing and extent of the actual cut will depend on the overall package of supply reduction agreed upon by OPEC and other large non-OPEC producers. Brent crude oil at the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) rises $1.17 per barrel to $19.02 per barrel, on the news. (WSJ)

2001 November 23: CLPH released a 40-page document, the Model Emergency Health Powers Act (MEHPA). This was a "model" law that HHS is suggesting be enacted by the 50 states to handle future public health emergencies such as bioterrorism. A revised version was released on Dec. 21 containing more specific definitions of "public health emergency" as it pertains to bioterrorism and biologic agents, and includes language for those states that want to use the act for chemical, nuclear or natural disasters.

2001 November 23: Vladimir Pasechnik, 64, was found dead in Wiltshire, England, not far from his home. Dr. Vladimir Pasechnik World-class microbiologist and high-profile Russian defected to Britain in 1989, played a huge role in the development of Russian biowarfare, heading a lab of 400 "with an unlimited budget" and "the best staff available." He says he succeeded in producing an aerosolized plague microbe that could survive outside the laboratory. He was connected to Britain's spy agency and recently had started his own company. "In the last few weeks of his life he had put his research on anthrax at the disposal of the [British] Government, in the light of the threat from bioterrorism."
Pasechnik's death was reported in the New York Times as having occurred on Nov. 23.
The announcement of Pasechnik's death was made in the United States by Dr. Christopher Davis of Virginia, who stated that the cause of death was a stroke. Davis was the member of British intelligence who de-briefed Dr. Pasechnik at the time of his defection. Davis says he left the intelligence service in 1996, but when asked why a former member of British intelligence would be the person announcing the death of Pasechnik to the US media, he replied that it had come about during a conversation with a reporter he had had a long relationship with. The reporter Davis named is not the author of the Times' obituary, and Davis declined to say which branch of British intelligence he served in. No reports of Pasechnik's death appeared in Britain for more than a month, until Dec. 29, when his obituary appeared in the London Telegraph, which did not include a date of death.

2001 November 24: Three more dead microbiologists: A Swissair flight from Berlin to Zurich crashes during its landing approach; 22 are killed and nine survive. Among those killed are Dr. Yaakov Matzner, 54, dean of the Hebrew University school of medicine; Amiramp Eldor, 59, head of the haematology department at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv and a world-recognized expert in blood clotting; and Avishai Berkman, 50, director of the Tel Aviv public health department and businessman. [CNN, 11/25/01, Swissair manifest, 11/24/01] Besides all being microbiologists, six of the seven scientists who died within weeks of each other died from "unnatural" causes. And four of the seven were doing virtually identical research -- research that has global, political and financial significance.

2001 November 24: a Swissair flight from Berlin to Zurich crashed on its landing approach. Of the 33 persons on board, 24 were killed, including the head of the hematology department at Israel's Ichilov Hospital, as well as directors of the Tel Aviv Public Health Department and Hebrew University School of Medicine. They were the only Israelis on the flight. The names of those killed, as reported in a subsequent Israeli news story but not matched to their job titles, were Avishai Berkman, Amiramp Eldor and Yaacov Matzner. Besides all being microbiologists, six of the seven scientists who died within weeks of each other died from "unnatural" causes. And four of the seven were doing virtually identical research -- research that has global, political and financial significance.
- Yaakov Matzner Dean of the Hebrew University school of medicine;
- Amiramp Eldor, Head of hematology department at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv and world-recognized expert in blood clotting;
- Avishai Berkman, director of the Tel Aviv public health department

2001 November 25: The Observer runs a story headlined "Victorious Warlords Set To Open the Opium Floodgates." It states that farmers are being encouraged by warlords allied with the victorious Americans are "being encouraged to plant as much opium as possible."

2001 November 27: Iraq rejects a call by U.S. President George Bush to let United Nations weapons inspectors back into the country to determine whether it is building weapons of mass destruction. An Iraqi spokesman states that, before asking Iraq to allow weapons inspectors to return, the United Nations should lift the 11- year-old sanctions on Iraq and the West should abolish the no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq. (Reuters)

2001 November 28: Dynegy withdraws from merger offer with Enron. Without an infusion of capital from a merger or other source, it will be difficult for Enron to continue payments to its creditors in light of the downgrade of Enron's debt rating to single-B-minus earlier in the day by Standard & Poor's. If Enron is unable to repay or refinance its debt, the company, formerly one of the largest energy companies in the world, may have to declare bankruptcy. (DJ)

2001 November 29: The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution extending the Oil-for- Food program in Iraq for another six-month period. This resolution allows Iraq to sell unlimited quantities of oil on the condition that the proceeds are used to buy food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods, and to pay war reparations. This resolution also calls on members of the Security Council to agree by May 31, 2002, on a list of "dual use" items that would require United Nations approval before Iraq could import them through the program. (WP, DJ)

2001 November: Under the influence of United States oil companies, the government of President George W Bush initially blocked intelligence agencies' investigations on terrorism while it bargained with the Taliban on the delivery of Osama bin Laden in exchange for political recognition and economic aid, two French intelligence analysts claim. Julio Godoy (Asia Times 11/20/2001).

2001 November 30: A report suggests that the strain of anthrax used in the attacks likely originated from USAMRIID and was shared with only a small number of other labs. USAMRIID gave it to Battelle Memorial Institute, in Columbus, Ohio; the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, in Albuquerque, New Mexico; the Defense Research Establishment Suffield, in Canada; the US Army Dugway Proving Ground, in Utah; and the Chemical Defense Establishment at Porton Down, Britain. These in turn sent it to seven more labs, for a total of a dozen. But only five labs total received the virulent form, and some of these may have received strains that were too old (it is known the anthrax used was two years old or less [New York Times, 6/23/02]). [Washington Post, 11/30/01] 

2001 November late: Lay called Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Commerce Secretary Don Evans seeking a last-minute federal bailout and was turned down.

 

2001 December 2: Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

 

2001 December 27: Bush Administration repealed a Clinton-era rule that prevents the government from awarding federal contracts to businesses that have broken environmental, labor, tax, civil rights or other laws.

 

2001 December 31: President Bush appointed a former aide to Unocal, Afghan-born Zalmay Khalilzad, as special envoy to Afghanistan. The nomination was announced nine days after the US-backed interim government of Hamid Karzai took office in Kabul.

2001 December 2: Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York for 14 affiliated entities, including Enron, Enron North America, Enron Energy Services, Enron Transportation Services, Enron Broadband Services, and Enron Metals & Commodity Corporation. Enron was formerly the world's largest electricity and natural gas trading company, and the seventh-largest publicly-traded energy company in the world. Enron also files a $10 billion lawsuit against Dynegy, alleging breach of contract, in connection with Dynegy's November 28 termination of its proposed merger with Enron. (DJ)

2001 December: The FBI stopped reporting about their anthrax investigation in December 2001. But after a couple of months, the pressure on them and Fort Detrick became stronger again. It looked far too strange that their investigation started to stall just as the (Barbara) Rosenberg list of suspicious institutes was released. Rosenberg claimed that the FBI already knew the name of a prime individual suspect in October 2001.

2001 December: The body of James Daniel Watkins, a telecommunications consultant working at the Denver office of Arthur Andersen, is found inside his 1988 Ford Econoline van. A spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says Watkins was shot once in the head. ("Body of Jeffco man found", http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_896066,00.html )

2001 December 4: Convicted drug lord and opium kingpin Ayub Afridi is recruited by the U.S. government to help establish control in Afghanistan by unifying various Pashtun warlords. The former opium smuggler who was one of the CIA's leading assets in the war against the Russians is released from prison in order to do this. [Source: The Asia Times Online, Dec. 4, 2001]

2001 December 4: Rep. Waxman wrote the Vice President asking that he disclose details about contacts between his energy task force and Enron Corp., in light of the company's recent financial collapse and press reports suggesting that Enron had extensive dealings with the task force.

2001 December 4:
"Draining the Swamp: Terrorists and Their Financial Assets"
Speaker: Lee S. Wolosky
Former Director, Transnational Threats, National Security Council; Adjunct Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Speaker: Thomas J. Biersteker
Director and Henry R. Luce Professor Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University
Speaker: William F. Wechsler
Former Special Advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, United States Treasury; Vice-President, Greenwich Associates
Speaker: Steve Kroll
Special Counsel, Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
Presider: Michael M. Weinstein
Adjunct Senior Fellow
Related Project(s): America's Response to Terrorism

2001 December 5: (CFR)
"Fatal Choice: Nuclear Weapons and the Illusion of Missile Defense"
Speaker: Richard Butler
Diplomat-in-Residence, Council on Foreign Relations
Presider: Bradley Graham
Pentagon Correspondent, The Washington Post; Author, Hit to Kill: The Battle Over Shielding America from Missile Attack

2001 December 5: Clayton Lee Waagner, suspected anthrax hoaxer is nabbed http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/12/05/anthrax.abortion/

2001 December 6: The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts that, for the first time since 1991, U.S. petroleum demand will decline year on year. For 2001, EIA expects U.S. petroleum demand to average 19.69 million barrels per day, down 10,000 barrels per day from 2000. The decline in demand, especially for jet fuel since the September 11 attacks, has contributed to a buildup of U.S. oil inventories and has helped keep crude oil and petroleum product prices relatively low. (Reuters) (Commercial jet planes use a phenomenal amount of petroleum based fuel and less people flying)

2001 December 6: CFR
"Afghanistan After the Taliban: What Next?"
Speaker: Stephen Cohen
Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Speaker: William Milam
Former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan; currently State Department advisor on Aghanistan economic reconstruction
Speaker: Milt Bearden
Chief of CIA Covert Actions in Afghanistan (1986-1989)
Presider: Michael J. Elliott
Time Magazine
Related Project(s): America's Response to Terrorism

2001 December 8: During a visit to Kazakhstan in Central Asia, Secretary of State Powell states that US oil companies are likely to invest $200 billion in Kazakhstan alone in the next five to 10 years. [New York Times, 12/15/01]

2001 December 10: Dead microbiologist: "Dr. Robert Schwartz, 57, was stabbed and slashed with what police believe was a sword in his farmhouse in Leesberg, Va. His daughter, and three of her fellow pagans have been charged." [Globe and Mail, 5/4/02] All were part of what they called a coven, and interested in magic, fantasy and self-mutilation. The police have no motive as to why they would have wanted to kill Schwartz, who was a single parent and said to be very close to his children. Schwartz worked at Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology on DNA sequencing and pathogenic microorganisms. He was "a brilliant scientist who had a gift for explaining complex scientific subjects in simple language." [Washington Post, 12/12/01]

2001 December 10: The Federation of American Scientists come to the conclusion, that the Anthrax-Strain must have been produced, possessed and treated in one of 16 mentioned US-Laboratories, including the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (Ft. Detrick, MD), Battelle Memorial Institute (Ohio), University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque or in addition the CDC, NIH http://www.fas.org/bwc/news/anthraxreport.htm
The Analysis of the Anthrax Attacks is released by Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, Federation of American Scientists with a complete list of the suspects, scientifically proved Barbara Rosenberg thinks, that the FBI knows, who is behind the attacks and comes to the conclusion, that they had been sabotaged by CIA and Fort Detrick. Rosenberg is supported by european BioScience- specialist January v. Aken and by colleague and friend, Professor Francis Boyle, a human rights lawyer and a professor of law at the University of Illinois. He is the author of "The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence". He studied many different biowarfare contracts, which "safety levels were atrocious". http://www.counterpunch.com/boyle0425.html

2001 December 11-14: Microbiologist Set Van Nguyen, 44, was found dead in the airlock entrance to a walk-in refrigerator in the laboratory where he worked in Victoria State, Australia. Nguyen Van Set - genetic manipulation and DNA sequencing.. Scientists in his lab in Geelong, Australia had created a virulent form of mousepox. "They realized that if similar genetic manipulation was carried out on smallpox, an unstoppable killer could be unleashed," according to Nature. Dec. 29, 2001 when his obituary appeared in the London Telegraph, which did not include a date of death. Dead microbiologist: Nguyen Van Set, 44, dies in an airlock filled with nitrogen in his lab in Geelong, Australia. The lab had just been written up in the journal Nature for its work in genetic manipulation and DNA sequencing. Scientists there had created a virulent form of mousepox. "They realized that if similar genetic manipulation was carried out on smallpox, an unstoppable killer could be unleashed," according to Nature. [Sydney Morning Herald, 12/12/01, Globe and Mail, 5/4/02]

2001 December 13: The US Army responds to a journalistic investigation and confirms that it has been making weapons grade anthrax in recent years, in violation of an international treaty. The US offensive biological weapons program was supposedly closed in 1969 when the US signed a biological weapons treaty. In 1998 scientists at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah turned small quantities of wet anthrax into powder. This weaponized anthrax appears to be very similar or identical to the anthrax used in the recent attacks. [Baltimore Sun, 12/13/01, New York Times, 12/13/01]

2001 December 14: Spiescafe.com thinks, that the DC Anthrax appears to come "from an illegal CIA funded project", and is 100% home grown

2001 December 14: Postal workers and doctors in states handling anthrax cases leveled criticism Thursday at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying the CDC has been reporting conflicting information.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/conditions/12/14/cdc.anthrax.ap/index.html

2001 December 14: A new rule from the U.S. Department of Energy takes effect such that the U.S. government no longer must prove that the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage facility in Nevada would prevent radioactive contamination of the environment through its underground rock formations. Rather, a combination of advanced storage containers and natural geological barriers would be able to satisfy environmental standards for protecting the ground water and atmosphere from the release of radioactive materials. (WP)

2001 December 16: The Pentagon starts with their campaign again Barbara Rosenberg: "...A genetic match between the anthrax spores in the letters mailed to Capitol Hill and those in the Army's stockpile wouldn't necessarily provide clues to who was responsible for the bioterrorist attack, an Army spokesman said..."
http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2001/12/16/anthrax_match/?x

2001 December 16: The Pentagon starts with their campaign again Barbara Rosenberg: "...A genetic match between the anthrax spores in the letters mailed to Capitol Hill and those in the Army's stockpile wouldn't necessarily provide clues to who was responsible for the bioterrorist attack, an Army spokesman said..."
http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2001/12/16/anthrax_match/?x

2001 December 17: The CIA starts with their campaign against Barbara Rosenberg: "..CIA laboratories were not the source of the deadly anthrax bacteria mailed to Capitol Hill, a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency spokesman said on Sunday.." http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/reuters20011217_20.html

2001 December 17: Top anthrax scientists are backing the use of an experimental weapon for the war on spores: the vaccination needle. Critics argue that the vaccine isn't necessary and may cause health problems.
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/36853.htm

2001 December 17: Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld partner George Salem won't represent the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development against claims by the Bush administration that it is a fundraising front for terrorist organizations, the Washington Post reports. Salem, who was a major Muslim American fundraiser for Bush and has been an informal advisor to the administration since the September 11 terror attacks, represents the foundation in a suit brought by the parents of a man murdered by the militant group Hamas. The parents claim the Holy Land Foundation funded Hamas and should pay for their son's death.
"Why did Salem decline to represent the Holy Land Foundation [in the latest case]? Was it pressure from the administration? Was the firm worried about losing clients? Did helping fight what Salem believes is a constitutionally significant case lose out over U.S. patriotism? Or did Salem's political connections win out over his personal convictions?" the Post article asks. The firm declined to comment.

2001 December 18: Center for Disease Control (CDC) under criticism again. "Postal workers and doctors in states handling anthrax cases leveled criticism Thursday at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying the CDC has been reporting conflicting information -- and sometimes none at all." http://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/conditions/12/14/cdc.anthrax.ap/index.html

2001 December 19:  CFR
"A Breakfast with Ahmed Rashid"
Speaker: Ahmed Rashid
Author, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia
Presider: Michael J. Elliott
Editor-at-Large, Time Magazine
Related Project(s): The Russell C. Leffingwell Lecture Series

2001 December 20: Iraq announces that it will renew its oil export agreement with Jordan. Iraq will supply Jordan with around 110,000 barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products next year. Jordan's oil purchases from Iraq are exempted from United Nations sanctions. The deal is worth about $700 million. (Reuters, OD)

2001 December 21: The FBI is now investigating "whether potential profit from the sale of anthrax medications or cleanup efforts may have motivated" the anthrax attacks. Battelle, a company doing anthrax work for the CIA, is the one company most discussed in the article and is strongly featured in another. [Washington Post, 12/21/01, ABC, 12/20/01] The same day, the FBI says it is not investigating a former Battelle scientist in relation to an anthrax scare, contrary to national broadcast news reports. A US Senator further claims FBI Director Mueller told him "no one with or formerly with Battelle is a suspect." [Columbus Dispatch, 12/21/01] Is Bayer also under investigation (see October 21, 2001)?

2001 December 21: According to the Washington Post, the FBI had still not investigated Porton Down for possible culpability in the anthrax mailings despite the fact they maintained the identical Ames strain of anthrax, and through ownership in Bioport was connected with Battelle Memorial Institute and the DoD's lucrative "Joint Vaccine Acquisitions Program". The article also mentioned that U.S. anthrax experts, including those at Fort Detrick (USAMRIID), routinely consulted with Porton Down officials in efforts to prepare powdered weaponized Ames strain anthrax..."

2001 December 21: CLPH released revised document called the Model Emergency Health Powers Act (MEHPA). This law HHS is suggesting be enacted by the 50 states to handle future public health emergencies such as bioterrorism. The revised version was released contained more specific definitions of "public health emergency" as it pertains to bioterrorism and biologic agents, and includes language for those states that want to use the act for chemical, nuclear or natural disasters.According to the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), after declaring a "public health emergency", and without consulting with public health authorities, law enforcement, the legislature or courts, a state governor using MEHPA, or anyone he/she decides to empower, can among many things: Require any individual to be vaccinated. Refusal constitutes a crime and will result in quarantine. Require any individual to undergo specific medical treatment. Refusal constitutes a crime and will result in quarantine. Seize any property, including real estate, food, medicine, fuel or clothing, an official thinks necessary to handle the emergency. Seize and destroy any property alleged to be hazardous. There will be no compensation or recourse. Draft you or your business into state service. Impose rationing, price controls, quotas and transportation controls. Suspend any state law, regulation or rule that is thought to interfere with handling the declared emergency.

2001 December 22: Afghani Prime Minister Hamid Karzai and his transitional government takes power in Afghanistan. It was revealed a few weeks before that he had been a paid consultant for Unocal, as well as Deputy Foreign Minister for the Taliban. [Le Monde, 12/13/01, CNN, 12/22/01] FTW (Hamid) Karzai, the leader of the southern Afghan Pashtun Durrani tribe, was a member of the mujaheddin that fought the Soviets during the 1980s. He was a top contact for the CIA and maintained close relations with CIA Director William Casey, Vice President George Bush, and their Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) Service interlocutors. Later, Karzai and a number of his brothers moved to the United States under the auspices of the CIA. Karzai continued to serve the agency's interests, as well as those of the Bush Family and their oil friends in negotiating the CentGas deal, according to Middle East and South Asian sources. [The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]

2001 December 25: Newly appointed Afghani Prime Minister Hamid Karzai is revealed as being a former paid consultant for Unocal. [Source: Le Monde]

2001 December 28: OPEC agree to reduce their crude oil output quotas by a combined 1.5 million barrels per day (about 6.5%) for a six-month period beginning January 1, 2002. OPEC also announce that they will meet again in March. OPEC received commitments for 462,500 barrels per day of the 500,000 barrels per day in cuts that it had requested from non-OPEC exporters, close enough to the target for OPEC to go ahead and implement its concomitant cuts. This month, Russia announced an export cut of 150,000 barrels per day on December 5. Oman announced a cut of 25,000 barrels per day on December 11, and raised it to 40,000 barrels per day on December 20. Angola announced a cut of 22,500 barrels per day on December 14. Norway announced a cut of 150,000 barrels per day on December 17. Mexico had already announced an export cut of 100,000 barrels per day in November. (DJ, Reuters)

2001 December 31: Leaders of the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) sign an agreement at the end of a two-day annual summit in Oman to move forward the setting up of a customs union to 2003 from 2005 and to establish a single currency by 2010 - part of a planned joint trade zone. (Reuters)
The top US consumers of Iraqi crude in 2001 were Valero Energy, which bought 55.4 mm barrels (151,800 bpd); ChevronTexaco, at 47.7 mm barrels (130,600 bpd); ExxonMobil at 32.3 mm barrels (88,500 bpd); and Koch Petroleum at 30.50 mm barrels (83,600 bpd). Initial checks with US firms showed that most have no plans to buy oil directly from Iraq if it were offered and some have even stopped refining Iraqi crude bought through middlemen. "With regard to Iraq we do keep open the option so long as the UN has an approved program and the US concurs with that program," said Fred Gorell, spokesman for US oil major ChevronTexaco.

2002 January 1: President Bush appoints Zalamy Khalilzad as a special envoy to Afghanistan. [BBC, 1/1/02] Khalilzad, a former employee of Unocal, also wrote op-eds in the Washington Post in 1997 supporting the Taliban regime, back when Unocal was hoping to work with the Taliban. FTW Now the US envoy is a former Unocal employee consulting with a prime minister who is a former Unocal employee (see December 22, 2001) in a country where Unocal might build gas and oil pipelines (see May 13, 2002).
Khalilzad, a fellow Pashtun and the son of a former government official under King Mohammed Zahir Shah, was, in addition to being a consultant to the RAND Corporation, a special liaison between UNOCAL and the Taliban government. Khalilzad also worked on various risk analyses for the project. Khalilzad's efforts complemented those of the Enron Corporation, a major political contributor to the Bush campaign. Enron, which recently filed for bankruptcy in the single biggest corporate collapse in the nation's history, conducted the feasibility study for the CentGas deal. Vice President Cheney held several secret meetings with top Enron officials, including its Chairman Kenneth Lay, earlier in 2001. These meetings were presumably part of Cheney's non-public Energy Task Force sessions. A number of Enron stockholders, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, became officials in the Bush administration.
Thomas White, a former Vice Chairman of Enron and a multimillionaire Thomas White, a former Vice Chairman of Enron and a multimillionaire in Enron stock, currently serves as the Secretary of the Army. A chief benefactor in the CentGas deal would have been Halliburton, the huge oil pipeline construction firm that also had its eye on the Central Asian oil reserves. At the time, Halliburton was headed by Dick Cheney. After Cheney's selection as Bush's Vice Presidential candidate, Halliburton also pumped a huge amount of cash into the Bush-Cheney campaign coffers. And like oil cash cow Enron, there were Wall Street rumors in late December that Halliburton, which suffered a forty per cent drop in share value, might follow Enron into bankruptcy court. [The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]

2002 January 1: The OPEC crude oil production quota cuts of 1.5 million barrels per day, announced on December 28, officially go into effect for six months. Crude oil production or export cuts of 462,500 barrels per day by five non-OPEC oil exporters also go into effect. (Reuters)

2002 January 2: At a rally celebrating new hydrocarbons laws that were announced on November 13, 2001, and went into effect yesterday, Venezuelan President Chavez announces the need for "a new oil strategy." The new hydrocarbons laws give the state more control over the petroleum industry and impose higher royalty rates on companies operating Venezuela’s oil fields. (AP)

2002 January 5: Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi announces that OPEC’s price band mechanism is suspended due to imbalances in the world oil market. He states that OPEC’s top priority is to stabilize the market. (Reuters)

2002 January 8: Responding to Rep. Waxman's December 4 letter, the White House reveals repeated contacts between Enron executives and the White House energy task force. Rep. Waxman writes Vice President Cheney to seek information about the topics discussed during the six meetings with Enron executives disclosed by the White House.

2002 January 8: Royal Dutch/Shell has reportedly reached an agreement with the Chinese government to help construct a 2,500-mile natural gas pipeline from the Tarim oil and natural gas region in remote western China to Shanghai on the coast. The agreement represents evidence of foreign confidence in the project and lays out the framework for the joint-venture company composed of PetroChina, Gazprom of Russia, and Shell. The pipeline is expected to cost about $18 billion. (WSJ)

2002 January 8: Royal Dutch/Shell and its joint-venture partners Nigeria National Petroleum Company, TotalFinaElf, and Eni’s Agip announce a five-year investment of $7.5 billion in the oil and natural gas industry in Nigeria. A large part of the investment will go to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas project, the biggest industrial project in sub-Saharan Africa. (Reuters)

2002 January 9: GAO announced it expected to decide within a month whether to file a lawsuit against the White House. This would represent the first time that GAO has had to take the executive branch to court to obtain access to information.

2002 January 9: Thomas Picking, ex NYC-FBI director starts a job as Head Of Corporate Security at the pharmacy concern Bristol Myers Squibb. http://www.bms.com/news/press/data/pf_press_release_2226.html

2002 January 9: U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announces that the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles program, started in 1993 in an effort to develop mass-produced vehicles that would get 80 miles per gallon of gasoline by 2004, will be replaced by a new program called Freedom Car. The Freedom Car program will emphasize developing fuel-cell vehicles, powered by oxygen and hydrogen, by an unspecified later date. (WP, NYT)

2002 January: The FBI finally begins subpoenaing laboratories that worked with the Ames strain of anthrax used in the attacks. But when the labs start to send their samples, they are told to wait another month because a new storage room for the sample needs to be built. "The FBI's delay in requesting the samples - and the government's lack of readiness to receive them - is part of a pattern." Other examples include taking six months to begin testing mailboxes surrounding Trenton, New Jersey, where the anthrax letters were postmarked, and nearly a year to go back into the American Media building in Boca Raton, Florida, to hunt for the source of anthrax that killed the first victim there. [Hartford Courant, 9/7/02]

2002 January 9: The U.S. Department of Justice confirms that a criminal probe of Enron has been launched. A task force has been formed to investigate whether the former giant energy company defrauded investors by deliberately withholding or falsifying crucial financial information. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating Enron since October 2001. A number of civil suits have already been filed against Enron, which declared bankruptcy in December 2001. (DJ)

2002 January 10: Bush's first big lie about Enrongate. ("Dallas Morning News: Lay gave more to Bush --President had said Enron chief was Richards supporter", http://www.dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/1Atxenron_12tex.ART0.d1e8.html) AUSTIN – In distancing himself from Enron, President Bush said that CEO Kenneth Lay "was a supporter" of Democrat Ann Richards in his first race for Texas governor in 1994. But records and interviews with people involved in the Richards campaign show that he was a far bigger Bush supporter.

2002 January 10: In a call from a speaker phone in open court, attorneys for Mike Vreeland call the Pentagon's switchboard operator, who confirms that Vreeland is indeed a naval lieutenant on active duty. She provides an office number and a direct dial phone extension to his office in the Pentagon. [Source: Attorney Rocco Galati; Toronto Superior Court records]
On Sept. 14, 2001 Canadian jailers open the sealed envelope from Mike Vreeland in Toronto and see that is describes attacks against the WTC and Pentagon. The U.S. Navy subsequently states that Vreeland was discharged as a seaman in 1986 for unsatisfactory performance and has never worked in intelligence. [Source: The Toronto Star, Oct. 23, 2001; Toronto Superior Court records]

2002 January 10: Attorney General John Ashcroft recuses himself from the Enron investigation because Enron had been a major campaign donor in his 2000 Senate race. He fails to recuse himself from involvement in two sitting federal grand juries investigating bribery and corruption charges against ExxonMobil and BP Amoco, which have massive oil interests in Central Asia. Both were major Ashcroft donors in 2000. [Source: CNN, January 10, 2002; FTW, "The Elephant in the Living Room, Part I," April 4, 2002, http://www.mdsme.de/cgi-bin/nph-spinnerproxy_beta.cgi/010110
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/04_04_02_elephant.html]

2002 January 10: The U.S. Department of Energy recommends construction of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage facility in Nevada. The project is expected to cost $40 to $50 billion and be able to store 77,000 tons of radioactive waste. The final decision still requires President Bush’s approval and, if vetoed by the governor of Nevada, Congressional approval. (WP, NYT)

2002 January 10: Kuwait creates a new company, Kuwait Gulf Oil Company, to handle the country’s interests in the Neutral Zone, a border area shared with Saudi Arabia. The new company will take over when Japan's Arabian Oil Company’s 40-year concession in the Neutral Zone expires in January 2003. Oil production from the Neutral Zone (by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait combined) was about 640,000 barrels per day in 2001. (Reuters)

2002 January 10: (Sniper) Malvo's preliminary hearing begins as Virginia tries to show why he should be tried as an adult. The judge allows the hearing to be open to the public, despite arguments future jury pools could be tainted. [CBC News]

2002 January 13: Bush appears in public with bruises on his face. The official story is that a pretzel stimulated his vagus nerve, causing him to lose consciousness. (ref) or maybe that’s not salt on those pretzles

2002 January 14: According to preliminary data reported today by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Mexico was the leading source for U.S. crude oil imports in November 2001 for the second consecutive month, having displaced Saudi Arabia from the top spot in October. Saudi Arabia had been the leading supplier since February 2000. (OD)

2002 January 14: Almost two months after microbiologist, Don Wileys disappearance and mysterious death, Shelby County Medical Examiner O.C. Smith announced that his department had ruled Wiley s death to be "accidental;" the result of massive injuries suffered in a fall from the Hernando de Soto Bridge. Smith said there were paint marks on Wiley's rental car similar to the paint used on construction signs on the bridge, and that the car's right front hubcap was missing. There has been no report as to which construction signs Wiley hit. There is also no explanation as to why this evidence did not move the Memphis police to consider possibilities other than a "missing person."

2002 January 15: It was announced that Surgeon General David Satcher is also resigning

2002 January 17: The White House again refuses to turn over documents demanded by Congress as part of an inquiry into workings of the administration's energy task force, including records of a meeting that Vice President Dick Cheney had with Ken Lay. ("Congress Rebuffed on Energy Documents", http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/18/business/18BUSH.html)

2002 January 17: Enron reportedly filed an approximately $200 million claim with the U.S. government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation in an attempt to recoup losses from the Dabhol Power Corporation.

 

2002 January 18: According to documents released on this date, it was noted the Bush administration intervened with top Indian officials last year in a bid to salvage the Enron project in India. The White House said the effort, involving Vice President Dick Cheney and other senior officials, was justified because the $2.9 billion Dabhol power project was financed in part through the U.S. government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a taxpayer-backed agency that provides "political risk" insurance and loans to help U.S. companies invest in developing nations. The White House denied the push was influenced by Enron's political contributions.

2002 January 20: Evidence comes to light that a scientist named Lt. Col. Philip Zack had a history of suspicious behavior in the nation's most classified anthrax research center, USAMRIID. Zack was fired for unprofessional behavior centering on numerous hateful attacks on his colleague Dr. Assaad (Zack is Jewish and Assaad is Muslim, which may explain the enmity). Security cameras show Zack came into the lab at night on occasion without permission, after being fired. [Hartford Courant, 1/20/02] There is also a history of missing viruses, including anthrax and Ebola, that seem connected to these incidents. [New York Times, 7/19/02, note that the Times story mentions Hatfill (as "Dr. Z") in the article and not Zack, even though Hatfill didn't join USAMRIID until years after these incidents] Dr. Assaad received a letter just prior to the anthrax attacks in October that appear to frame him. [Hartford Courant, 12/9/01] Zack seems a very likely suspect, but has not been arrested (and wasn't even questioned for months after the attacks).

2002 January 21: It was announced January 21 that the director of the CDC, Jeffrey Koplan, is resigning effective March 31.
And there is currently no director for the National Institutes of Health -- NIH is being run by an acting director. The recent resignations leave the three most significant medical positions in the federal government simultaneously vacant.

2002 January 21: Gaz de France signs a 20-year deal with BG Group, Edison International, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, and the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company to import 3.6 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year for 20 years starting in 2005. This is Egypt’s second major LNG export deal. As part of the deal, a $900 million liquefaction plant will be constructed at Idku, near Alexandria. (Reuters)

2002 January 22: Ex-CIA director Woolsey participated in a CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Project run as a war-game simulation at its Manhattan headquarters. For the simulation, the CFR enlisted 75 people, including bankers, former Treasury Secretaries, and former State Department officials.

2002 January 22: Four senior Senators urged GAO to continue investigating the energy task force, saying that "Americans have the right to know how the Administration's energy policy was developed." The letter was signed by Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph I. Lieberman, Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest F. Hollings, Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin, who is also chairman of the Governmental Affairs investigations subcommittee, and Byron L. Dorgan, chairman of the Commerce Committee's consumer affairs subcommittee

2002 January 22: The U.S. Department of Energy opens the bidding process for oil companies to deliver 22 million barrels of crude oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve instead of making cash royalty payments. The royalty-in-kind oil is the first phase of the Bush administration's plan, announced last November, to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its capacity of 700 million barrels. (Reuters)

2002 January 23: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"India-Pakistan: Crisis Averted or Just Postponed?"
Speaker: Akbar Ahmed Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University's School of International Service
Speaker: Dennis Kux Senior Scholar, Asia Program, The Woodrow Wilson Center
Presider: Teresita Sch affer Director, South Asia Program, Center for Strategic and International and Studies
[www.cfr.org]

2002 January 23: Recent meetings between U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlain and that country's oil minister Usman Aminuddin indicate the pipeline project is international Project Number One for the Bush administration. Chamberlain, who maintains close ties to the Saudi ambassador to Pakistan (a one-time chief money conduit for the Taliban), has been pushing Pakistan to begin work on its Arabian Sea oil terminus for the pipeline… U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan….guarding pipeline construction … Karzai's ties with UNOCAL and the Bush administration are..why the CIA pushed him for Afghan leader over rival Abdul Haq, the assassinated former mujaheddin leader from Jalalabad, and the leadership of the Northern Alliance, seen by Langley as being too close to the Russians and Iranians. Haq had no apparent close ties to the U.S. oil industry and, as both a Pushtun and a northern Afghani, was popular with a wide cross-section of the Afghan people, including the Northern Alliance. Those credentials likely sealed his fate. (Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG) href="http://www.mdsme.de/cgi-bin/nph-spinnerproxy.cgi/110110A/http/globalresearch.ca/articles/MAD201A.html"
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MAD201A.html

2002 January 23: Reps. Waxman and Dingell sent a letter urging GAO to proceed with a lawsuit as a result of the Administration's continued refusal to cooperate with its investigation. Ken Lay resigns as Enron chairman and CEO of Enron. He remains on the Board of Directors.

2002 January 23: An U.S. official states that the United States and Libya have held "positive" negotiations that could lead to the lifting of United Nations sanctions against Libya. The official stated that "If the Libyans comply with the U.N. Security Council resolutions, then the U.N. Security Council will look at lifting the U.N. sanctions on Libya." In August, President Bush signed a five-year extension of the Iran Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA). ILSA sanctions foreign companies that provide new investments of over $40 million for the development of petroleum resources in Iran or Libya, or that violate existing United Nations prohibitions against trade with Libya. (Reuters)

2002 January 25: Enron Vice Chairman John Clifford Baxter (dead) body is found on 25 January 2002.

2002 January 25: Former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Curtis Hebert, Jr.--says Ken Lay, CEO of Enron—the largest contributor to George Walker Bush—made improper demands. Lay threatened that--Bush would fire Hebert unless he obeyed, Hebert refused. Bush fired Hebert in August 2001. Hebert says Bush also let Lay interview him and other candidates for FERC chairman in the first place! In a nutshell: Enron gave Bush millions to sponsor his rise from a losing candidate for the US House to the "leader of the free world." In return, Bush gave Enron "hire and fire" authority over the FERC, and performed other favors in return for money. This directly and personally ties Bush to the Enrongate scandal in all its illegality--Enron and accountants at Anderson have been destroying evidence by the box load. We must know what Bush did, and why he did it. Other top GOP officials like VP Dick Cheney, White House advisor Karl Rove, House Leader Dick Armey and Sen. Phil Gramm also helped Enron plunder and evade regulation. They helped Enron rip off consumers, investors and employees.www.apfn.org/enron/smoking_gun.htm Smoking Gun in Enrongate - Let the impeachment begin?

2002 January 26: Salon exposes details about the FBI's anthrax investigation. The FBI is casting a wide net, approaching all 40,000 members of the American Society of Microbiologists, (posting) flyers asking for information all over New Jersey. Yet all evidence suggests the anthrax strain could only be made in USAMRIID in Maryland or US Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. Meanwhile, the FBI has not yet subpoenaed employee records of the few labs that used the strain of anthrax used in the attacks. Numerous anthrax experts express puzzlement. Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, a biological arms control expert, believes the FBI is dragging its heels for political reasons. She is convinced the FBI knows who mailed the anthrax letters, but isn't arresting him, because he has been involved in secret biological weapons research that the US does not want revealed. "This guy knows too much, and knows things the US isn't very anxious to publicize. Therefore, they don't want to get too close." [Salon, 1/26/02]

2002 January 27: Cheney again refuses to release records of meetings with company executives to discuss energy policy.

2002 January 28: U.S. Ambassador Robert Blackwell addresses an Indian energy industry meeting and demands India honor the "sanctity of contract" and make good on the Enron debt, warning that India's hopes for "big-time international investment" could be harmed otherwise.

2002 January 29: CNN reported: "President Bush personally asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle Tuesday to limit the congressional investigation into the events of 9/11/01. Democrats privately question why the White House fears a broader investigation to determine culpability. (Daschle was also one of the few Anthax letter targets)

2002 January 29: U.S. President George Bush delivers his State of the Union address. In his speech he identifies Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" that supports terrorism. President Bush also states, "The United States of America will not permit the world’s most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world’s most destructive weapons." (NYT)

2002 January 30: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"A Meeting with Hamid Karzai"
Speaker: Hamid Karzai Chairman, Afghan Interim Authority
Introductory Speaker: Robert E. Rubin U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Introductory Speaker: Peter G. Peterson The Blackstone Group
Moderator: Nancy E. Soderberg Vice-President for Multilateral Affairs, International Crisis Group-New York
(Hamid) Karzai, the leader of the southern Afghan Pashtun Durrani tribe, was a member of the mujaheddin that fought the Soviets during the 1980s. He was a top contact for the CIA and maintained close relations with CIA Director William Casey, Vice President George Bush, and their Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISID) Service interlocutors. Later, Karzai and a number of his brothers moved to the United States under the auspices of the CIA. Karzai continued to serve the agency's interests, as well as those of the Bush Family and their oil friends in negotiating the CentGas deal, according to Middle East and South Asian sources. . [The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]

2002 January 30: GAO announced it would sue the Administration to obtain access to records of the energy task force. GAO reiterated that "Congress has a right to the information we are seeking" and warned that "failure to pursue this matter could lead to a pattern of records access denials that would significantly undercut GAO's ability to assist Congress in exercising its legislative and oversight authorities." That same day, in a 10-page letter to the Vice President, Reps. Waxman and Dingell detailed the extensive precedent for GAO's requests for the records. The letter cited "12 recent precedents where exactly the kind of information about the White House energy task force being sought by GAO was provided to Congress."

2002 January 30: Data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration today shows that U.S. refinery capacity utilization has decreased by 5.4 percentage points in the past two weeks, dropping to just 86.8% in the week ended January 25. This is a result of poor petroleum product demand, low refinery profit margins, and more than adequate product supply. (Reuters)

2002 January 30: The state oil companies of Kuwait and Qatar and ExxonMobil Middle East Gas Marketing sign an agreement for natural gas to be transported by pipeline from Qatar to Kuwait for use in power plants. First shipments are expected to arrive in 2005, and total value of the deal is expected to be about $2 billion. Details of the deal are expected to be finalized by mid-2002. (OD, Reuters)

2002 January 30: Petro-Canada states that it has agreed to buy the international oil and natural gas operations of Veba Oil & Gas from Veba Oel AG and its parent company BP, for about $2.0 billion. Petro-Canada will acquire production and exploration interests mainly in the North Sea, North Africa, and northern Latin America, expanding the company beyond its current interests, which are almost exclusively in Canada and the United States. The deal is expected to close between May and September 2002. The combined firm would have production of 400,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent. (DJ)

2002 January 31: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov signs a resolution that reduces the export duty on fuel oil in order to ease a glut on Russia’s domestic market following Russia’s December decision to cooperate with OPEC by trimming exports. (Reuters)

2002 January 31: In response to President Bush’s State of the Union address two days earlier, former Iranian President Rafsanjani calls on Muslim oil-exporting countries to boycott the United States. Iran currently does not export oil to the United States because of sanctions. (WMRC)

2002 January 31 - February 4: WEF (World Economic Forum) meeting in NYC The World Economic Forum is a private member organization comprising representatives from 1,000 of the world's largest corporations including Boeing, Goldman-Sachs, Enron (until recently), Ayala Land, The New York Stock Exchange, Pfizer, and Chevron-Texaco. The exclusive meeting is open to members, who pay upwards of $30,000 in annual dues, as well as selected politicians, journalists and academics. George W. Bush and Philippine President Gloria Arroyo are expected to be in attendance. While the WEF helps set global economic and trade agendas that affect the entire world, the group predominantly includes European and American businesses.

2002 February: CIA Director Tenet claims the 9/11 plot was "in the heads of three or four people" and even most of the hijackers didn't know the targets or that it would be a suicide attack until just before the attack.

2002 February 1: U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan orders Cheney's energy task force to explain why handing over information about its meetings to Judicial Watch would violate the Constitution. ("Court Orders Cheney to Explain Constitutional Claim",
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020201/pl/enron_energy_cheney_dc_1.html) Directly contradicting a statement by Ken Lay, Cheney claims he never saw the memo Lay says he used to brief Cheney on 17 April 2001. Mary Matalin, counsel to Cheney, labels as "ridiculous" Sen. Barbara Boxer's (D-CA) statement that the memo provides the "smoking gun" linking Lay to White House energy policy. In a telephone interview, Matalin describes as "absurd" a statement by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D-CA), that Lay had been able to discuss energy policy

2002 February 1: An explosion and fire occur at an oil-gathering center near Kuwait's northern Rawdatain oil field, killing four workers and injuring seventeen. As a result, about 600,000 barrels per day of crude oil production go offline. However, Kuwait's Oil Minister, Adel al-Subaih, declares that the use of oil from stockpiles and increased production from other fields will mean that exports will be unaffected in the next two weeks. Some production in the area gradually returns throughout the month as repairs proceed. The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation declares force majeure on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) exports because of damage to the LPG booster station. Oil Minister al-Subaih resigns later in the month, taking responsibility for the incident, though reportedly also in protest of cost cutting and political interference in Kuwait's oil industry. (WSJ, DJ)

2002 February 4: PetroChina, China's largest oil and natural gas producer, announces that it has reached an agreement with a consortium led by Royal Dutch/Shell, and including Gazprom and Hong Kong & China Gas, to build a 2,600-mile natural gas pipeline from the natural gas-producing Tarim basin in western China to Shanghai on the coast, with deliveries to start in 2004. The cost of the pipeline is expected to be about $18 billion. Chinese authorities also give Shell the right to discuss investment opportunities in the natural gas pipeline project with ExxonMobil. (Reuters, OD)

2002 February 5: Whistleblower Robin Hosea, an accountant with Enron's employee benefits department from August 2000 until she was laid off in December, tells a press conference that she discovered items that were outside her department's scope and without its approval being paid from the benefits accounts, items that were suspicious monthly payments to outside consultants. When
she questioned her superiors about it, she was told, "that it was a payment to friends of executives, and to leave it." She personally saw four of these checks, one totaling $20,000. Hosea saw thousands of such entries in the accounting system that totaled about $15 million at the end of 2000. She says now she is receiving regular telephone threats. "I believe the wording has become 'This is Robin's daily warning'."[ www.cbsnews.com AP news]

2002 February 6: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah states that Saudi Arabia is facing a "suffocating" economic downturn and that government spending must be cut. The Saudi American Bank (SAMBA) forecasts a 2% decline in gross domestic product (GDP) in Saudi Arabia in 2002, due in large part to low world oil prices. (Reuters)

2002 February 8: Afghanistan's interim leader Hamid Karzai says he and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf have agreed to revive a plan for a trans-Afghan gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan. A consortium led by Unocal had originally aimed to build the $1.9 billion, 1,400-km (875-mile) pipeline to run from gas-rich Turkmenistan via northern Afghanistan. But in August 1998 Unocal halted development of the project after U.S. forces fired missiles at guerrilla camps in Afghanistan in the wake of bomb attacks on two U.S. embassies in Africa. ("Pakistan, Afghan leaders agree to revive pipeline", http://www.afgha.com/article.php?sid=12243&mode=thread&order=0)

2002 February 8: The U.S. Minerals Management Service announces that it has awarded the first four contracts to deliver royalty-in-kind crude oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The contracts were awarded to ChevronTexaco, Williams, Equiva, and ExxonMobil for some 60,000 barrels per day of royalty oil from federal properties in the Gulf of Mexico. (OD)

2002 February 8: Vladimir Korshunov, 56, was found dead on a Moscow street. Victor Korshunov head of the microbiology sub-faculty at the Russian State Medical University and an expert in intestinal bacteria. Pravda.ru reported that Victor Korshunov had been killed. At the time, Korshunov was head of the microbiology sub-facility at the Russian State Medical University. He was found dead in the entrance to his home with a cranial injury. Pravda reports that Korshunov had probably invented either a vaccine to protect against biological weapons, or a weapon itself.

2002 February 8: Rockefeller Scientist Discovers Molecular Messengers That Rescue Cells from Death
Cells on the Verge of Suicide http:// www.rockefeller.edu/pubinfo/news_notes/nn020702.pdf

2002 February 8: Afghanistan's interim leader Hamid Karzai said he and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had agreed to revive a plan for a trans-Caspian gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan.

 

2002 February 9: Turkmenistan hopes the fragile peace in neighboring Afghanistan will allow work to resume on the natural gas pipeline connecting to Pakistan.

2002 February 9: Pakistani President Musharraf and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai announce agreement to "cooperate in all spheres of activity" including the proposed Central Asian (remember the US Unocal, CIA, Enron) pipeline, which they call "in the interest of both countries." [Irish Times, 2/9/02] FTW Hamid Karzai, the leader of the southern Afghan Pashtun Durrani tribe, was a member of the mujaheddin that fought the Soviets during the 1980s. He was a top contact for the CIA and maintained close relations with CIA Director William Casey, (then Vice President) George Bush (Sr), and their Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISID) Service interlocutors. Later, Karzai and a number of his brothers moved to the United States under the auspices of the CIA. Karzai continued to serve the agency's interests, as well as those of the Bush Family and their oil friends in negotiating the CentGas deal, according to Middle East and South Asian sources. . [The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]

2002 February 9: "I also find it to be 'extraordinary circumstances' when a top (Enron) executive commits suicide,voluminous documents are shredded and witness after witness takes the Fifth Amendment. And in my 35 years in the Senate, I have never witnessed a corporation so extraordinarily committed to buying government." In a New York Times editorial, Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC), calls for a special counsel to be appointed to investigate Enron. ("Time for a Special Counsel." nytimes.com)

2002 February 9: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez replaces General Guaicaipuro Lameda with central bank Vice President Gaston Parra as the head of the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), South America's largest oil company. General Lameda's replacement comes amidst public expression of discontent by several military officers with President Chavez's leftist government. On February 20, the Ministry of Energy and Mines announces the replacement of five of the seven members of the board of directors of PdVSA with new board members more closely aligned with President Chavez. This move sparks daily protests by PdVSA employees. (Reuters, DJ, OD)

2002 February 9: Dead microbiologist: Victor Korshunov, 56, is bashed over the head and killed at the entrance of his home in Moscow, Russia. He was the head of the microbiology sub-faculty at the Russian State Medical University and an expert in intestinal bacteria. [Pravda, 2/9/02, Globe and Mail, 5/4/02]

2002 February 10: Katherine Smith is killed a day before appearing in court on charges she helped five Muslim terrorists get illegal drivers licenses. Her car supposedly hit a tree and then caught on fire. The FBI later determined that gasoline was poured on her clothing before she died in an arson fire. A suicide note was found, but prosecutors say they are looking for murder suspects. One of the five Muslims, Sakhera Hammad, was found with a visitor's pass for the WTC, dated September 5, 2001, in his wallet. Hammad claims he was a plumber and worked on the WTC's sprinkler system. Smith was being investigated by the FBI; the five later plead guilty of fraud. [AP, 2/13/02, Reuters, 2/15/02, Go Memphis, 2/12/02, Memphis Commercial Appeal, 2/21/02]

2002 February 11: Dead microbiologist: Dr. Ian Langford, 40, is found dead, partially naked and wedged under a chair in his home in Norwich, England. When found, his house was described as "blood-spattered and apparently ransacked." He was an expert in environmental risks and disease and a senior Fellow at the University of East Anglia's Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment. One of his colleagues states: "Ian was without doubt one of Europe's leading experts on environmental risk, specializing in links between human health and environmental risk... He was one of the most brilliant colleagues I have ever had." [London Times, 2/13/02, Globe and Mail, 5/4/02] on February 12, 2002 Ian Langford expert in environmental risks and disease and a senior Fellow at the University of East Anglia's Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment. One of his colleagues states: "Ian was without doubt one of Europe's leading experts on environmental risk, specializing in links between human health and environmental risk... He was one of the most brilliant colleagues I have ever had. February 12, 2002 a newspaper in Norwich, England reported the previous day's death of Ian Langford, a senior researcher at the University of East Anglia. The story went on to say that police "were not treating the death as suspicious." The next day, Britain's The Times reported that Langford was found wedged under a chair "at his blood-spattered and apparently ransacked home."

2002 February 11: Oil prices rise to a one-month high as rumors of a very large purchase of Brent crude by Royal Dutch/Shell trading subsidiary Equiva for the U.S. Department of Energy's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) stoke fears that there could be a supply shortage for Brent crude oil in March. Brent crude oil for March delivery settles $1.63 per barrel higher, at $21.35 per barrel. However, oil prices ease somewhat the next day, with Brent falling 32 cents per barrel. As Equiva has the option to deliver the 18.6 million barrels of sweet crude oil to the SPR between April 1, 2002 and May 1, 2003, it is not clear that the company will meet its commitment by taking most of the Brent-for-March-delivery market, though a Shell executive states that the company sees "potential demand for all the Brents in March." (Reuters, OD)

2002 February 12: A spokesman for Marathon Oil announces that the U.S. State Department has given Marathon, as well as Conoco and Amerada Hess, permission to begin renegotiating dormant oil field contracts with Libya. The approval was issued January 22, 2002. In September 2001, Libya's Foreign Minister announced that U.S. companies would be given one year to resume oil operations in the country before Libya decides whether their licenses should be revoked and given to other firms. Current U.S. sanctions forbid U.S. companies from operating in Libya. (LAT, Reuters)

2002 February 13: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez decides to let the Venezuelan bolivar float against the U.S. dollar. The bolivar loses 19% of its value on its first day of trading under the new system. The decision comes as part of a package of fiscal and monetary reforms that are aimed at closing a projected government budget deficit. Low world oil prices have reduced projected government revenues for 2002. Oil revenues account for about half of government revenues and about one third of Venezuela's gross domestic product (GDP). (DJ)

2002 February 13: Iraq says that it will not allow United Nations (U.N.) arms inspectors to return to Iraq. Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan states, "There is no need for the spies of the [U.N.] inspection teams to return to Iraq since Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction." The United States has hinted that actions may be taken against the Iraqi government if U.N. arms inspectors are not allowed to return. (Reuters)

2002 February 13: The government of Argentina announces a 20% tax on energy exports. Argentina exports over 300,000 barrels per day of oil, as well as some natural gas, worth about $2.4 billion and $637 million, respectively, in 2001. The companies most affected include Repsol-YPF, ChevronTexaco, Perez Companc, and U.S. Pan American Energy. (WSJ, OD)

2002 February 13: El Paso Energy announces that it will build a $450 million, 380-mile, 500,000-barrel-per-day oil pipeline from the western Gulf of Mexico to Port Arthur and Texas City, Texas. The pipeline is expected to begin functioning in the third quarter of 2004. (OD)

2002 February 13: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) agrees to launch a probe into whether Enron and other energy traders deliberately inflated electricity prices during the California power crisis. FERC has come under pressure from Democratic legislators from the West Coast to undertake such a probe. (OD)

2002 February 14: The Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv astutely notes: "If one looks at the map of the big American bases created [in the Afghan war], one is struck by the fact that they are completely identical to the route of the projected oil pipeline to the Indian Ocean." Ma'ariv also states, "Osama bin Laden did not comprehend that his actions serve American interests... If I were a believer in conspiracy theory, I would think that bin Laden is an American agent. Not being one I can only wonder at the coincidence." [Chicago Tribune, 3/18/02] FTW

2002 February 14: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission announces that it is increasing security at U.S. nuclear facilities, including 104 reactors. The new measures are the result of a review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of nuclear plant security that was undertaken in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks. (DJ)

2002 February 14: U.S. President George Bush announces a plan that addresses the issue of "greenhouse gas" emissions, linked by many scientists to global warming. The plan proposes spending on research and new technology, plus tax incentives to promote voluntary (as opposed to mandatory) reductions. The plan links reductions in carbon emissions to U.S. economic output, focusing on emissions intensity per unit of GDP rather than on fixed targets. (WP)

2002 February 15: U.S. President George Bush authorizes the construction a large, centralized site for the storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, after the Department of Energy recommends its construction. In his letter notifying the U.S. Congress of his decision, Bush states, "Proceeding with the repository program [at Yucca Mountain] is necessary to protect public safety, health, and the nation's security." Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn has indicated that he will oppose the project, so Yucca Mountain will require congressional approval to go forward. The site's selection is also being challenged in court. (WP)

2002 February 18: ExxonMobil signs an agreement with the government of Papua New Guinea for the construction of a $3.5 billion sub-sea natural gas pipeline from that country to Queensland, Australia. The other partners in the project include: ChevronTexaco, Oil Search, Orogen Minerals, and Japan PNG Developments, as well as Mineral Resources Development Company, which represents the interests of local landholders. The 1,988-mile pipeline would transport natural gas from the Hides and Kutubu gas fields in the Central Highlands of Papua New Guinea, to a coastal processing facility and then via a section of sub-sea pipeline to northern Australia. The pipeline would supply Australia with around 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over a thirty-year period. (WMRC)

2002 February 18: The Financial Times reports that the estimated opium harvest in Afghanistan in the late-spring 2002 will reach a world record 4,500 metric tons.

2002 February 19: News organizations report that the Defense Department’s new "Office of Strategic Influence," created to try influence public opinion abroad, plans to plant disinformation in foreign and U.S. media. (March 2002: Homefront Confidential: How the War on Terrorism Affects Access to Information and the Public ’s Right to Know The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press)

2002 February 20: The United States Supreme Court declines to consider an appeal by five major oil companies against Unocal's patent on production of cleaner "reformulated" gasoline sold in California, allowing a lower court ruling in favor of Unocal to stand. The ruling may eventually have effects beyond the California market, as tighter environmental standards for fuels take effect across much of the country. (DJ, WSJ) "Unocal patents…provide no… benefit to the industry or consumers. The huge royalties…are far in excess of the cost of even the reformulated gasoline program…may..cost consumers over $200 million per year….reduce supply and eliminate all incentive for overcompliance with environmental regulations….The patent will make it even harder to use ethanol in gasoline where ozone problems during summer months" (Bush-Cheney energy Task Force notes)
(Some people call this a dirty patent, is it to help Unocal recover moneys spent the trans-Afghan pipeline that went sour?)

2002 February 20: Rumsfeld announces..the Office of Strategic Influence will not lie to the public or plant disinformation in the foreign or U.S. media. (Everything I say is a lie. I will not lie)

2002 February 20: Iranian Oil Minister BiJanuary Zanganeh asserts that Iran will proceed with oil and natural gas projects in the Caspian Sea, despite a lack of demarcation of sectors among the five littoral states. Zanganeh adds, "[We] will prevent the activities of others in the parts we consider to be ours." (OD)

2002 February 20: Colombian President Andres Pastrana breaks off peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas and orders the Colombian army to re-enter FARC's demilitarized area. President Pastrana takes the action after FARC guerrillas hijack an aircraft carrying 34 people and kidnap Senator Jorge Gechem, president of a Senate peace talks committee. The following day, the Colombian air force bombs FARC targets in the former demilitarized zone, marking an intensification in the conflict in Colombia. (Reuters)

2002 February 20: OPIC reveals that it gave Enron $554 million in loans and $204 million in insurance. Congress also learns the the Export-Import Bank loaned $675 million to Enron and associated companies.

2002 February 21: Moody's Investors Service puts the long-term debt of AES Corporation on review for a possible downgrade as the energy company's shares drop 11%. AES, once the 17th-largest publicly-traded energy company in the world in terms of market value, with 181 electricity generating facilities and 19 million customers, has lost over 90% of its stock value in the past 52 weeks, including 36% on February 15. On February 6, AES announced plans to sell up to $1 billion in assets in order to raise cash. Credit analysts are concerned that AES has insufficient cash flow to pay its debt of $22.3 billion. (WP, DJ)

2002 February 21: The California Public Utilities Commission reaches an accord with the California Department of Water Resources that allows California to sell up to $11.1 billion in bonds to repay the State's considerable debt from purchasing power during the State's power crisis. The electricity rate agreement assures a revenue flow to the state agency, but requires the agency to attempt to renegotiate long-term contracts that were locked in when rates were higher than they now are. On February 24, State officials announce their intention to ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to void over $40 billion in long-term contracts signed when, according to these officials, the market was being manipulated by sellers. (LAT, WSJ)

2002 February 22: The GAO sues Cheney for refusing to reveal details of his meetings with Enron officials. It is the first time that the agency has sued a member of the executive branch of government.

2002 February 22: GAO filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to obtain access to information about the task force's contacts with outside parties. This is the first time that GAO has filed suit against a federal official in order to obtain access to records. In a statement released the same day, GAO said that it took this step "reluctantly" but added that "given GAO's responsibility to Congress and the American people, we have no other choice."

2002 February 22: Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed by government troops, possibly presaging an end to a 30-year conflict that has displaced 4 million people in the country. With most of Angola's 900,000-barrel-per-day oil production located offshore, the fighting had little effect on the petroleum industry, but proceeds from the oil have been diverted to fight the civil war rather than being used for economic development. (DJ)

2002 February 25: Venezuela declares force majeure on some crude oil loadings in order to comply with the OPEC quota cuts begun on January 1. Venezuela had agreed to reduce its quota by 170,000 barrels per day. (Reuters)

2002 February 26: Rumsfeld closes the Office of Strategic Influence

2002 The first known (September 11th) warning was FBI agent Robert Wright. He tried to warn his superiors three months before September 11th that Americans were in danger of terrorist attacks at home. No one listened to Wright and he finally blew the whistle… but didn't make much news coverage.

2002 March 1: For unknown reasons, Barry Mawn retired at the FBI http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel00/mawn.htm. He said, he was "saddened and angered by the charges" Before Mawn was one of the favourites to replace FBI interior director Tom Pickard and assistant director Neil Gallagher. (the other favourites: FBIHQ-Assistant Director Reuben Garcia and Bruce Gephardt, the special agent in charge in San Francisco)

2002 March 1: Some even think ex-CIA director Woolsey.. is also member of the so-called shadow government, "to ensure survival of federal rule after catastrophic attack", the existence of which was confirmed by Bush on March 1st, 2002.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/717680.asp?cp1=1 Woolsey is a master strategist. It is well known that he wanted a war against the Taliban for years, but was even more interested in a war against Iraq. The Iraqi National Congress, the exiled group that opposes Saddam Hussein, said in October 2001 that it held meetings in London with Mr Woolsey. Administration sources have said his trip was funded and approved by Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy Defense secretary. But Woolsey made no comment about the exact nature of his brief. He told The Telegraph: "I was in London and that's it." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2001%2F10%2F26%2Fwirq26.xml

March 20 early William Patrick (see February 1999) is interviewed by the FBI in relation to the anthrax attacks. He is surprised that the FBI didn't interview him earlier. [BBC, 3/14/02] After passing a lie detector test, the FBI invites him to join the inner circle of technical advisers to the anthrax investigation. [Baltimore Sun, 6/27/02] It is later noted that "many of the experts the FBI has turned to for help are also, almost by definition, potential suspects. That has put FBI agents in the uncomfortable position of having to subject their scientist-consultants to polygraph tests, and then, afterward, ask those same experts to help analyze evidence." [Hartford Courant, 9/7/02]
2002 March 4: Strikes and demonstrations over Ecuador's 450,000-barrel-per-day heavy crude oil (OCP) pipeline that is currently under construction, largely from environmental and indigenous groups, come to an end as the government and the pipeline builder agree to provide millions of dollars in local development assistance. The area had lost about 40,000 barrels per day of oil production out of a total of 190,000 barrels per day over a 54-day period from already completed projects that were also blocked, and the pipeline builder lost about $2 million because of delays. (OD)

2002 March 5: The United Nations announces that Iraqi oil exports for the previous week rose 1 million barrels per day to 2.49 million barrels per day, taking the four-week average to 1.9 million barrels per day. This is the highest level since November 2001. (Reuters)

2002 March 5: The Energy Ministry of the United Kingdom sets new rules for investment in the country's North Sea oil and natural gas sector. The rules, which are intended to slow declining output, set new investment deadlines on existing licenses, make trading licenses between companies more transparent, and set shorter investment deadlines in new concessions. (Reuters)

2002 March 5: A second federal judge orders seven federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, to release records from Cheny’s Energy Task Force March 5 The United Nations announces that Iraqi oil exports for the previous week rose 1 million barrels per day to 2.49 million barrels per day, taking the four-week average to 1.9 million barrels per day. This is the highest level since November 2001. (Reuters)

2002 March 6: At a joint news conference, oil ministers of major non-OPEC oil exporters Mexico and Norway announce that they plan to maintain their respective export and production cuts through the end of the second quarter of 2002. This same day, non-OPEC Persian Gulf exporter Oman announces that it is willing to maintain its relatively small production cut through the end of the year. (Reuters)

2002 March 7: Light, sweet crude oil for April delivery on the NYMEX closes at $23.71, the highest price since September 21, 2001, when oil prices had temporarily spiked because of the September 11 terrorist attack. Oil prices have been on the rise because of OPEC and non-OPEC production cuts, an improving U.S. economy, and concern over U.S. intentions toward Iraq. (OD)
2002 March 8: Administrative workers of Venezuela's state oil company PdVSA, who have been holding protests for a week, stage a four-hour work stoppage. The stoppage does not affect exports, but signals rising tensions between PdVSA employees and the government of President Hugo Chavez, who replaced PdVSA's board of directors in February, a move unpopular with employees. (Reuters)

2002 March 8: A team of scientists reports in the journal Science that small-scale nuclear fusion has been achieved using a new technique. However, only a miniscule amount of energy is produced and the technique's prospects as a means or step towards using fusion as a practical energy source are still unclear. (NYT)
2002 March 11: The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) releases the results of its weekly survey of gasoline prices, showing that the average price nationwide rose 7.9 cents per gallon in the previous week. This is the second-highest one-week increase in the past 10 years. Gasoline prices continue rising for the remainder of the month. (LAT)

2002 March 11: Employees at Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA stage a work slowdown, including a halt to overtime work. It is unclear how long the work slowdown will continue. (Reuters)

2002 March 12: Shareholders of Conoco and Phillips Petroleum approve a proposed $15.6-billion merger of the two major oil companies. The new company would be the third-largest oil company in the United States and the sixth-largest investor-owned oil company in the world. The company would also be the largest oil refiner in the United States. Joint reserves of the two companies are about 8.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent. (AP)

2002 March 13: The U.S. Senate rejects a bill that would have raised the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards from the current 24 miles per gallon to 36 miles per gallon by 2016. Congress last increased fuel economy standards in 1975. (NYT)

2002 March 13: A bomb and two smaller explosive-type devices are found and defused in the stairwell outside of the Shelby County Regional Forensic Center, Memphis, Tennessee, where county medical examiner Dr. O. C. Smith works. Smith states, "We have done several high-profile cases from (missing Harvard researcher) Dr. (Don) Wiley to Katherine Smith but there has been no indication that we offended anyone... We just don't know if we were the intended target or not.'' The police state, "It potentially could have been a large blast if exploded." The mystery gets deeper: in June, Dr. Smith is attacked, bound with barbed wire and left with a bomb tied to his body (see June 1, 2002). [Memphis Commercial Appeal, 3/14/02]

2002 March 13: The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our : number one priority and we will not rest until we find him. : George Bush Jr. September 13, 2001 : "I don't know where he is. I have no idea and I really don't care. It's : not that important. It's not our priority" : ~ George Bush Jr. March 13, 2002

2002 March 15: OPEC oil ministers meeting in Vienna decide to maintain their quota restrictions, established January 1, 2002, through the end of the second quarter of the year. On January 1, 2002, OPEC cut its crude oil production quotas by an aggregate 1.5 million barrels per day. (NYT)

2002 March 15: Syrian Oil Minister Ibrahim Haddad confirms that Syria is receiving Iraqi oil through a pipeline between the two countries. However, the minister states that the pipeline is only being tested and is functioning irregularly due to damage. According to Syria, the pipeline is pumping less than 100,000 barrels per day when at maximum. However, data on Syrian exports loadings for March show an increase of about 115,000 barrels per day. (Reuters)

2002 March 15: California Governor Gray Davis issues an executive order delaying the implementation of a statewide ban on methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in gasoline for one year. MTBE was to have been banned as of January 1, 2003 because of leakage of the chemical, a possible carcinogen, into the groundwater from underground storage tanks. MTBE is added to gasoline in order to make it burn cleaner in areas susceptible to smog. The alternative to MTBE, ethanol, was viewed by the governor as problematic because suppliers would not be able to adequately replace MTBE with ethanol, creating supply problems and leading to price increases. (OD, WSJ)

2002 March 17: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatens to have the military take over operations of state oil company PdVSA if the company's operations are halted by a strike. Spokesmen for groups representing employees assert that such a military takeover of the company's operations would not be possible. White-collar PdVSA employees do stage a voluntary one-day strike on March 21, but the company's operations are not seriously affected. (Reuters)

2002 March 18: NYMEX crude futures settle above $25 per barrel for the first time since September 26, 2001, with crude oil for April delivery settling at $25.11 per barrel. Crude oil prices have been rising during the month of March and continue to post six-month highs later in the month. (Reuters)

2002 March 19: Bulgaria's government announces that it has reached an agreement with Greece for an equal stake with Greece and Russia in a joint company to be set up to manage a planned oil pipeline from the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea. This resolves what had been a key sticking point in negotiations for over six years. The project envisages carrying 700,000 barrels per day of crude oil from the Russian port of Novorossisk by tanker to the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Bourgas, from where the underground pipeline would transfer the oil to the port of Alexandropoulis in northeastern Greece. This would enable crude oil to reach the Mediterranean without having to pass through the congested Bosporus Strait. (Reuters)

2002 March 20: Central Gulf Lease Sale 182 takes place, with over 70 companies bidding for oil and natural gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. About $363 million in high bids are received by the U.S. Minerals Management Service, which managed the sale. The Gulf of Mexico currently accounts for about one-fourth of U.S. oil and natural gas production. (OD)

2002 March 20: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov announces that Russia will extend its voluntary crude oil export cuts of 150,000 barrels per day through the end of the second quarter of 2002. Russia, the biggest non-OPEC oil exporter, had agreed to implement the cuts beginning on January 1, 2002 as a cooperative move with OPEC. Many analysts question whether Russia has complied at all with its pledged cuts, and some data actually points to Russian exports rising since the beginning of January. (NYT)

2002 March 21: OPEC announces that its members, excluding Iraq, produced 779,000 barrels of crude oil per day above the agreed production quota of 21.7 million barrels per day during the month of February. This is a 65,000-barrel-per-day decline from January's output. (Reuters)

2002 March 21: United Nations (U.N.) Security Council permanent member Russia blocks attempts by other members of the U.N. Sanctions Committee to either set out a stricter pricing mechanism or eliminate middlemen from Iraq's oil trade. The U.N. suspects that many middlemen pay surcharges to the Iraqi government, in violation of U.N. rules. Russian companies have been the largest lifters of Iraqi crude oil since the start of the U.N. "oil-for-food" program. (OD)

2002 March 22: The U.S. Senate passes a bill that will require utilities to produce 10% of their power from renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and geothermal by 2020. On March 14, the U.S. Senate had rejected a bill that would have required 20% of U.S. electricity to be produced from renewable sources by 2020. There are 14 states that already require a percentage of their state's energy to be from renewable sources. (LAT)

2002 March 22: Germany's largest utility, RWE, announces that British power company Innogy has accepted its $4.42-billion takeover bid. The purchase of Innogy will be RWE's first foothold in a major electricity market outside of Germany. (DJ)

2002 March 22: US officials claim to have found an al-Qaeda biological weapons lab near Kandahar, Afghanistan. But the lab was incomplete, and "there is still no indication that al-Qaeda ever succeeded in producing biological agents." [New York Times, 3/22/02]

2002 March 24: Dead microbiologist: David Wynn-Williams, 55, is hit by a car while jogging near his home in Cambridge, England. He was an astrobiologist with the Antarctic Astrobiology Project and the NASA Ames Research Center. He was studying the capability of microbes to adapt to environmental extremes, including the bombardment of ultraviolet rays and global warming. [London Times, 3/27/02, Globe and Mail, 5/4/02]

2002 March 25: Dead microbiologist: Steven Mostow, 63, dies when the airplane he was piloting crashes near Denver, Colorado. He worked at the Colorado Health Sciences Centre and was known as "Dr. Flu" for his expertise in treating influenza, and expertise on bioterrorism. Mostow was "one of the country's leading infectious disease experts" and was associate dean at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Three others died in the crash. Mostow's death bring the total number of leading microbiologists killed in a six-month period to at least 15. [KUSA TV, 3/26/02, Globe and Mail, 5/4/02]

2002 March 25: Kroll Inc. and the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P. today announced the formation of a joint venture to provide clients with a new interactive legal, risk management and regulatory compliance product. The product - Business Intelligence Access - provides a secure, password-protected Internet platform that enables users to gain access to a wide range of investigative, compliance and legal services from a desktop or laptop computer, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day. Steven Rucker, executive managing director in Kroll's New York office, said, "Business Intelligence Access provides clients with their first line of compliance and corporate security, delivering legal, investigative and risk consulting services through a single medium." Mark MacDougall, a partner in Akin Gump's Washington, D.C., office, added, "Along with Kroll, we developed Business Intelligence Access to be easy to use and fully interactive, providing a critical tool for compliance directors, in-house counsel and managers at every level." Business Intelligence Access, a retainer-based product located at www.krollakin.com, permits clients to engage a full range of legal and risk management functions on-line, including:
Background Checks - on customers, employees, contractors and business partners.
Identity Searches - of suspected terrorists, narcotics traffickers, sanctioned organizations, and others designated by the United States government and international law enforcement agencies.
Travel Watch - safety and security reports on 300 cities worldwide.
Visa Advisor - providing interactive clearance of INS status.
Corporate Compliance - on-line compliance programs ranging from anti-money laundering to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Public Policy Advisor - instant access to legislative and regulatory developments from antiterrorism to INS reform and campaign finance. Founded in 1972, Kroll is the world's leading independent risk consulting firm, with more than 55 offices on six continents. Its 1,600 employees and consultants have extensive professional backgrounds in business intelligence and investigations, security consulting, computer forensics, forensic accounting, business valuation, financial due diligence, and asset tracing and recovery. Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P., founded in 1945, is a leading international law firm with more than 1,050 lawyers in offices in the United States and Europe. The firm supports more than 50 practice groups representing regional, national and international clients.

2002 March 25: Mexican state oil company PEMEX reports that Mexican crude oil exports in February were at 1.575 million barrels per day, well below non-OPEC Mexico's export cap of 1.66 million barrels per day agreed to with OPEC and implemented on January1, 2002. This is also lower than January's crude oil exports, which were 1.591 million barrels per day, according to PEMEX. (Reuters)

2002 March 25: Oil exports resume at the Turkish port of Ceyhan, following a two-week stoppage that resulted from declining Iraqi exports since the beginning of the month. Iraqi oil exports have been increasingly irregular since after-the-fact pricing was implemented in early 2001. This makes the payment of surcharges to Iraq's government more difficult, but many purchasers now wait until the last few days of the month to load their cargos. (OD)

2002 March 25: Sudanese rebel leader John Garang states that rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and Army (SPLM/SPLA) will continue to attack oil installations in the center of the country despite an agreement to protect civilians and civilian targets. Sudan produces about 210,000 barrels of oil per day, and exports about 175,000 barrels per day. (Reuters)

2002 March 26: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"Commanding Heights: the Battle for the World Economy"
Speaker: Frederick W. Smith Chairman & CEO, FDX Corporation
Speaker: Lawrence B. Lindsey Assistant to the President for Economic Policy
Speaker: Daniel H. Yergin Author, Commanding Heights
Summary: Based on the book by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw, this new series explores the great debate over the impact of globalization. Filmed on five continents, it offers a compelling, in-depth narrative of the powerful forces shaping the economy and society in the 21st century.
[www.cfr.org]

2002 March 27: At an Arab summit meeting in Beirut, Iraq pledges "non-interference" in Kuwait's internal affairs and recognition of Kuwait's borders. Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri states, "We are for the prosperity and independence of the state of Kuwait and also for the normalization of ties, diplomatic, economic, political." On March 28, delegates at the meeting endorse a peace plan for Israel/Palestine put forward by the Saudi delegation. (Reuters)

2002 March 27: Royal Dutch/Shell confirms that it will build a $500 million liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal in Baja California with a send-out capacity of 1.3 billion cubic feet per day. Shell intends to source LNG for the project from the Asia-Pacific region, and sell it to power plants and other Mexican and Californian consumers. Completion is expected in 2006. (OD)

2002 March 28: A U.S. District Court ruling restricts underground coal mining beneath national parks, inhabited residences, and other protected areas. The court rules in favor of the Citizens Coal Council, an environmental advocacy group, in its suit challenging the way the U.S. Department of the Interior has allowed permitting of underground coal mining that may cause ground subsidence in specified protected areas. The National Mining Association and the U.S. Department of the Interior pledge to appeal the ruling.

2002 March 28: The Russian Foreign Ministry reports that it has reached a basic agreement with the United States on revisions of the United Nation's (U.N.) "oil-for-food" program. The draft documents will now be sent forward to the U.N. Security Council for consideration. Of particular importance is that Russia and the United States appear to have reached an agreement concerning a "goods review list" of supplies that cannot be exported to Iraq without approval by the Security Council. (Reuters)

2002 March 29: A U.S. Geological Survey study concludes that opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling could harm caribou and other wildlife. The U.S. Senate will take up debate in April on whether to open the refuge to drilling. (Reuters)

2002 April 1: Iraq calls for an oil embargo by Arab oil exporters to punish the United States and other countries for their support of Israel. This, along with intensification of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, contributes to oil prices reaching new six-month highs. (Reuters)

2002 April 1: India liberalizes its oil and natural gas sector by putting in place a series of market reforms, including: the end of government-fixed prices for gasoline and diesel; the end of subsidized cooking gas and kerosene prices; market competition for state-run downstream companies; and assigning the Oil Ministry the role of energy watchdog. (Reuters)

2002 April 2: Royal Dutch/Shell agrees to buy Enterprise Oil for $5 billion in cash. This will increase Royal Dutch/Shell's production in the North Sea by 30% and overall production by 6%, according to the company. The acquisition will also add 1.5 billion barrels of oil to Royal Dutch/Shell's reserves. The company is also assuming $1.15 billion in Enterprise's debt. (NYT)

2002 April 3: Venezuela sends out its first commercial shipment of 550,000 barrels of synthetic crude to a U.S. Gulf Coast refinery. Venezuela's Sincor heavy crude upgrade plant, which was inaugurated last month, refines ultra-heavy crude oil into 32 degree API syncrude. (Reuters)

2002 April 4: Dr. David Franz, a former commander of USAMRIID, says of the anthrax attacks: "I think a lot of good has come from it. From a biological or a medical standpoint, we've now five people who have died, but we've put about $6 billion in our budget into defending against bioterrorism." Plentiful evidence suggests that the anthrax came from USAMRIID, but investigators say they have no suspects at all. They also say they have come up "against some closely held military secrets" which are slowing down the investigation. [ABC News, 4/4/02] Did the anthrax attacker(s) use similar logic as Franz, reasoning that the attacks would serve as a wake up call to protect the US against bioterror attacks?

2002 April 4: The Angolan army signs a ceasefire accord with rebels of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita). The agreement includes amnesty for former Unita soldiers and their demobilization and reintegration into society. The civil war, which began in 1975, has killed thousands of Angolans and taken much of the government's revenues from Angola's substantial oil production and exports. (NYT)

2002 April 5: Thousands of workers at Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA stay home, close gates of facilities, and engage in protests. This is the largest disruption of PdVSA's operations in 2002, though it is not a full-blown strike by all PdVSA workers. Oil production and refining slows, and two of Venezuela's five main oil export terminals are unable to operate. The government of President Hugo Chavez threatens to militarize PdVSA's operations. (AP)

2002 April 5: Nigeria's Supreme Court rules that the federal government, not state or regional authorities, has control over offshore oil and natural gas. Six southern states had threatened to take control of natural resources in their territories, which could have meant rules changes for operators in the areas and a concentration in hydrocarbon revenues in those states. (Reuters)

2002 April 5: Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, joins Iraq in calling for an oil embargo against countries supporting Israel. However, other Iranian government officials indicate that Iran will not go ahead with any embargo without support from all Muslim major oil exporters. On April 7, the Libyan government also calls for an embargo, but with the provision that such an embargo would have to include all Muslim oil exporters. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait reject these proposals. (WP, Reuters)

2002 April 6: A BP pipeline near Little Lake, Louisiana ruptures, spilling 90,000 gallons of oil into marshland and coastal waters. Clean-up crews are sent to the area and some of the oil is recovered the following day. (WSJ)

2002 April 7: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announces that he has fired seven executives of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) and sent 12 others into early retirement. This action comes in response to the executives leading protests and work stoppages that have intensified since April 5. These protests began after President Chavez installed new PdVSA board members on February 20, 2002. (LAT)

2002 April 8: Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn vetoes the use of the Yucca Mountain facility as a repository for high-level nuclear waste. Under a 1982 federal law on nuclear waste policy, a governor can file a "notice of disapproval" to reject a president's selection of a site in his state. This gives the U.S. Congress 90 legislative days to debate and vote on the issue. Simple majorities in both chambers can override the veto. (LAT)

2002 April 8: Iraq announces that it will halt its "oil-for-food" exports for 30 days as a "gesture of support" for the Palestinians' struggle with Israel. Iraq also requests that other OPEC countries do not raise production to make up for lost Iraqi exports. Iraqi "oil-for-food" exports had averaged about 1.7 million barrels per day to date in 2002. Major Arab OPEC exporters Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar have expressed unwillingness to join in any embargo. (WSJ)

2002 April 9: A general strike begins in Venezuela, shutting down many stores and factories and nearly halting oil production, refining, and export terminals. Strike organizers decide to extend the strike through April 10. (WP)

2002 April 9: California Attorney General Bill Lockyer files suit against four power companies, charging them with profiteering during the power crisis of 2000-2001. The attorney general claims that companies could face penalties of as much as $1 billion. (WSJ)

2002 April 9: Barry Mawn (now ex-FBI) is one of the favourites for Massport as a security chief for $250,000 a year. http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/port04092002.htm

2002 April 11: GAO filed a motion seeking an expedited decision from the judge hearing its lawsuit against the Vice President. GAO's motion for summary judgment argued that, since there are no factual disagreements, the suit should be decided on its legal merits in favor of GAO.

2002 April 12: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is ousted by the country's military after three consecutive days of general strikes during which oil production, refining, and exports-the mainstays of the Venezuelan economy-were seriously affected. After at least a dozen protesters are killed, high-ranking military officers, including the army commander general, request President Chavez to step down. (WSJ)

2002 April 12: Pedro Carmona is named interim President of Venezuela by the military high command. He dissolves the National Assembly and Supreme Court. PdVSA operations that had been halted start up again, but rioting begins again the following day. (Reuters)

2002 April 14: Interim President Pedro Carmona announces that he has resigned following large, and sometimes violent, pro-Chavez protests and a lack of support among many military officers. Carmona also loses support of Venezuela's largest labor group. Several hours later, Hugo Chavez returns to power in Caracas and claims that he never resigned the presidency. Chavez announces that PdVSA's Board of Directors had submitted its resignation on April 11. (AP)

2002 April 15: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez attempts some rapprochement with the employees of PdVSA as oil exports return to normal. PdVSA executives support continued normalization of the company's operations. Minister of Energy and Mines Alvaro Silva asserts that Venezuela will continue to abide by its OPEC quotas, but the government also asserts that it will be a reliable oil supplier to the United States and will not participate in any oil embargo. (Reuters)

2002 April: World Bank chief James Wolfensohn, at the opening of the World Bank's offices in Kabul, states he has held talks about financing the Trans-Afghanistan gas pipeline. He confirms $100 million in new grants for the interim Afghani government. Wolfensohn also states that a number of companies have already expressed interest in the project. [Source: Alexander's Gas and oil Connections, citing an Agence France-Presse story]

2002 April 18: El Paso Energy agrees to build, install, own, and operate a production hub platform for the Falcon natural gas field in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The field is owned by Pioneer Natural Resources and Mariner Energy. The platform will have an initial capacity of 300 million cubic feet per day, and as a hub eventually will service an additional nine blocks in the area. A 20-mile natural gas pipeline will link the development to an offshore natural gas gathering system. (OD)

2002 April 19: A Venezuelan government spokesman announces that OPEC Secretary General Ali Rodriguez will quit this position in order to become the new president of PdVSA. It is not clear who will succeed Mr. Rodriguez as OPEC Secretary General at this time. (DJ)

2002 April 22: National Grid Group, which runs Britain's power transmission network, announces that it plans to merge with Lattice Group in a stock deal worth $9.7 billion. Lattice is a natural gas pipeline operator that was spun off from British Gas. National Grid will also assume $10 billion of Lattice's debt under the plan. This creates one firm with significant power over Britain's natural gas and electricity networks. The new company will be the UK's largest utility. (DJ)

2002 April 22: California State officials announce that California has renegotiated $15 billion in power contracts with five of 12 companies with which the State has contracts. As a result of the restructuring, the State will lower costs by about $3.5 billion over the decade. These long-term contracts were signed during the height of the power crisis of 2000-2001, locking in what many State officials now consider higher-than-market rates for electricity. The companies that have renegotiated extricate themselves from possible legal action on the part of California in the future. (LAT)

2002 April 22: The government of Venezuela and executives of PdVSA agree on a new board of directors for the state oil company. Recent protests and strikes by PdVSA managers and employees that led up to President Chavez's temporary ouster on April 12 began in response to a board of directors appointed by President Chavez on February 20. (Reuters)

2002 April 22: Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin announces that Russia will not extend the 150,000-barrel-per-day crude oil export cut it has promised OPEC beyond the end of June 2002. Data from several sources, including Russia itself, appear to cast doubt on whether Russian exports were ever reduced since the cuts were supposed to become effective January 1, 2002. (Reuters)

2002 April 22: Russia's largest oil producer, OAO Lukoil, unveils a restructuring plan that aims to double the company's output by 2010. In addition to investments in new fields, the company also plans to increase output by outsourcing its drilling and well-management to oil services companies. The company plans to increase production 20% this year alone, to 1.4 million barrels per day. (WSJ)

2002 April 24: A summit of the leaders of the five littoral states of the Caspian Sea ends without an agreement on how to divide the Caspian's resources between the five countries. (Reuters)

2002 April 25: The U.S. Senate passes an energy bill that differs substantially from the version passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in August 2001. The Senate version, for instance, has no provision for oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Another provision of the bill would require that companies gradually increase the percentage of electricity that they generate from renewable sources. The bill now goes to conference. (NYT, Reuters)

2002 April 25: President George W. Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah meet in Crawford, Texas. The main topic of discussion is how to arrive at a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Also today, Saudi officials deny fresh reports that they will reduce oil exports to express displeasure with U.S. policy toward the Middle East. Oil prices rise substantially on the rumor, but fall after denials by U.S. and Saudi officials. (WP)

2002 April 29: An investigating panel of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee issues a report on gasoline price and the degree of market concentration of refiners and retailers. The report states that, "In a number of instances, refiners have sought to increase prices by reducing supply." The American Petroleum Institute and several oil refiners and retailers have contested the report's conclusions. (DJ)

2002 May: Jerome Hauer became director of the federal Office of Public Health Preparedness (OPHP), succeeding Dr. D. A. Henderson from Johns Hopkins Institute.

2002 May 1: The Canadian province of Ontario opens its electricity market to competition, including suppliers from the United States. Under the new rules, suppliers other than the current monopoly supplier, Ontario Power Generation, are able to sell electricity under long-term contracts or on the spot market. Initially, large industrial consumers, local utilities, and new electricity retailers will be able to choose amongst suppliers. The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has licensed Ontario Power Generation to sell electricity in the United States. (NYT)

2002 May 1: Oman approves plans to add a third production train at its liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at Qalhat. The new train will add 3.3 million metric tons per year to the plant's current 6.6-million-metric-tons-per-year capacity in two existing trains. In January, Oman signed a financial agreement to borrow $1.3 billion from a consortium of 12 international banks in order to be able to finance the expansion. (WMRC)

2002 May 2: After extensive testing, the DNA sequence of the anthrax sent through the US mail in 2001 is deciphered, and it confirms suspicions that the bacteria originally came from USAMRIID. Furthermore, analysis of genetic drift determines that the attacker's anthrax was not separated from the source anthrax at USAMRIID for many generations. It suggests that USAMRIID or USAMRIID samples given to Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah and/or Porton Downs in Britain are the most likely sources of the anthrax used in the attacks. [New Scientist, 5/2/02]

2002 May 3: The Environmental Protection Agency approves rules that will allow coal-mining companies to dump waste and dirt from mountaintop mining into rivers and streams. The mining industry greets the decision with approval, while several environmental groups are critical of the decision. (NYT)

2002 May 3: A two-day G8 (the world's seven largest economies plus Russia) energy summit in Detroit concludes. The energy ministers focus their discussions on ensuring adequate, safe, supplies as demand increases, as well as on new technologies that have efficiency and environmental benefits. U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham states that, "We [energy ministers] agreed on the importance of providing adequate protection for our energy facilities as well as the importance of having multiple links between suppliers and consumers to reduce our vulnerability to disruption of energy supplies." (AP, Reuters)

2002 May 3: Iraq and the United Nations (U.N.) end three days of talks on disarmament programs and weapons inspectors without any plan for the return of weapons inspectors to Iraq. U.N. weapons inspectors were expelled from Iraq in 1998. (Reuters)

2002 May 3: A U.S. Appeals Court upholds the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) diesel fuel sulfur content regulation in ruling on a lawsuit filed by the National Petrochemical and Refiner's Association that challenged the regulations. The rule requires that refiners reduce the sulfur content in diesel from the current 500 parts-per-million requirement to 15 parts per million in 2007. (OD)

2002 May 6: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) releases documents showing that Enron used a number of deceptive trading strategies to manipulate California's power market during the 2000-2001 state energy crisis. On May 8, the FERC orders all power sellers operating in California to preserve their records from 2000 and 2001, particularly in regard to trading strategies employed. On May 21, the FERC orders firms to report any "round-trip" electricity trading in sworn statements. Several firms alleged to have participated in these schemes lose over 50% of their market values in May. Such trades are thought to have inflated companies' revenue statements. This is all part of a FERC probe into the causes of electricity price volatility in California in 2000-2001. (DJ, LAT)

2002 May 7: A $125 million study commissioned by ExxonMobil, BP, and Phillips, that examined two proposed routes for a natural gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope to the lower 48 states, finds that neither route is economically feasible. The pipeline would transport 4.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas. Company spokespeople indicate that the project will be delayed until market conditions support the project. (OD)

2002 May 8: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announces that it has selected Occidental Petroleum to take over Enron's 24.5% stake in the $3.5 billion Dolphin natural gas project. Enron had sold back its stake to UAE state investment company UOG before Enron's bankruptcy in December 2001. (Reuters)

2002 May 8: Iraq starts pumping crude oil to its export terminals, following the country's announcement on May 5 that it would end its oil export embargo after one month, i.e., May 8. Iraq also submits price proposals for May crude oil loadings to the United Nations for approval. (Reuters)

2002 May 8: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announces that it has selected Occidental Petroleum to take over Enron's 24.5% stake in the $3.5 billion Dolphin natural gas project. Enron had sold back its stake to UAE state investment company UOG before Enron's bankruptcy in December 2001. (Reuters)

2002 May 9: The U.S. House of Representatives votes to approve the use of the Yucca Mountain facility as a repository for high-level nuclear waste, the first step in overriding the Nevada governor's veto of the site's selection by the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Senate must also approve the site's use for the governor's veto to be overridden and for the project to proceed. (KR)

2002 May 10: Scientists at the University of Munich's Nanoscience Center in Germany succeed in harnessing the power of light to produce mechanical energy for the first time in history. In the experiment, the scientists shine a selected frequency of light on a single molecule of the plastic azobenzene, causing the molecule to crimp and pull down a board to which it is attached. (WP)

2002 May 10: Thailand announces that it will go ahead with the construction of a natural gas pipeline from the Thai-Malaysian Joint Development Area (JDA) natural gas project in the Gulf of Thailand to the southern Thai province of Songkhla, and then on to Kedah state in northern Malaysia. The pipeline's approval had been delayed over environmental concerns, and the pipeline route will be adjusted slightly because of these concerns. Malaysia had previously stated that it might re-route its share of the natural gas from the Gulf of Thailand if the Thai government failed to make a decision on the pipeline. (Reuters)

2002 May 13: The BBC reports that Afghanistan is about to close a deal for construction of the $2 billion gas pipeline to run from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India. "Work on the project will start after an agreement is expected to be struck" at a summit scheduled for the end of the month. Afghan leader Hamid Karzai (who formerly worked for Unocal) calls Unocal the "lead company" in building the pipeline. [BBC, 5/13/02] FTW The Los Angeles Times comments, "To some here, it looked like the fix was in for Unocal when President Bush named a former Unocal consultant, Zalmay Khalilzad, as his special envoy to Afghanistan late last year." [Los Angeles Times, 5/30/02]
Hamid Karzai, the leader of the southern Afghan Pashtun Durrani tribe, was a member of the mujaheddin that fought the Soviets during the 1980s. He was a top contact for the CIA and maintained close relations with CIA Director William Casey, Vice President George Bush, and their Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISID) Service interlocutors. Later, Karzai and a number of his brothers moved to the United States under the auspices of the CIA. Karzai continued to serve the agency's interests, as well as those of the Bush Family and their oil friends in negotiating the CentGas deal, according to Middle East and South Asian sources.
[The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]

2002 May 13: Russia and Kazakhstan sign an accord defining ownership rights in the northern part of the hydrocarbon-rich Caspian Sea. A summit last month of the five littoral nations of the Caspian Sea failed to arrive at a comprehensive agreement between all five countries. (AP)

2002 May 14: Near-month WTI crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) settles above $29 per barrel for the first time since the temporary price spike on September 14, 2001 when the NYMEX first opened after being closed in the wake of the events of September 11. Tensions in the Middle East, the effect of OPEC production cuts and the lingering effects of Iraq's one-month embargo, as well as low U.S. crude oil stock levels, are seen as factors influencing oil prices. (Reuters)

2002 May 14: The United Nations (U.N.) Security Council approves an overhaul of the "oil-for-food" program for Iraq that makes use of an extensive list of "dual-use" goods (goods that could have a military as well as civilian use). Iraq will be able to use its oil revenues, which go into a U.N. escrow account out of which suppliers exporting products to Baghdad are paid, in order to purchase items not on the list. The resolution renews the U.N. program until November 25, 2002. On May 16, official Iraqi news agency INA announces that it will comply with the new six-month tranche of the "oil-for-food" program voted by the U.N. Security Council on May 14, despite condemning the Security Council resolution in the same statement. Iraq officially accepts the U.N. proposal on May 29. (Reuters)

2002 May 15: Private Iranian energy company Petro Iran finalizes a $585-million buy-back deal to renovate the offshore Foroozan-Esfyandar oilfields. Petro Iran is expected to acquire a foreign partner in order to give the company the financial resources necessary to fund the project. Commenting on the deal, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh states, "With the investments already made and those about to be secured...Iran's crude oil production capacity and its quota in OPEC will not decrease." (Reuters)

2002 May 15: Russian customs data released today show that Russia's crude oil exports rose to 3.49 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2002, an all-time high, despite Russia's agreement with OPEC to reduce crude oil exports by 150,000 barrels per day during the same period. (Reuters)

2002 May 16: White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer states unequivocally that while President Bush had been warned of possible hijackings, "The president did not -- not -- receive information about the use of airplanes as missiles by suicide bombers." [Source: CBS News, May 15, 2002]

2002 May 16: The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) announces that the mean estimate of technically recoverable resources in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve is 9.3 billion barrels. The USGS pegs natural gas reserves in the National Petroleum Reserve at between 39.1 and 83.2 trillion cubic feet. The Reserve's eastern border is about 100 miles west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The USGS also declares that at current prices, more oil could be pumped from ANWR than from the National Petroleum Reserve. The Reserve is still undeveloped, and the recovery of natural gas would necessitate the construction of a pipeline. (Reuters, OD)

2002 May 17: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov announces that Russia will not extend its 150,000-barrel-per-day crude oil export cut, agreed to with OPEC, into the third quarter of 2002 and furthermore, that Russia will gradually phase out the export cut in the remainder of the second quarter of 2002. Russia is the world's second-largest oil exporter. (WMRC)

2002 May 17: The Norwegian parliament approves a $5.24 billion investment in the Snoehvit liquefied natural gas (LNG) project on the Barents Sea. The project is expected to produce 5.7 billion cubic meters of LNG per year after it comes on line in 2006. (WMRC)

2002 May 17: The comments of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on coalbed methane production in Wyoming's Powder River Basin give the BLM's environmental plan the EPA's lowest rating. This will make it difficult for increased production from the Powder River Basin to take place without the EPA's concerns being addressed. The DEIS assesses the impact of development of over 60,000 coalbed methane wells in Wyoming and Montana. (OD)

2002 May 19: Former FBI Agent Tyrone Powers, now a professor at Anne Arundel Community College states on radio station KISS 98.7 that he has credible evidence suggesting that the Bush Administration did in fact allow the Sept. 11 attacks to further a hidden agenda. [Source: http://www.indymedia.org - May 20, 2002]

2002 May 20: Representatives of East Timor and Australia sign an accord giving East Timor 90% of the revenues from the Bayu-Undan natural gas and condensate field and 20% of the revenues from the Greater Sunrise field. The division of the remaining 80% of the Greater Sunrise's revenues is still under discussion. The Greater Sunrise field, about twice the size of the Bayu-Undan field, contains an estimated 9.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. (OD)

2002 May 23: The U.S. Department of Energy changes a rule concerning increased efficiency of air conditioners and heat pumps, such that manufacturers will be required to make them 20% more energy efficient by 2004 instead of 30%, as had been proposed by the Department under the previous administration. (Reuters)

2002 May 23: Chinese officials claim to have discovered the country's largest natural gas field. The field, in the Ih Ju Meng area of the region of Inner Mongolia, is estimated to contain 21 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. (OD)

2002 May 21-24: A New York Times editorial says it's time to "light a fire under the FBI in its investigation of the anthrax case. Experts in the bioterror field are already buzzing about a handful of individuals who had the ability, access and motive to send the anthrax." [New York Times, 5/24/02] Similarly, the Guardian suggests that the FBI investigation is moving deliberately slow because the federal authorities have something to hide, stating "there is surely a point after which incompetence becomes an insufficient explanation for failure." [Guardian, 5/21/02]

2002 May 24: Agent: FBI Rewrote Moussaoui Request, John J. Lumpkin, Associated Press, "An FBI whistle-blower alleges FBI headquarters rewrote Minnesota agents' pre-Sept. 11 request for surveillance and search warrants for terrorism defendant Zacarias Moussaoui and removed important information before rejecting them, government officials said Friday. "Agent Coleen Rowley wrote that the Minnesota agents became so frustrated by roadblocks erected by terrorism supervisors in Washington that they began to joke that FBI headquarters was becoming an ‘unwitting accomplice’ to Osama bin Laden's efforts to attack the United States, the officials said."

2002 May 24: U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin agree to a major new energy partnership that will entail more investment from the United States in Russia's oil and natural gas sector. The leaders also agree to joint efforts to improve ports, pipelines, and refineries in order to expedite export flow. This could mean more Russian hydrocarbon exports to North America. (NYT)

2002 May 25: Alvaro Uribe Velez is elected president of Colombia. He has promised to try to end Colombia's conflict with two guerrilla groups, and to provide greater security for energy infrastructure so as to attract more foreign investment. He also has indicated his support for a bill that would replace Colombia's fixed 20% royalty payment on all upstream ventures with a sliding scale of royalty payments. (OD)

2002 May26: A letter by Lt. Col. Steve Butler (DLI, Monterey) is released in the Herald Tribune, where he accuses President Bush, that he let the attack happen on purpose: "Of course Bush knew about the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism. His daddy had Saddam and he needed Osama" The full letter is at http://www.democrats.com/view.cfm?id=7735 Butler gets fired. The story appears on BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_2025000/2025939.stm

2002 May 28: A law firm representing the government of Libya announces that Libya will pay $2.7 billion to the families of those who lost their lives in the Pan Am flight 103 bombing if U.S. and United Nations sanctions are first lifted. Some Libyan government officials deny that any deal has been proposed, but the lawyers employed by the Libyan government continue to affirm that a deal is possible. On May 29, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell comments, "Just reading press accounts of what has been said about the offer, it certainly is a step in the right direction, but I don't think it resolves ... all the outstanding issues that have to be dealt with, with respect to Libya and Pan Am 103." (Reuters)

2002 May 28: Canadian oil company Sheer Energy signs a contract that makes the company the first Western company to commit finances to Iran since U.S. President George Bush's assertion that Iran forms part of an "axis of evil." (Reuters)

2002 May 28: India announces that it has a 60-day reserve of all petroleum products ready should current tensions with Pakistan erupt into war. Pakistan responds on May 30 by stating that it has a 45-day reserve of all petroleum products ready to use if war occurs. Pakistan and India dispute areas of Kashmir, and several militant groups operate in the area. (Reuters)

2002 May 28: The U.S. government decides to buy back leases for oil and natural gas drilling on the Florida coast and in the Everglades for $235 million because of environmental concerns. Skip Horvath, president of the Natural Gas Supply Association states, "The natural gas fields taken off the table today represent enough natural gas to supply a million U.S. families for over 30 years." However, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton has asserted that there are only 40 million barrels of oil equivalent in the area to be protected, about two days' worth of U.S. consumption. (OD)

2002 May 30: FBI agent Wright spoke out again at a press conference in Washington, D.C. in May. He accused the FBI of intentionally thwarting investigations of known terrorists. But instead of making national news, Wright’s story was downplayed in the media. More disturbingly the FBI tried to block his new book, "Fatal Betrayals of the Intelligence Mission". Why? Wright also said, in tears, live on C-Span, that he was threatened by John Ashcroft for months to shut up his mouth.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020529/dcw021_1.html Wright said throughout his six-year posting in counter-terrorism, he was involved in probes of Hamas and Hezbollah. His most successful 'get' netted $1.4 million in terrorist money in 1998, money that he said today was linked to Saudi businessman and financier Yassin Kadi, who was identified late last year as a close associate of Usama Bin Laden http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,54070,00.html+FBI+%22Robert+Wright%22&hl=de&ie=UTF-8

2002 May 30: Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, Turkmenistan's President Niyazov, and Pakistani President Musharraf meet in Islamabad and sign a memorandum of understanding on the trans-Afghanistan gas pipeline project. [Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections, 6/8/02, Dawn, 5/31/02] FTW Afghan minister for mines and industries Mohammad Alim Reza is also expected to arrive Islamabad to discuss related issues with Pakistani and Turkmen oil ministers. He stated early that Unocal, the US-energy firm and former Centgas consortium leader, was still in the lead attempting to win the $ 2 bn trans-Afghanistan gas pipeline. Chairman Afghan interim authority Hamid Karzai and Turkmen president Saparmyrat Niyazov met earlier this month in Ashgabat to discuss the pipeline project. Under the tripartite agreement, Afghanistan would ensure security to the pipeline passing through its territory against a royalty which would be calculated later. The sources said that the pipeline has full backing of the Bush administration and some more US companies were expected to join the consortium in a bid to block entry of Argentinean Bridas or Russian Gazprom in the mega oil and gas pipeline projects. Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan had constituted a working group in 1998 for quarterly expert meetings to pursue the pipeline project but these meetings were discontinued in late 2000 due to widening gap between Taliban and US authorities. Energy experts have been indicating US eyes on Caspian Sea reserves of $ 5 t with companies owned by Bush senior and vice president Dick Chenny showing keen interest. The United States is also expecting investment from US-based energy firms through Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to reactivate over $ 2 bn Turkmenistan to Pakistan gas pipeline. Informed sources in the energy sector said that the two sides have started initial consultations to materialize benefits arising out of the removal of economic sanctions on Pakistan in the post Sept. 11 situation that allowed OPIC and US Ex-Im Bank to finance private sector projects. The Turkmen-Pakistan pipeline will be around 1,464 km long from Daulatabad gas field in Turkmenistan to Multan in Pakistan. It is extendible to India with additional cost of around $ 600 mm. Pakistan is estimated to face gas shortfall of around 500 mm cfpd from the next 5-6 years. The shortfall was imminent in view of the fact that the mega import pipeline project will take at least two years to complete if construction has been started. Pakistan has been pursuing four-import projects from Iran, Qatar, Turkmenistan and UAE. Though Iran-Pak-India Trans gas pipeline project has now become the front runner, the supply is primarily meant for India. So far none of the parties have been able to muster sufficient support from the financial sector to construct $ 2 bn worth of each project mainly because of American factor, sources said. Source: The DAWN Group of Newspapers

2002 May: The Ford Foundation Board of Trustees welcomed a new member, Afsaneh M. Beschloss, former World Bank investment officer and CEO / President of Carlyle Asset Management Group, which is a division of the Carlyle Group, the defence-related international investment firm which enjoys all-star revolving door influence in the Bush White House and is enjoying a post-9/11 profit bonanza. Beschloss first joined Carlyle Asset Management Group in 2001 as a managing director. She also happens to be married to George W. Bush's official presidential historian, Michael Beschloss. It would appear that the Ford Foundation Board of Trustees is within the Bush administration's sphere of cronyism. Is this who should be entrusted to decide how grant money gets doled out to "alternative" media organizations? Is the CEO of Carlyle Asset Management Group and wife of a current presidential historian likely to smile upon funding alternative media organizations which are eager to go beyond offering the usual cut-and-paste complaints about Carlyle Group influence in the White House, and ask more probing questions about this company's role the "War on Terrorism", such as its alleged investment in anthrax vaccine maker Bioport or its past business ties with the not-quite-completely-estranged-from-their-errant-son bin Laden family? [found in a hidden post on the internet] http://www.sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/01/1558867.php

2002 May 30: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rejects the State of California's demand to expand an existing lawsuit seeking refunds from companies for alleged over-charges from October 2000 to June 2001, to instead start in May 2000. This would have had the potential to increase refunds by $2.8 billion. (LAT)

2002 May 30: Elections are held in Algeria, but turnout is very low. The ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) appears to have won the election. (Reuters)

2002 May 31: Japan releases statistics that show that crude oil imports for April 2002 were down 9.4% year-on-year with April 2001, at 4.69 million barrels per day. Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.4% in 2001, and it is projected to fall by 1.1% in 2002. Japan is the world's second-largest oil importer and consumer. (Reuters)

2002 May 31: FBI Agent Robert Wright delivers a tearful press conference at the National Press Club describing his lawsuit against the FBI for deliberately curtailing investigations that might have prevented the 9-11 attacks. He uses words like "prevented," "thwarted," "obstructed," "threatened," "intimidated," and "retaliation" to describe the actions of his superiors in blocking his attempts to shut off money flows to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. These are not words of negligence. They are words describing deliberate and malicious actions. [Source: C-SPAN website]

2002 June 1: Memphis, Tennessee, medical examiner O.C. Smith is attacked with chemical spray, bound with barbed wire, and left lying in a nearby parking lot with a bomb tied to his body. He is rescued several hours later. In recent months, Smith has been working on two interesting cases. One is the death of Harvard University microbiologist Don Wiley, who supposedly fell from a Memphis bridge in December (see November 16, 2001). He also helped identify the body of Katherine Smith, a state driver's license examiner who was found burned beyond recognition in February 2002, a day before a hearing on federal charges of helping five Middle Eastern men obtain fake driver's licenses (see February 10, 2002). Adding to the mystery, Smith had received a series of death threat letters early in 2001. [AP, 6/4/02] Perhaps it's all coincidence, but the events around O.C. Smith, Katherine Smith and Don Wiley seem to tie 9/11 and the rash of microbiologist deaths together in some inexplicable way. If someone wanted O.C. Smith dead, why didn't they just kill him instead of attacking him in such a strange way and then leaving him to live? Was this, and the earlier bomb attack against his office (see March 13, 2002), meant as a warning?
QUESTION: With 15 top microbiologists in the world murdered, dying mysteriously WHY is this guy NOT murdered.
ANSWER: Maybe he is part of the a coverup, and this was staged to take attention OFF of him

2002 June 2: Occidental Petroleum acquires the 24.5% stake in Dolphin Energy previously held by Enron for $310 million. The Dolphin project will transfer natural gas from Qatar to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with deliveries expected to begin in 2005. (DJ)

2002 June 3 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sends the "U.S. Climate Action Report" to the United Nations. The report asserts that human activities, in particular the burning of fossil fuels, are the principal cause of global warming. (NYT)

2002 June 3: The U.S. Bureau of Land Management conducts an oil and natural gas lease sale for Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve. Companies submit high bids of $63.76 million for 60 tracts. The lease sale, covering an area of 3 million acres, offers tracts that had not received bids during the last sale in 1999. (Reuters)

2002 June 4: The European Court of Justice rules that France's current golden share in oil major TotalFinaElf is illegal, as France's shareholding goes "…beyond what is necessary in order to obtain the objective indicated," i.e., ensuring "supplies of petroleum in times of crisis." A golden share is usually defined as a situation in which a government owns less than 50% of the shares of the corporation but retains a veto right on decisions in respect to the management of the enterprise. (DJ)

2002 June 4: Air Force Lt. Col. Steve Butler, who had called President Bush a joke and accused him of allowing the Sept. 11 attacks to happen, is suspended from his post at the Defense Language School in Monterey, Calif. and could face a court martial. [Source: Associated Press, June 4, 2002]

2002 June: FBI Director Mueller claims: "To this day we have found no one in the United States except the actual hijackers who knew of the plot..."

2002 June 6: Judicial Watch has filed lawsuits against several Bush administration agencies for failure to produce documents concerning the terrorist anthrax attacks of last October. The agencies named include: the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and the U.S. Postal Service. The documents were requested under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27888

2002 June 6: Papua New Guinea signs an agreement on a major natural gas pipeline from the producing area in its southern highlands to the Australian State of Queensland on the other side of the Torres Strait. It is estimated that there are six trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas in the southern highlands area of Papua New Guinea. (OD)

2002 June 7: Russia and Kazakhstan sign an agreement that permits annual shipments of no less than 127 million barrels of Kazakh oil through Russia per year over the next 15 years. This agreement covers Kazakhstan crude shipments through two pipelines connected to Russian state pipeline monopoly Transneft's system. The agreement also sets up a joint venture between Gazprom of Russia and KazMunaiGaz of Kazakhstan that will transport 124 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year through Russian pipelines in the first few years of the agreement. (Reuters, DJ)

2002 June 7: U.S. Secretary of the Interior Gail Norton rejects California Governor Gray Davis' request that the State of California be able to buy back offshore drilling rights. Secretary Norton writes in her response to the governor that, "[A] major difference between Florida and California is that Florida opposes coastal drilling and California does not." Currently, 36 undeveloped oil and/or natural gas drilling tracts remain in place off the coast of California. (LAT)

2002 June 10: The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service issues a report showing crude oil production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico growing by an additional 500,000 barrels per day, to 970,000 barrels per day, by 2006. Natural gas production is forecast to rise to 16.39 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day in 2006 in the high scenario from about 13.9 Bcf per day in 2001, but the low scenario shows a decline to 10.97 billion Bcf per day. (Reuters)

2002 June 14: Common Dreams website publishes an account from a former member of the 1/118th Infantry Battalion of the South Carolina National Guard: "My unit reported for drill in July 2001 and we were suddenly and unexpectedly informed that all activities planned for the next two months would be suspended in order to prepare for a mobilization exercise to be held on Sept. 14, 2001. We worked diligently for two weekends and even came in on an unscheduled day in August to prepare for the exercise. By the end of August all we needed was a phone call, which we were to expect, and we could hop into a fully prepared convoy with our bags and equipment packed." [Source: Common Dreams, http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0614-02.htm]

2002 June 17: Reuters reports that Butler's case, has been resolved without the necessity of a court martial. (I guess so. There's enough material here to prove him right. -- MCR) [Reuters, June 17, 2002] (Air Force Lt. Col. Steve had called President Bush a joke and accused him of allowing the Sept. 11 attacks to happen)

2002 June 17: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"Speaking to our Silent Allies (China): the Role of Public Diplomacy in U.S. Foreign Policy"
Speaker: Henry Hyde Member, U.S. House of Representatives (R-IL); Chairman, House International Relations Committee
Presider: James Sasser Former Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China; U.S. Senator (D-TN)
[www.cfr.org]
Why is the US media blacking out documentary on war crimes in Afghanistan? Massacre in Mazar, a documentary by Irish director Jamie Doran, was screened last week before select audiences in Europe. The film documents events following the November 21, 2001 fall of Konduz, the Taliban’s last stronghold in northern Afghanistan. [See: "Afghan war documentary charges US with mass killings"] The film, which has prompted demands for an international commission of inquiry on war crimes in Afghanistan, received widespread coverage in the European press, with major stories in the Guardian, Le Monde, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Die Welt and other papers. This major story, however, has received virtually no coverage in US newspapers or on network or cable television. Aside from stories on some alternative Internet publications, and a June 16 article on Salon.com, the story has been essentially blacked out in the US. The film footage is so damning that both the Pentagon and the US State Department were compelled within days to issued statements denying the allegations of US complicity in the torture and murder of POWs, which are powerfully pointed to by the film. If the US government is so concerned over the implications of what the documentary exposes, why has the US media chosen not to report on it?
Since September 11, this same print and broadcast media has consistently toed the Bush administration’s propaganda line; and there has been no shortage of coverage on the Afghan war. The government’s flouting of international law and the Geneva Conventions in the treatment of Afghan war prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba and proposals for secret military tribunals have gone virtually unchallenged. Assaults on the democratic rights of both immigrants and citizens—including secret detentions and suppression of protests—have been reported as legitimate aspects of the government’s "war on terrorism."

2002 June 18: A report released by the General Accounting Office (GAO) states that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) "…is not adequately performing the oversight that is needed to ensure that the prices produced by these [electricity] markets are just and reasonable, and therefore, it is not fulfilling its regulatory mandate." FERC Chairman Patrick H. Wood III responds that, "The commission [FERC] had not previously focused its efforts clearly enough to succeed…that has now changed." (LAT)

2002 June 18: American Electric Power (AEP) announces that it will sell its United Kingdom Seeboard unit to London Electricity Group for $975 million in cash. London Electricity will also assume $1.05 billion of Seeboard's debt. Seeboard sells electricity and natural gas to 1.9 million customers in the United Kingdom. (DJ)

2002 June 20: OPEC releases a report showing that its ten members subject to production quotas (i.e. excluding Iraq) produced 23.1 million barrels per day in May, 1.4 million barrels per day above the ten members' combined quota of 21.7 million barrels per day. This is an increase over April's production of 220,000 barrels per day. (Reuters)

2002 June 20: Norway's Oil and Energy Ministry states that, "The Norwegian government has decided not to extend the restriction on oil production into the second half of 2002." Norway had agreed with OPEC to reduce its crude oil production by 150,000 barrels per day for the first two quarters of 2002. (Reuters)

2002 June 21: Russia's largest natural gas company, Gazprom, and Ukraine's state oil and natural gas monopoly, Naftogaz, sign an agreement to transport natural gas across Ukraine, resolving a decade-long dispute on natural gas exports. Russia now has the right to transit 3.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas through Ukraine every year from 2003 until 2013, ending Kiev's denial of foreign access to its pipeline system. On June 10, the leaders of Germany, Russia and Ukraine signed a statement on cooperation in the use of the Ukrainian gas pipeline network, as well as the creation of a consortium to manage the system. (Reuters, WMRC)

2002 June 24: ExxonMobil signs an agreement with state oil and natural gas company Qatar Petroleum for the development of two liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains to be used for export to the United Kingdom. ExxonMobil states that the two trains will be "the largest ever built" by the industry. (OD)

2002 June 24: Centrica of the United Kingdom signs the second of two ten-year natural gas contracts, this time with Gasunie of the Netherlands, that will provide 10% of total natural gas demand in the United Kingdom. On June 9, Centrica had signed a ten-year deal with Norway's Statoil. The combined deals involve about 459 billion cubic feet per year. (WMRC)

2002 June 25: Russia formally announces that it will raise its crude oil exports by 150,000 barrels per day in the third quarter of 2002 and thereby, end its agreement with OPEC to limit crude oil exports by 150,000 barrels per day for the first and second quarter of 2002. Many analysts believe that Russia has already been exporting near capacity for some months. (Reuters)

2002 June 25: The FBI search home of anthrax researcher who worked at USAMRIID. [AP, 6/25/02] He remains anonymous in most stories, but some name him as Steven Hatfill. In the wake of all these stories, one microbiologist states, "Their intent was clearly to put [Hatfill's] name in the public eye. The only question is why." The FBI announces that the search found nothing and Hatfill is not a suspect. [Hartford Courant, 6/27/02] The FBI also announces voluntary lie detector tests at USAMRIID and Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. [New York Times, 7/2/02] Numerous experts have pointed out for months that these two facilities are the only likely places the anthrax used in the attacks could have been made, and that there are only several dozen possible scientists who could have made it. Why is the FBI only now even beginning to look into this? The New York Times had been running a series of articles about "Mr. Z" [New York Times, 5/24/02, New York Times, 7/2/02, New York Times, 7/12/02], who is eventually revealed as Hatfill. [New York Times, 8/13/02]

2002 June 26: OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna decide to leave their combined output quota, excluding Iraq, unchanged at 21.7 million barrels per day for the third quarter of 2002. It is estimated that OPEC-10 countries (i.e. excluding Iraq) are producing between 1 million and 1.5 million barrels per day above the quota agreement. OPEC members also agree to appoint Venezuelan Oil Minister Alvaro Silva as the cartel's new secretary general, replacing Ali Rodriguez, who will now head Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA. At the meeting, Algeria requests a larger share of OPEC's total quota, but the issue will not be taken up until the OPEC Board of Governors meeting in August. (NYT, DJ)

2002 June 26: BP announces that the cost of developing the Shah Deniz oil and natural gas field in AzerbaiJanuary will be an estimated $3.2 billion. BP expects the field to eventually account for 7% of the company's total hydrocarbon production. (WMRC)

2002 June 27: Mexico announces that it will continue its agreement with OPEC to limit crude oil exports to 1.66 million barrels per day into the third quarter of 2002. A statement from the Energy Ministry said that the decision was "based on national interests and conditioned upon the future conduct of the world oil market." Mexico is among the five largest oil exporters to the United States. (Reuters)

2002 June 28: Angola fines U.S. major ChevronTexaco $2 million for environmental damage. This is the first time an African country has levied a fine against a foreign oil company operating in its waters. Angola held ChevronTexaco liable for failing to replace obsolete pipes, which caused several oil spills. (OD)

2002 June 29: An official at Oman's Oil and Gas Ministry announces that the non-OPEC country will continue its 40,000-barrel-per-day production cut into the third quarter of 2002. Oman had agreed with OPEC to cut production 40,000 barrels in the first and second quarters of 2002. (Reuters)

2002 June 29: Egypt's Electricity and Energy Minister Hassan Ahmad Younes confirms media reports that Egypt will construct a nuclear power plant, the country's first, on the northwest coast of the country near Alexandria. (WMRC)

2002 July: British Prime Minister Tony Blair states: "To be truthful about it, there was no way we could have got the public consent to have suddenly launched a campaign on Afghanistan but for what happened on September 11." [Cooperativeresearch.org]

2002 July 1: The California State Legislature passes a bill that limits vehicle emissions of carbon dioxide, the first such bill to pass a state legislature. The specific regulations, to be developed by 2005, would take effect on 2009 model-year vehicles. The limits, enacted because of carbon dioxide's putative effect on global climate change, are likely to have significant repercussions beyond California because the State represents some 10% of the U.S. automobile market. Governor Gray Davis signs the bill into law on July 22. (LAT)

2002 July 2: The World Bank suspends consideration of $370 million in loans and guarantees for AES's $550 million Bujagali Dam hydroelectric power project on the Nile River in Uganda. The decision, taken because of allegations that AES's main construction contractor bribed a Ugandan government official, effectively halts progress on the dam, the largest single private investment in East Africa's history. (WSJ)

2002 July 2: Motions from Zacarias Moussaoui are unsealed in federal court, indicating that Moussaoui wants to testify before both a grand jury and Congress about the Sept. 11 attacks. Moussaoui claims to have information showing that the U.S. government wanted the attacks to happen. [Source: The Washington Post, July 3, 2002]

2002 July 3: The first-ever shipment of Russian oil. The supertanker Astro Lupus arrives offshore of the Port of Houston, carrying the first direct shipment of Russian crude oil to the United States. The oil, about 2 million barrels of Urals Blend, was exported by Yukos, Russia's second-largest producer and destined for two ExxonMobil refineries in Texas. Yukos hopes to make six such shipments this year. (NYT, WMRC, OD)

2002 July 3: It is revealed publicly that several large energy companies were fined a total of $122 million by the California Independent Systems Operator, the state agency that control's California's power grid for failing to deliver electricity during emergencies in the midst of California's power crisis. The largest fines were assessed against Dynegy ($44.8 million), the Williams Companies ($25.5 million), and Reliant Energy ($25.1 million). On July 26, Williams reaches a global settlement with the State of California and other power partners, including refunds for Williams' activities during the California power crisis. (NYT, OD)

2002 July 4: Eight large energy companies conclude a framework joint-venture agreement for the development of a natural gas field in western China and a 2,500-mile "West-to-East" pipeline to transport the natural gas to eastern China. The pipeline will be designed to carry about $2 billion worth of natural gas per year. PetroChina, with a 50% stake in the project, put the pipeline and initial field development cost at $8.5 billion. Royal Dutch/Shell, ExxonMobil, and Gazprom each have a 15% stake in the venture. (NYT)

2002 July 5: Energy merchant Reliant Resources, in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, admits that the company overstated its profits for 1999, 2000, and 2001 by a cumulative $7.8 billion, of which $6.4 billion came from phantom energy trades. Phantom trading entails selling and then immediately buying back power, thereby increasing revenues, but without actual power changing hands. (OD)

2002 July 5: The German Economics Ministry approves the takeover of Ruhrgas, Germany's largest natural gas distributor, by E. On, the world's largest non-oil energy company, also based in Germany. The approval contains a list of additional conditions that must be satisfied in order to go through with the takeover. This conditional approval overrides a previous ruling by the German cartel office, which had disallowed the takeover. The cartel office had feared that a takeover of Ruhrgas by E. On would undermine attempts to liberalize the German energy market, as the takeover will give E. On control of 60% of Germany's natural gas imports. (WMRC, NYT)

2002 July 6: Afghan Vice President Hajji Abdul Qadir is assassinated by Afghan warlords. The New York Times reports that Qadir may have been assassinated by opium warlords upset by Qadir's efforts to reduce the rampant opium farming and processing that has taken place since the U.S. occupation. Qadir had been overseeing a Western-backed eradication program, according to the Times. However, the opium warlords of the region are same ones sponsored, protected, and in some cases released from prison by the CIA and who have been protected by President Bush's special envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad. It is reported that the raw opium is being refined near U.S. bases at Kandahar. [Sources: The New York Times, July 8, 2002; Far Eastern Economic Review, April 18, 2002]

2002 July 10: Pricing agency Platts begins to include two additional North Sea crudes, Oseberg and Forties, in its valuation of Brent. This is an attempt to increase volumes, and hence liquidity in order to avoid market squeezes that can occur when large amounts of crude are bought by a single trading company in the context of a small overall volume. BP supports the move, but Shell opposes it. Brent serves as a benchmark price for global crude oil trade of about $150 billion per year. (Reuters) Fourth U.S.-China Oil & Gas Industry Forum

2002 July 16: HOUSTON - Natural gas cost and regulation between the United States and China will top the agenda of nearly 150 energy leaders at the Fourth U.S.-China Oil & Gas Industry Forum presented by the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Commerce. The event will be hosted by the Institute for Energy, Law & Enterprise (IELE) at the University of Houston Law Center. The agenda for the annual meeting will focus on three themes: 1) Chinese participants' summary of Alaskan technical site visits; 2) natural gas marketization; and 3) natural gas in China. "The Forum will enable China and the U.S. to meet common oil and gas industry goals, including assisting China in its efforts to secure reliable and economical sources while facilitating investment by U.S. industry," said Michelle Michot Foss, executive director of the UH IELE. The Oil and Gas Industry Forum is facilitated by the U.S. and Chinese governments. On the U.S. side, implementation is led by the DOE in conjunction with the DOC, while China's effort is coordinated by the State Development Planning Commission. The conference draws participants from the government and industry of both countries and meets to address issues of common interest. Agendas and proceedings from forum meetings are available at http://www.fe.doe.gov/oil_gas/china_forum/. Projections of national and global petroleum demand and supply, · Governmental policies that relate to the oil and gas industry, Organization and conduct of the Forum, Means of increasing U.S. industry participation in Chinese oil and gas development and markets, · Means of increasing the use of U.S. oil and gas technology in China.
Forum participants include UH Honorary Degree recipient Daniel Yergin. Yergin is a Pulitzer Prize winner, and he received the 1997 United States Energy Award for "lifelong achievements in energy and the promotion of international understanding." He is president of Cambridge Energy Research Associates and vice chairman of the Global Decisions Group.
The U.S.-China Oil & Gas Industry Forum is a public-private partnership involving government and companies from the U.S. and China. As of June 14, 2002, the sponsoring U.S. companies include: Burlington , ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, McDermott, Phillips and Unocal.

2002 July 17: Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri approves the formation of a new "Implementing Body" to monitor activities of oil companies operating in Indonesia. This body, whose effective date is still unclear, will replace in this role state oil company Pertamina, which had its monopoly revoked last year. Production sharing contracts will be between the new body and foreign companies, instead of between Pertamina and the foreign company. (Reuters)

2002 July 17: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decides to raise the electricity price cap in California from $91.87 per megawatthour to $250 per megawatthour, effective October 1, 2002. The FERC proposes a computer system that will analyze bids above $91.87 per megawatthour to determine whether price gouging is occurring. Also today, the FERC announces that the current board of the California Independent System Operator (ISO), appointed by Governor Gray Davis, is not truly independent, and that a new board appointed in consultation with a number of entities involved in the energy industry must be put in place by January 2003. (LAT)

2002 July 17: The U.S. House of Representatives votes to cut off federal funds necessary to permit new oil drilling off the coast of California. The funds would have gone toward helping oil companies act on outstanding drilling leases in federal waters. (LAT)

2002 July 17: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appoints Rafael Ramirez as the country's new oil minister, replacing Alvaro Silva, who was chosen in June to be OPEC's new Secretary General. Ramirez is currently head of Venezuela's state natural gas regulator, Enagas. (OD, Reuters)

2002 July 19: Japan's Parliament passes a bill that mandates the liquidation of the heavily indebted Japan National Oil Company (JNOC), beginning in March 2004. (Reuters)

2002 July 19: British Energy Minister Brian Wilson awards 25 new offshore oil and natural gas licenses to companies under new terms that require companies to develop fields quickly or relinquish their claims. The British government is attempting to slow production declines in the British North Sea by encouraging the use of new technologies and the involvement of small companies for whom the development of smaller fields is economic. (WMRC)

2002 July 19: British Gas, Edison International, and Shell are given final permission by the Egyptian government to develop the Rosetta and West Delta Deep Marine offshore gas concessions for domestic consumption and export. The exported natural gas will be liquefied at a new plant under construction at Idku, near Alexandria. The liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be exported to France, where it is expected to eventually supply 10% of consumption. (WMRC)

2002 July 21: In an article titled, "Anthrax: the Noose Widens," Time magazine reports, "Despite recent claims by some in the bioterrorism community that the investigation should be homing in on one particular American bioweapons expert, the FBI appears to be moving in the opposite direction. US government officials say the investigation is still ranging far and wide and that the FBI has not ruled out a foreign connection." [Time, 7/21/02]

2002 July 22: Brazilian state oil company Petrobras announces that it has a preliminary accord to take over 58.6% of Perez Companc, Argentina's second-largest oil company, for $754.6 million in cash and $370.5 million in bonds. The deal would expand Petrobras' total production capacity by about 12%. (DJ, NYT)

2002 July 23: President George Bush signs a bill into law that makes the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada the United States' central depository for nuclear waste. Use of the Yucca Mountain site required federal legislative approval because Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn had objected to the site. The U.S. House of Representatives voted for use of the site on May 9, and the U.S. Senate voted for use of the site on July 9. (AP, WP)

2002 July 24: A report from the Saudi American Bank projects that Saudi Arabia's budget deficit will be about $5.1 billion for 2002, a reduction of the kingdom's earlier official forecast of a $12 billion deficit. The report attributes the lower projection to higher-than-expected oil prices. (Reuters)

2002 July 25: Israel cancels a natural gas pipeline tender after Paz Oil and Africa Israel Investments run out of time to build a viable consortium. Israel intends to build a significant natural gas production/importation capacity, but this will be impossible without a natural gas pipeline network. The failure to attract a major international partner after Tractebel of Belgium pulled out in April 2002 and BG pulled out of any deal earlier this month is seen as the reason for the cancellation. (WMRC)

2002 July 25: Business Week Olympian Hurdles for China's Pipelines
With much Western help, Beijing wants at least one of the huge natural-gas conduits done by the 2008 Games, despite the deals' daunting details. With the Fourth U.S.-China Oil & Gas Industry Forum in Houston on July 19. Senior government officials with close ties to industry and trade on both sides of the divide exchanged compliments, ducked the tougher questions, and generally did business. But through it all, not a single foot was trod on, at least not in view of the public. China sent its strongest signals yet that it's ready to reel in some of the vast capital in the U.S. to jump-start the buildup of its energy infrastructure. The country, say senior government officials, is determined to complete work on at least one of two new major gas pipelines to supply Beijing and Shanghai in time for the 2008 Olympics.

2002 July 26: Russia releases plans to build five more nuclear reactors in Iran as part of a ten-year plan for enhancing political, economic, and scientific ties with Iran. Russia is currently constructing a 1,000-megawatt light water reactor for Iran at Bushehr. (WP)

2002 July 26: The U.S. Department of Energy announces that it intends to increase the rate at which the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is filled by increasing the "royalty-in-kind" exchange program by 40,000 barrels per day. Under the "royalty-in-kind" program, oil companies deposit oil that is produced on federal leases in the SPR as a form of payment for those leases. (OD)

2002 July 26: White House security prevented the legal watch-group Judicial Watch from serving Vice President Cheney with a lawsuit filed on behalf of Halliburton shareholders. Before becoming vice president Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, which has filed for bankruptcy. [Source: Cybercast News Service, cnsnews.com
]
2002 June 26-29: When the year 2002 comes to a close, Russia could be replacing Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading crude oil producer, if Russia expands production along the lines indicated so far this year. (Robert E. Ebel Director, Energy Program Center for Strategic and International Studies Washington, D.C. 25 th Annual IAEE International Conference Aberdeen, Scotland)

2002 July 29: Dynegy agrees to sell its Northern Natural Gas pipeline unit to Berkshire Hathaway's MidAmerican Energy Holdings for $928 million. In addition, MidAmerican will assume $950 million in outstanding debt. Dynegy is raising its cash reserves in order to carry out a restructuring plan. (DJ)

2002 July 29: President George Bush announces that he has submitted legislation to Congress as part of his "Clear Skies" initiative that he claims will reduce power plant emissions 70% by 2018 using market incentives. (NYT)

2002 July 29: Russia announces that it has granted state-owned medium-sized oil firms Rosneft and Zarubejneft the right to develop jointly with Kazakhstan a large oil structure known as Kurmangazy in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. Some analysts believe that Kurmangazy may be as large as Kazakhstan's Kashagan field, which is the largest oil discovery of the past thirty years. (Reuters)

2002 July 29: Norway and the European Commission (EC) resolve their dispute over non-competitive natural gas sales. Norway had previously ended its monopoly gas sales committee (GFU), but the EC had threatened to invalidate long-term contracts negotiated when the GFU was still in place. In return for the closure of EC action against Norway, Norway agrees to sell an additional 530 billion cubic feet of natural gas to new customers in the European Union. (WMRC)

2002 July 30: Estonia closes the energy chapter of its accession negotiations with the European Union. Estonia receives special status for its shale oil industry, which provides about 65% of the country's primary energy supply. (WMRC)

2002 Jul 30: Akin Gump Partner Named As New Director of WTO's Legal Affairs Division S. Bruce Wilson, a partner in the firm’s policy department in Washington, has been appointed as the new director of the legal affairs division of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Mr. Wilson will leave the firm and assume his new duties at WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

2002 July 30: Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L. L. P. CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL OF MAJOR CORPORATE ACCOUNTING AND GOVERNANCE REFORM LEGISLATION SARBANES- OXLEY ACT OF 2002 On July 30, 2002, the President will sign into law the Sarbanes- Oxley Act of 2002. The Sarbanes- Oxley Act seeks, among other things, to improve the quality and transparency in financial reporting and independent audits for public companies and to increase corporate responsibility of senior management with respect to... [www.akingump.com]

2002 July 31: ChevronTexaco announces the resumption of crude oil exports from Nigeria after protests and a fire caused the company to declare force majeure on its exports for a ten-day period. Between 300,000 and 400,000 barrels per day were temporarily halted. ChevronTexaco has not fully resolved the issues between the company and protestors who disrupt operations. Before the fire, about 110,000 barrels per day were interrupted at times by protestors. Nigeria's army moved in to prevent protestors from damaging equipment, but declined to remove the protestors from the facilities. (DJ)

2002 July 31: In the most far-reaching regulatory proposal to potentially affect U.S. energy markets since 1996's FERC order that gave new competitors access to utility power lines, the FERC releases a 600-page "Standard Market Design" that outlines "best practices" of wholesale markets regionally and internationally. If the plan were implemented, it would make the new rules uniform throughout the United States, eliminating incompatibility problems. (DJ)

2002 July 31: China begins using a new $450 million, 780-mile petroleum products pipeline, the longest product pipeline in China. The pipeline can move 5 million metric tons of petroleum products per year (about 108,000 barrels per day) from Gansu province to the southwestern cities of Chengdu and Chongqing. (Reuters)

2002 August 1: BP Chief Executive John Browne announces that the company will be investing $15 billion through 2010 in the development and production of deepwater oil and natural gas in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. (Reuters)

2002 August 1: U.S. President Bush extends U.S. sanctions against Iraq for another year, having notified the U.S. Congress that the government of Saddam Hussein continued to act in ways "hostile to U.S. interests." (Reuters)

2002 August 2: The U.S. Office of Management and Budget approves U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations that authorize new penalties for manufacturers of diesel engines that exceed various pollutant levels, to take effect October 1, 2002. The new rules are part of long-term plan, begun in the previous administration, to require diesel trucks and buses to reduce emissions by 90% by 2007. (NYT)

2002 August 2: The FBI asked members of the House and Senate intelligence committees to take lie-detector tests as investigators try to determine who leaked information to CNN about communications in Arabic that made vague references to an impending attack on the United States. The communications were intercepted by the National Security Agency on Sept. 10 but weren't translated until Sept. 12. [Source: Associated Press story published in the Boston Globe, August 2, 2002, http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/08.03A.fbi.lie.det.p.htm]

2002 August 4: Russia announces that cooperation with Iran in the area of nuclear energy will be limited to the construction of one nuclear reactor, already under way, at Bushehr. This would appear to cancel plans released July 26 to build up to five additional reactors in Iran and expand scientific ties. (WSJ)

2002 August 5: The Associated Press reported Russia's major role over the last five years in the trafficking of Afghan heroin into Europe. [Source: Santa Fe New Mexican, August 5, 2002, www.sfnewmexican.com]

2002 August 5: Algeria formally requests an increase in its current 693,000-barrel-per-day OPEC crude oil production quota. The request will be examined later this month at a meeting of OPEC's Board of Governors, before being submitted to the full OPEC ministerial conference in September. (Reuters)

2002 August 5: Nigerian Presidential Adviser on Petroleum and Energy Rilwanu Lukman announces that Nigeria's crude oil production capacity is now 2.6 million barrels per day and that its reserves are now 32 billion barrels, up from 26 billion barrels in 1999. Nigeria's current OPEC crude oil production quota is 1.79 million barrels per day. (Reuters)

2002 August 7: Mexican Energy Minister Ernesto Martens announces that Mexico will continue to limit its crude oil exports to 1.66 million barrels per day, in coordination with OPEC, although Mexico is not a member of the cartel. Mexico is the only major non-OPEC exporter cooperating with the cartel, after Norway and Russia ended their cooperation earlier in the year. (Reuters)

2002 August 7: Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abderrahmane Chalgam indicates that Libya may be ready to pay compensation for the 1988 airliner bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people and to address U.N. demands that it accept responsibility for the attack. The statement comes during the visit of a high-ranking British official to Libya for the first time since relations between the two countries were restored. (Reuters)

2002 August 9: Brazilian state oil company Petrobras announces that it has discovered a very large oil field off the coast of the state of Espirito Santo. Petrobras said in a statement to the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange that the find has an estimated 600 million barrels of oil reserves. (Reuters)

2002 August 14: Akin Gump Completes First Full London Stock Exchange Listing
for Lukoil, Russia's Largest Oil Company Both Akin Gump and OAO Lukoil made history last week when the law firm advised Russia’s largest oil company on its listing of shares on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). On August 6, Lukoil became the first Russian company to list shares on the London Exchange. Lukoil, with a market capitalization of $13 billion, listed its entire ordinary share capital and outstanding depositary receipts on the Exchange. The listing will complement Lukoil’s existing depositary receipt program in London and its further issue of depositary receipts. Akin Gump represented Lukoil in connection with the listing of the shares. Akin Gump previously advised Lukoil in connection with one of the largest global offerings of convertible bonds by a Russian company, with its $5 billion LUKARCO joint venture with Atlantic Richfield Company (now a subsidiary of BP plc), and in the historic formation of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium to build a pipeline from Tengiz, Kazakhstan, to the Black Sea. Founded in 1991, LUKOIL is the largest publicly traded oil company in the world in terms of proven crude oil reserves and is Russia’s largest producer of crude oil. Its operations range from oil and gas exploration and production to the refining and sale of oil products. The company operates seven refineries and more than 3,500 service stations, producing nearly 80 million tons of crude oil annually.

2002 August 15: Dynegy settles a lawsuit with Enron over their failed $9 billion merger with a payment of $25 million plus $62.9 million already held in escrow by Enron, ending a potential $10 billion lawsuit that was a major uncertainty for current and potential investors in Dynegy. This settlement also clears the way for Dynegy's July sale of the $928 million Northern Natural Gas Pipeline to MidAmerican Energy to go through. Had it not gone through because of claims from an Enron lawsuit, Dynegy would have faced a possible separate lawsuit from MidAmerican Energy. (Reuters)

2002 August 16: A Knight Ridder story discloses that members of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's staff have created a special planning unit for an invasion of Iraq. The unit is composed primarily of civilians and was spearheaded by conservative members of Rumsfeld's staff, such as Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. The story was headlined, "White House Methodically Preparing for Iraq Campaign." [Source: Knight Ridder Newspapers, www.truthout.org/docs 02/08.17B.wh.prep.irq.p.htm]

2002 August 18: An FBI forensic linguistics expert says the anthrax mailer was probably someone with high-ranking US military and intelligence connections. He says he has identified two suspects who both worked for the CIA, USAMRIID and other classified military operations. He expresses frustration about accessing evidence. "My two suspects both appear to have CIA connections. These two agencies, the CIA and the FBI, are sometimes seen as rivals. My anxiety is that the FBI agents assigned to this case are not getting full and complete cooperation from the US military, CIA and witnesses who might have information about this case." He also says the killer seems to have tried implicating two former USAMRIID scientists who had left the laboratory in unhappy circumstances by posting the letters from near their homes in New Jersey. [BBC, 8/18/02] Could one of the framed people be Dr. Assaad (see October 2, 2001)?1)?


2002 August 19: An OPEC report has OPEC 10 (i.e. excluding Iraq) producing at 1.8 million barrels per day above the quota of 21.7 million barrels per day for the month of July. This production rate is 338,000 barrels per day greater than the revised June figure reported by OPEC. (Reuters)

2002 August 19: Mexican President Vicente Fox puts forth a bill to the Mexican Congress that would modify certain parts of the Mexican constitution in order to allow private companies to sell electricity directly to corporations and other large consumers. This is part of an effort to increase generation capacity through private investment, though passage of the bill by the congress is not assured. (WMRC)

2002 August 20: The NYMEX near-month crude oil futures price closes above $30 per barrel for the first time since February 2001. Concern over possible conflict in Iraq, OPEC quotas, and declining crude oil and product stocks are among the factors leading to a nine-straight-session rise in NYMEX prices. (Reuters)

2002 August 21: Williams of the United States agrees to sell its 33% stake in Lithuania's Mazeikiai Nafta oil company to Yukos of Russia for $85 million. This will give Yukos, which already has a 26.85% share, control of the company. Mazeikiai Nafta owns Lithuania's (and the Baltic republics of Former Soviet Union's) only refinery and accounts for about 10% of the country's GDP. (WMRC)

2002 August 23: The state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announces that it has reached a preliminary agreement to buy a stake in Australian natural gas fields for $320 million. The 5% stake in the Northwest Shelf gas fields comes on the heels of an agreement by CNOOC on August 8 to buy between $11 billion and $13 billion worth of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the field over the next 25 years. (NYT)

2002 August 25: Mexican state oil company Pemex announces that will invest $4.3 billion over the next eight years in the Ku-Maloob-Zaap project in Campeche Sound. Pemex commented that "With these works it is estimated that in the year 2011 the development of the Ku-Maloob-Zaap project will reach its maximum in production of Maya crude of some 800,000 barrels per day, compared with 263,000 barrels per day currently being extracted." (Reuters)

2002 August 28: Norway and the United Kingdom unveil a joint plan to strengthen cooperation on their North Sea oil and natural gas fields. The plan aims to boost output, cut operational costs and promote cross-border cooperation in an effort to save energy companies $2 billion by 2010. (Reuters)

2002 August 28: The Globe and Mail of Canada reports Afghanistan will become the world's top producer of opium this year, surpassing Southeast Asia. [Source: the Globe and Mail, August 28, 2002]

2002 August 29: U.S. Vice President Cheney states that a new round of U.N. weapons inspections in Iraq is likely to be insufficient to guarantee that Iraq has ended its biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons programs. That same day, Iraqi Vice President Ramadan declares that future inspections by the United Nations are a "waste of time," as the U.S. administration has already decided upon "changing the regime by force." (WP)

2002 August 30: The Federal Trade Commission approves the merger of Conoco and Phillips Petroleum after the two companies agree to sell certain assets to maintain competition in gasoline refining and marketing and other business sectors. The $15.12 billion merger will create the world's sixth-largest publicly-held oil and natural gas company, to be based in Houston. (DJ)

2002 September 2: The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) denies reports that Iran had decided to suspend all new oil development deals with foreign companies for one year. Iran has not signed any new oil agreements with foreign companies for about 14 months. The buy-back deals that Iran uses with foreign companies are not favored by some in the Iranian government. (WMRC)

2002 September 4: Researchers at the University of California-Riverside release findings of a study confirming that two Japanese automobile manufacturers have developed gasoline engines that meet super ultra-low emissions standards, standards heretofore only achieved by gasoline-electric hybrids. The engines require specially formulated gasoline in order to achieve these results. This may pave the way for more stringent California emissions standards to take effect in the future. (LAT)

2002 September 7: Venezuela resumes shipments of oil to Cuba under a unique preferential sales agreement, some five months after they were suspended during the brief April coup and a failure by Cuba to keep up with its payments. Opponents of President Chavez accuse him of squandering Venezuela's resources by selling oil at less than market rates and/or conditions to Cuba. (Reuters)

2002 September 11: The International Energy Agency's (IEA) monthly oil market report notes that global oil stock levels have fallen to "uncomfortably low" levels that could lead to higher prices and more price volatility in the coming months. According to the IEA, OECD crude oil inventories fell by 790,000 barrels per day in August compared with July. (DJ)

2002 September 11: The European Union (EU) releases a plan for coordination of member countries' crude oil reserves, including raising the minimum level of national oil stocks to 120 days of consumption from 90 days and putting one third of reserves into a stockpile which could be drawn on in times of crisis. The European Commission would have the power to release oil from the stockpile onto the market if prices rose to a level that, if sustained for a year, would raise the EU's external oil bill by an amount equal to 0.5% of its gross domestic product. Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio predicts that the new system will be in place in 2007. (Reuters)

2002 September 12: California Governor Gray Davis signs a bill into law that will require the State's private utilities to increase the share of electricity coming from renewable sources by 1% per year, such that a level of 20% for all utilities in California is reached by 2017. The bill also has a provision for renewable power to receive a partial subsidy. (LAT)

2002 September 12: U.S. President George Bush addresses the United Nations. President Bush declares in regard to Iraq that "The Security Council resolutions will be enforced -- the just demands of peace and security will be met -- or action will be unavoidable…and a regime that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power." (Reuters)

2002 September 13: The World Bank approves lending for a controversial oil pipeline between Chad and Cameroon. The bank is funding $140 million of the $4 billion project to develop the oil fields of Doba in southern Chad and construct a 665-mile pipeline to an offshore oil-loading facility on Cameroon's Atlantic coast. (Reuters)

2002 September 15: Iran awards a $1.6 billion contract to a consortium of Iranian and South Korean companies to develop phases nine and ten of the South Pars natural gas field. The South Korean companies will have a 42% stake, and the contract will be foreign financed, a change from Iran's usual practice of buyback deals. The South Pars natural gas field is estimated to have resources of about 280 trillion cubic feet. (DJ)

2002 September 16: Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri sends a letter to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan indicating that Iraq will accept the return of U.N. weapons inspectors "without conditions." The following day, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz says, "All the reasons for an attack have been eliminated," though White House spokesman Scott McClellan describes the move as "a tactical step" to avoid strong U.N. Security Council action, going on to say, "As such, it is a tactic that will fail." On September 19, Foreign Minister Sabri asserts that Iraq is free of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. (Reuters)
September 17 A report released by the California Public Utilities Commission alleges that five independent power producers-Duke, Dynegy, Mirant, Reliant, and Williams-deliberately withheld output during California's 2000-2001 energy crisis in order to drive up prices, sometimes precipitating blackouts. Independent Energy Producers, a trade group representing the companies, has denied the allegations of the report. (DJ)

2002 September 17: A report released by the California Public Utilities Commission alleges that five independent power producers-Duke, Dynegy, Mirant, Reliant, and Williams-deliberately withheld output during California's 2000-2001 energy crisis in order to drive up prices, sometimes precipitating blackouts. Independent Energy Producers, a trade group representing the companies, has denied the allegations of the report. (DJ)

2002 September 18: Work begins on the $2.9 billion Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline, which will transport oil from the landlocked Caspian Sea to Turkey's Mediterranean coast. The BP-led pipeline will be 1,110 miles long when completed in 2005. Work begins on the Turkish section on September 26. (Reuters)

2002 September 18: According to United Nations officials and representatives of the oil industry, Iraq has stopped attempting to impose illegal surcharges on oil it sells through the United Nations' "Oil-for-Food" program. Though the surcharges have provided funds to the regime, Iraq may be attempting to cooperate more closely with U.N. resolutions in the face of increased scrutiny by the United States and Britain. (DJ)

2002 September 19: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"Investing in Better Globalization"
Speaker: Horst Kohler Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
Presider: Richard W. Fisher Managing Partner, Kissinger McLarty Associates
Related Project(s): C. Peter McColough Roundtable Series on International Economics
[www.cfr.org]

2002 September 19: Akin Gump to Sponsor Landmark U.S.-Russia Energy Summit U.S. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans and U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham will host the first United States-Russia Commercial Energy Summit, a landmark business and diplomatic event, in Houston, Texas, on October 1 and 2, 2002. The Summit will be co-chaired by Russian Federal Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref and Minister of Energy Igor Yusufov and will feature former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III. Akin Gump will be among the sponsors of the Summit. Attendance at this invitation-only event is expected to include senior executives from U.S. and Russian energy companies as well as top U.S. and Russian Federation government officials involved in the energy industry. Leading policy-makers and global strategists will participate in small breakout sessions designed to foster a frank exchange on the rapidly changing oil and gas industry and enhance opportunities for partnerships between the countries.


2002 September 19: OPEC, meeting in Osaka, Japan, decides that its ten members subject to quotas (i.e. excluding Iraq) will not raise their current 21.7-million-barrel-per-day production ceiling. However, OPEC's communiqué states that OPEC is committed "to taking any further measures, including convening extraordinary meetings when deemed necessary…to maintain prices [OPEC basket price] within the range of $22-$28 [per barrel]." Also at the meeting, Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah is appointed as the new OPEC President, replacing Rilwanu Lukman of Nigeria. (DJ)

2002 September 19: The German government approves the $10 billion merger of energy conglomerates E. On and Ruhrgas with tougher conditions than the previous conditional approval granted by the Economics Ministry on July 5. A German court had since ruled that July 5 approval unlawful due to certain procedural flaws. E. On and Ruhrgas indicate that they will accept the new conditions. (DJ)

2002 September 24: Energy trading company Dynegy agrees to pay a $3 million fine to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fraud investigation. The SEC had specifically investigated Dynegy's use of so-called "special purpose entities" in its accounting and "round trip" energy transactions that can improperly inflate a company's revenue. (DJ)

2002 September 24: Tropical Storm Isidore halts most of the U.S. Gulf's 1.4-million-barrel-per-day crude oil production, as well as about one-third of the region's natural gas production, for a short time. The storm also temporarily halts oil imports and shuts down the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP). Some Gulf coast refineries reduce their output. On September 30, oil and natural gas workers are forced to again evacuate offshore platforms as Hurricane Lili approaches. (Reuters)

2002 September 24: The United Nations confirms that Iraq's oil exports under the U.N. "Oil-for-Food" program jumped to 1.9 million barrels per day last week, more than doubling the 914,285-barrel-per-day rate for the prior week. This is the highest export rate since the current phase of the program began (5/20/02). The increase is largely due to Iraq's informing oil companies earlier in the month that Iraq will no longer demand an illegal surcharge on its export sales. (DJ)

2002 September 26: Indonesia's state oil firm Pertamina and China's National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) sign a $8.5 billion deal to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to a terminal in China's Fujian province. Under the terms of the deal, CNOOC will be supplied with 2.6 million metric tons of LNG per year from the giant Tangguh field in the remote eastern Indonesian province of Papua, 49.66% owned by BP, Britain's BG Group holds a 10.73% stake in Tangguh, whose other shareholders include a string of Japanese firms such as Mitsubishi, Nippon and Kanematsu. On September 27, CNOOC indicates that it will buy from BP an additional 12.5% stake in the project. (Reuters)

2002 September 27: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission gives conditional approval of Shell's $1.8 billion acquisition of Pennzoil-Quaker State, one of the largest producers of motor oil and other lubricants. (DJ)

2002 September 27: The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) announces that U.S. crude oil reserves increased by 1.8% in 2001. Total discoveries of crude oil in existing and new fields totaled 2.565 billion barrels in 2001, and oil reserve additions exceeded domestic crude production by 21%. Separately, dry natural gas proved reserves jumped by 3.4% or 22.758 trillion cubic feet, as additional natural gas reserves exceeded output by 31%. (Reuters)

2002 September 27: Chevron Texaco top managers meet with Russia's energy minister Igor Yusufov has met with the Board of Directors of the Chevron Texaco corporation and its Chairman and Managing Director David O'Reilly, the ministry's press service said on Friday, --as a prelude to the Russian-US energy summit-in Houston in October. Yusufov stressed Russian and US presidents play a major role in promoting Russian-US cooperation in the energy sphere. Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush announced in May 2002 that the two countries were starting a new energy dialogue. The minister highly evaluates the activity Chevron Texaco is conducting in Russia, pointing, first of all, to the successful implementation of the Caspian pipeline consortium project. [Pravda]

2002 September 29: Union workers at Mexican state oil company Pemex accept a lower raise than initially requested, but higher than management's first offer, averting a threatened strike that would have seriously affected production had it gone on for any extended period of time. Mexico is among the top three crude oil suppliers to the United States. (DJ)

2002 October 1: The First United States-Russia Commercial Energy Summit, a landmark business and diplomatic event, in Houston, Texas, on October 1 and 2, 2002. Invitation-only event is expected to include senior executives from U.S. and Russian energy companies as well as top U.S. and Russian Federation government officials involved in the energy industry. Leading policy-makers and global strategists will participate in small breakout sessions designed to foster a frank exchange on the rapidly changing oil and gas industry and enhance opportunities for partnerships between the countries.


2002 October 2: Brazilian state oil company Petrobras announces that it exported more oil than it imported for the first time in the company's history in the month of July. Petrobras President Francisco Gros asserts, "This is the beginning of a trend on a growth basis." Production has increased in Brazil's Campos Basin, where Petrobras recently made a very large find. (Reuters)

2002 October 3: Hurricane Lili makes landfall on the U.S. Gulf coast after passing through offshore hydrocarbon production areas and the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP). Nearly all offshore production (about 1.5 million barrels per day of oil production), as well as some onshore refineries, the LOOP and the Capline crude oil pipeline are shut down. Refineries and offshore operations begin to come back on line on October 4, with most operations fully online by the second half of the month. There is little permanent damage. (Reuters)

2002 October 3: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"Afghanistan: Winning the War, Losing the Peace?"
Speaker: Milt Bearden Former Senior CIA Official and Islamabad Chief (1986-1989)
Speaker: M. Ishaq Nadiri Prof of Economics, New York University; Economic Advisor to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai
Speaker: Greg Newbold Lt. General, USMC (Ret.); former Director for Operations
Presider: Thomas D. Shanker Pentagon Correspondent, The New York Times
[www.cfr.org]
Milt Bearden Former Senior CIA Official and Islamabad Chief (1986-1989) lives in Lyme NH author of a Book about Afghanistan and dealings there.
This researcher noticed that Web pages containing references and quotes from Milt Bearden are being deleted very recently. Based on what he said I’m not surprised
Hamid Karzai, the leader of the southern Afghan Pashtun Durrani tribe, was a member of the mujaheddin that fought the Soviets during the 1980s. He was a top contact for the CIA and maintained close relations with CIA Director William Casey, Vice President George Bush, and their Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) Service interlocutors. Later, Karzai and a number of his brothers moved to the United States under the auspices of the CIA. Karzai continued to serve the agency's interests, as well as those of the Bush Family and their oil friends in negotiating the CentGas deal, according to Middle East and South Asian sources.
[The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]

2002 October 6: A French oil tanker chartered by Malaysian state oil company Petronas is attacked off the coast of Yemen, seriously damaging the ship and killing one crew member. The VLCC, with about 400,000 barrels of oil aboard, catches fire. The tanker does not sink, and is towed to port. Later, investigators determine that a terrorist suicide attack by a small boat is the cause of the explosion. The tanker was on its way to load additional oil in Yemen when attacked. (Reuters, DJ)

2002 October 9: Price increases in the world market are brought about mainly by speculations of big oil monopolies and not by any drastic shortage in the supply of crude oil. "The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has not decreased production. There is no global shortage but the big oil monopolies have an estimated $5.00-8.00/barrel war premium on the prices of petroleum because of the impending US strike on Iraq. They are simply taking advantage of the Middle crisis in order to jack up world crude prices to as much as $35-40.00 per barrel," [http://www.cyberdyaryo.com/press_release/pr2002_1009_02.htm]

2002 October 9: American Electric Power (AEP) admits that some of its traders provided inaccurate energy price data to a major publisher of pricing indexes. This follows a disclosure by Dynegy in September that some of its traders also provided inaccurate energy price data to pricing indexes. Regulators are investigating traders for providing incorrect information in order to manipulate energy markets. (WSJ)

2002 October 9: The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) releases data showing that crude oil stocks in the previous week fell to their lowest levels (270.5 million barrels) since the agency began keeping weekly records over 20 years ago. Crude oil stocks have fallen by over 50 million barrels since February of this year and are now 39 million barrels below the year ago level and only 0.5 million above the EIA's "Lower Operational Inventory." While not implying shortages, operational problems, or price increases, the Lower Operational Inventory means that supply flexibility could be constrained. (Reuters)

2002 October 10: The International Court of Justice at The Hague rules that Cameroon is the rightful owner of the Bakassi Peninsula in the Gulf of Guinea, which Nigeria also has claimed. The Bakassi Peninsula is suspected of containing significant oil reserves, particularly offshore. On October 23, Nigeria issues a statement refusing to withdraw its military or officials from the peninsula. (NYT, Reuters)

2002 October 10: Construction is completed on a new oil terminal at Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti. Annual capacity of the new terminal is two million metric tons of oil (about 40,000 barrels per day). The second phase of the project, envisaging construction of another four reservoirs aimed at raising the terminal's capacity to four million tons (80,000 barrels per day), is expected to be completed by June 2003. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan transport the oil from their fields by rail over the strip of land between the Caspian Sea and Georgia's Black Sea ports. (Reuters)

2002 October 10: The European Commission announces that the European Union (EU) will dramatically increase its spending on fuel cell research by spending $2.09 billion over the next three years. During the previous three years, the EU had only spent about $118 million, far less than Japan or the United States. (WSJ)

2002 October 10: CIA Director George Tenet has become the unlikely source of embarrassment to President George W Bush, undermining Mr Bush's warning of catastrophic threats from Saddam Hussein and exposing disagreements within the intelligence world about the nature of the danger. BBC

2002 October 11: The U.S. Senate votes to give President George Bush the authority to use force, if necessary, to persuade Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to abandon programs for the development of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a similar measure the previous day. This moves the focus of debate to the U.N. Security Council. (Reuters)

2002 October 11: The International Energy Agency, in its Monthly Oil Market Report, reduces its forecast of world oil demand growth in 2003 by 100,000 barrels per day, to 1.04 million barrels per day. According to the report, "The cut [in the demand forecast] reflects the slowdown of the U.S. and global economic recovery, the impact of high oil prices on oil consumption and the broader economy." (Reuters)

2002 October 14: U.S.-based TXU announces that it will withdraw financial support for its European units and put them up for sale. TXU's largest European business, in Britain, has 5.6 million retail electricity customers. Analysts point to problems with Britain's new deregulated electricity market, in which wholesale electricity prices have fallen 40% in the past 18 months. Many companies are having difficulties covering their generation costs in the new system. (NYT, WSJ)

2002 October 17: Judicial Watch and the Sierra Club again win a ruling against Vice President Cheney (see July 12, 2002), and a judge demands that Cheney turn over documents relating to his Energy Task Force. These documents could shed light on the government's connections to Enron, the Dabhol power plant in India, and pipeline interests across Afghanistan. But Cheney is expected to appeal, further delaying the release of these documents (see also July 12, 2002). [Reuters, 10/17/02] (CHENEYS ENERGY TASK FORCE NOTES ARE QUIETLY SITTING ON THE NET at: [http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy/taskforce/search.asp]

2002 October 17: The former head of Enron's western energy trading desk pleads guilty to wire fraud in connection with schemes to manipulate California's wholesale electricity market in 2000 and 2001. U.S. Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson states that the government's investigation into illicit profits made by energy companies during the California power crisis "is active and ongoing." The crisis cost consumers and taxpayers billions of dollars. (WSJ)

2002 October 18: "The massive mothballed Dabhol power project that bankrupt US energy company Enron Corp. built in western India could be running within a year, with a long-standing dispute over power charges close to being renegotiated, a government official said." Dabhol is the largest foreign investment project in India's history. Despite reorganizing from a bankruptcy, Enron still holds a controlling 65 percent stake in the Dabhol Power Co., while General Electric Co. and Bechtel Corp. hold 10 percent each. The Maharashtra State Electricity Board holds the remaining 15 percent. [AP, 10/18/02]

2002 October 21: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"Succession in China: How Will it Matter?"
Speaker: Harry Harding Dean, George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs
Speaker: Minxin Pei Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Speaker: Kurt M. Campbell Sr.VP and Director, International Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Presider: James H. Mann Fellow, Center for Strategic & International Studies; former Beijing Bureau Chief, The Los Angeles Times
[www.cfr.org]

2002 October 21: U.S. President George W. Bush signs a law that will impose certain financial penalties on the Sudan if the government there is found not to be negotiating in good faith to end the 19-year civil war in that country. Talks between the government of the Sudan and rebels representing the Christian and Animist south are underway, with a truce to have begun October 17. (Reuters)

2002 October 22: ExxonMobil signs a $3 billion agreement with the government of China to produce refined petroleum and petrochemical products in China under its own brand name. ExxonMobil will build a $3 billion integrated refinery and ethylene complex in southeastern China's Fujian province. ExxonMobil will have a 25% stake in the 160,000-barrel-per-day refinery and the 800,000-metric ton-per-year ethylene plant. Sinopec's unit Fujian Petrochemical Co. Ltd. will hold a 50% stake and Saudi Arabia Oil Co., or Saudi Aramco, will control the remaining 25%. The project is expected to start operations in 2006. (Reuters)

2002 October 22: A report released by Salomon Smith Barney shows that U.S. refining margins have risen to their highest level since September 2001, at $5.88 per barrel, which is approximately triple the August 2002 low point. (Reuters)

2002 October 22: Venezuela's Minister of Finance forecasts the Venezuelan economy to contract by 4.8% to 5% for 2002, despite relatively high oil prices. Venezuela's government has been dealing with a number of nationwide strikes, as well as high-ranking military officers calling for the end of the government of Hugo Chavez. (Reuters)

2002 October 23: China approves reforms of the country's electric power market, including the break-up of the monopoly State Power Corporation into five generation and two grid corporations, encouraging some competition in the world's second-largest power market as well as better linking of fragmented transmission networks. (Reuters)

2002 October 24: The Nigerian Senate approves a bill put forward by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and already passed by the Nigerian House of Representatives, which will give state governments a share of revenues from offshore oil and gas. This law reverses a decision by the Nigerian Supreme Court in April 2002 that awarded all offshore oil revenues to the central government. Several state governments protested that decision and warned that instability in the Niger delta region was likely to occur unless that decision were reversed. (Reuters)

2002 October 25: The Bush White House withheld North Korea's admission about a nuclear weapons program from key Democrats for 12 days, until after Congress had passed its resolution authorizing war with Iraq. Clearly the administration did not want to have to explain its hypocritical, selective targeting of Iraq when there are many other dangerous nuclear proliferators in the world – like North Korea. Several senators were incensed that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld even failed to mention North Korea's covert nuclear weapons program during a classified briefing held less than three hours before the White House announced the news to reporters. North Korea has chronically cheated on its agreements with the US. In particular, North Korea agreed in 1994 to stop its nuclear program in exchange for two nuclear reactors, to be built at US expense and with US nuclear technology. The US also granted millions of dollars in food aid to North Korea, which was proven later to have been diverted to Communist cadres rather than the starving millions. US officials planted additional disinformation with Bill Gertz of the conservative Washington Times, asserting that North Korea has been getting technical assistance from Pakistan on the process of uranium enrichment. This is ludicrous on its face. With both Russia and China as North Korea’s principle allies ever since before the Korean War, why would North Korea have to go begging to Pakistan, which got all its technology from China? In fact, both China and Russia have played a significant role in training the North Koreans in missiles and nuclear technology. The US knows this, but continues to play as if Russia and China are our partners against terrorism. Pakistan must feel betrayed by all sides of late. [WORLD AFFAIRS BRIEF October 25, 2002 Copyright Joel M. Skousen]

2002 October 28: The Washington Post reports, "A significant number of scientists and biological warfare experts are expressing skepticism about the FBI's view that a single disgruntled American scientist prepared the spores and mailed the deadly anthrax letters that killed five people last year." More than a dozen experts suggest investigators should "reexamine the possibility of state-sponsored terrorism, or try to determine whether weaponized spores may have been stolen by the attacker from an existing, but secret, biodefense program or perhaps given to the attacker by an accomplice." These experts suggest that making the type of anthrax used could take a team of experts and millions of dollars. The article focuses on the possibility that Iraq could be to blame. [Washington Post, 10/28/02] Why would Iraq have targeted Democratic Senators Leahy and Daschle? Why is the possibility of a team of anthrax attackers from within the US continually brushed aside?

2002 October 28: Statoil of Norway signs a $300 million deal with Iran's semi-state Petropars company to become an operator in the Pars offshore Iranian natural gas field (Phases Six, Seven, and Eight), part of a $2.6-billion project. This is part of a concerted Iranian effort to increase foreign investment in its oil sector, and is Statoil's first major investment in Iran. (Reuters)

2002 October 30: White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer denies that the United States has any interest in taking over Iraq's oil fields if there were a military conflict. When asked if the United States would take over Iraq's oil fields if the U.S. attacked Iraq, Fleischer responded: "No. The purpose of any plan the United States has is to make certain that Saddam Hussein complies with all U.N. resolutions…The only interest the United States has in the region is furthering the cause of peace and stability ... not his [Saddam Hussein's] country's ability to generate oil." (Reuters)

2002 October 31: Iraq opens border with Saudi For the first time since 1990, Iraq reopens its border with Saudi Arabia in a sign of growing friendship between the former Gulf War enemies. BBC

2002 October 31: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) Meeting
"Memoirs: The Rockefeller Family in International Affairs"
Speaker: David Rockefeller Author, Memoirs
Speaker: Zbigniew Brzezinski SAIS Professor of Foreign Policy, The Johns Hopkins University
Speaker: Riordan Roett Director of the SAIS Western Hemisphere Program, The Johns Hopkins University
Presider: Carla A. Hills Vice Chairman of the Board, Council on Foreign Relations
Zbigniew Brzezinski published a book in 1997 portraying the Eurasian landmass as the key to world power, and Central Asia with its vast oil reserves as the key to domination of Eurasia.
He states that for the US to maintain its global primacy, it must prevent any possible adversary from controlling that region [www.cfr.org]

2002 November 1: Saudi militants 'ready for jihad' Islamic militants in Saudi Arabia say Saudis are ready to take up arms to defend Iraq if the US attacks the country. BBC

2002 November 1: Greece, Bulgaria, and Russia agree to equal stakes in the $699 million Trans-Balkan Pipeline. The 159-mile pipeline will bypass the Bosphorus Strait in order to bring Russian oil from the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas to the Greek Mediterranean port of Alexandroupolis. The pipeline will be able to carry about 697,000 barrels per day. (Reuters)

2002 November 3: The Trans-Alaska oil pipeline is shut down temporarily after a major earthquake in Alaska. The pipeline transports about 1 million barrels of oil per day from the North Slope oil fields to the port of Valdez. The pipeline restarts November 6. (Reuters)

2002 November 3: US plans to force end of Opec. The leader of London-based Iraqi National Congress, Ahmed Chalabi, met executives of three US oil multinationals to negotiate the carve-up of Iraq's massive oil reserves post-Saddam.
Lord Browne, head of BP, warned British oil companies squeezed out of post-war Iraq before the first shot has been fired in any US-led land invasion. INC spokesman Zaab Sethna said: 'The oil people are naturally nervous. Next month oil executives will gather to discuss Iraq and the future of the oil market at a conference hosted by Sheikh Yamani, the former Oil Minister of Saudi Arabia. Topics include: oil potential compared to Saudi Arabia and if post-Saddam Iraq might destroy OPEC. Analysts believe that after five years Iraq could be pumping 10m barrels of oil per day. Opec is already starting to implode, with member nations breaking quotas in an attempt to grab market share before oil prices fall. Russia, France and China fear they will be squeezed out of oil industry in Iraq. Russia, France and China have existing deals with Iraq, Chalabi has made clear he would reward US for removing Saddam with lucrative oil contracts, telling the Washington Post recently: 'American companies will have a big shot at Iraqi oil.' ---A model for the carve-up of Iraq's oil industry was presented in September by Ariel Cohen of the right-wing Heritage Foundation, which has close links to the Bush administration. Cohen's proposal would see Iraq's oil industry split up into three large companies, along the areas of ethnic separation, with one company in the largely Shia south, another for the Sunni region around Baghdad, and the last in the Kurdish north. [Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002] http://www.observer.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4538509,00.html
Recall this older news clip: The Iraqi National Congress, the exiled group that opposes Saddam Hussein, said in October 2001 that it held meetings in London with Mr Woolsey. Administration sources have said his trip was funded and approved by Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy Defense secretary. But Woolsey made no comment about the exact nature of his brief. He told The Telegraph: "I was in London and that's it."

2002 November 5: A report from Salomon Smith Barney indicates that average U.S. gross refining margins jumped 64 cents per barrel to $6.31 per barrel of crude oil distilled for the week ended November 2. This is the highest level since September 11, 2001, caused in part by "drawdowns in stocks of gasoline and distillate as refineries struggle to increase utilization rates," according to the report. (Reuters)

2002 November 7: KazTransOil, the operator of Kazakhstan's oil pipeline network, announces plans to upgrade the 429-mile crude oil export pipeline from Atyrau to Samara in Russia from a current capacity of about 16.5 million metric tons per year (about 329,000 barrels per day) to a capacity of 25 million metric tons per year (about 498,000 barrels per day), potentially increasing exports. This is one of only two oil export pipelines in Kazakhstan. (WMRC)

2002 November 8: The United Nations (UN) Security Council unanimously adopts Resolution 1441, that Iraq must accept or reject within seven days, giving United Nations inspectors the unconditional right to search anywhere in Iraq for banned weapons. Furthermore, Iraq will have to make an "accurate full and complete" declaration of its nuclear, chemical, biological and ballistic weapons and related materials used in civilian industries within 30 days. The resolution requires violations to be reported back to the Security Council by inspectors before any actions could be taken against Iraq for violating weapons bans. (Reuters)

2002 November 11: The six-member Russian delegation arrived early Monday morning in a low-profile special plane and left for Moscow in the afternoon after holding talks with petroleum minister Usman Aminuddin and signing of the MoU. Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan remained short of signing a tripartite agreement late last month in Ashkabad to start construction of trans-Afghanistan gas pipeline from Ashkabad to Pakistan's under-construction Gwadar port. But officials here said that non-signing of that tripartite agreement had nothing to do with Gazprom's MoU. They said the trans-Afghanistan pipeline project was in an advanced stage and could not be linked with the Iranian gas under any circumstances.© The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2002

2002 November 12: Canada's most populous province, Ontario, ends electricity deregulation that had begun on May 1 of this year. Electricity prices have risen by more than 25% since deregulation began and the provincial government will be issuing refunds to consumers to offset some of the extra cost. (WMRC)

2002 November 13: In a letter to United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan, Iraq accepts UN Security Council resolution 1441 of November 8, granting UN inspectors the right to conduct unfettered inspections in Iraq, "despite its bad contents." In the letter, Iraq also denies that it possesses any weapons of mass destruction. (AP)

2002 November 14: The TengizChevroil consortium, a consortium of companies led by operator ChevronTexaco that is developing the estimated 2.7-billion-barrel Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan, announces that the consortium has decided to indefinitely suspend investment in the second phase of the project. Production from the first phase was about 12.5 million metric tons in 2001 (about 249,000 barrels per day). The second phase would require about $3 billion of investment in order to boost the project's output by about 3 million metric tons per year (about 60,000 barrels per day). (WMRC)

2002 November 14: U.S. President George W. Bush decides that November will be the last month that the U.S. government finances fuel oil shipments to North Korea. The shipments are part of a 1994 arms control agreement with North Korea, and are being halted after revelations of a covert North Korean nuclear weapons program in violation of that agreement. The decision is later backed by Japan, South Korea, and the European Union, the other three entities that comprise the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, which administers the fuel oil shipments. (NYT, WP)

2002 November 15: The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an emergency crude oil stockpile administered by the U.S. Department of Energy, reaches 592 million barrels, the largest amount in the reserve since it was initiated in 1977. (Reuters)

2002 November 18: The tanker Prestige, loaded with 24 million gallons of Russian fuel oil, splits in two and sinks 155 miles off the coast of northwest Spain. The tanker, flying a Bahamian flag and owned by a Liberian company based in Athens, Greece, spills about 2.5 million gallons of the fuel oil from a crack before sinking, polluting beaches in the region and harming marine life. Fuel oil may continue leaking from the sunken ship. (WSJ, WP)

2002 November 18: BG (formerly British Gas) announces that it will build a $322 million liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Brindisi, Italy, having finally been granted approval by government authorities to go ahead with the construction, due to be completed in 2006. The terminal will initially be able to handle imports of 3 million metric tons per year, imported from Egypt. This will be Italy's second LNG terminal. (WMRC)

2002 November 19: Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo calls on Energy Secretary Vincent Perez to keep Meralco (the Manila Electric Supply Company) functioning. Meralco, which supplies 60% of the Philippines' electricity, is facing bankruptcy as the Philippines Supreme Court ordered the company to pay compensation for overcharging going back to 1994. The court later orders the company to pay over $500 million. The government already owns 10% of the company, but the company refuses a proposed government intervention on November 25 that would offer government support in exchange for greater government control. (WMRC)

2002 November 22: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces that it will change certain rules regarding industrial air pollution. According to the EPA, these changes will encourage plant improvements to clean the air, though critics describe the changes as a loosening of rules requiring plants to invest in pollution control equipment when modernizing. (NYT)

2002 November 25: European Union energy ministers reach an agreement allowing consumers to choose their natural gas and electricity suppliers by 2007. An accord reached on March 16, 2002, allowed large companies to be able to choose their suppliers by 2004. (WSJ)

2002 November 25: The International Energy Agency (IEA) announces that its members are prepared to insert large quantities of oil into the world market on short notice, in case of any supply disruption. IEA Executive Director Robert Piddle states: "From public, or government stocks, we could release as much as 12 million barrels a day in the first month." (WSJ)

2002 November 25: The United Nations Security Council extends the "Oil-for-Food" program that permits Iraq to sell oil for a nine-day period, instead of the usual six-month phase, in order to give Security Council members time to reach agreement on which goods would be placed on the so-called "goods review list" which are goods that require approval before Iraq can use its revenues to purchase them. (DJ)

2002 November 26: Alaska State officials and representatives of six oil companies sign an agreement extending the lease agreement between those companies and the state for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline by 30 years, to 2034. The trans-Alaska pipeline delivers nearly a fifth of domestically produced oil and has shipped over 13.5 billion barrels of crude since it began operations in 1977. (Reuters)

2002 November 26: Murphy Oil of the United States announces the discovery of 400-700 million barrels of oil in the Kikeh field off the coast of Malaysia's Sabah region on the island of Borneo. This is one of the largest discoveries in Southeast Asia in recent years. (WMRC)

2002 November 26: Exxon Mobil and TotalFinaElf sign an agreement with the government of Qatar for the construction of a 146,000-barrel-per-day gas condensate refinery. The two companies will also each hold a 10% stake in the refinery, to be completed in 2006. The remainder will be owned by state-owned Qatargas. (WMRC)

2002 November 27: Officials of four of Russia's largest oil companies, Lukoil, Yukos, Sibneft, and Tyumen, announce a preliminary agreement for a joint project to build a $1.5 billion dollar Arctic oil port near the town of Murmansk. This would enable Russia to expand ocean-going tanker exports. (WSJ)

2002 November 27: President Bush names Henry Kissinger as Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Congressional Democrats appoint George Mitchell, former Senate majority leader and peace envoy to Northern Ireland and the Middle East, as Vice Chairman. Both later resign rather than reveal the clients they work with (see December 11, 2002 and December 13, 2002). Their replacements and the other eight members of the commission are chosen by mid-December (see December 16, 2002). Kissinger served as secretary of state for Presidents Nixon and Ford, and was national security adviser to both presidents from 1969 to 1975. [New York Times, 11/28/02] Kissinger's ability to remain independent is met with skepticism (for instance, see Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12/3/02, Washington Post, 12/1/02, Chicago Sun-Times, 12/13/02, CNN, 11/30/02, Sydney Morning Herald, 11/29/02]. "Indeed, it is tempting to wonder if the choice of Mr. Kissinger is not a clever maneuver by the White House to contain an investigation it long opposed." [New York Times, 11/29/02] The Chicago Tribune notes that "the president who appointed him originally opposed this whole undertaking" (see January 24, 2002, May 23, 2002, October 10, 2002). Kissinger is "known more for keeping secrets from the American people than for telling the truth" and asking him "to deliver a critique that may ruin friends and associates is asking a great deal." [Chicago Tribune, 12/5/02]

2002 November 27: Congo (Brazzaville) Oil Minister Jean-Baptiste Tati announces that Congo and Angola have reached an agreement for the development of oil deposits on their maritime border, estimated at about 950 million barrels. The two countries will split royalties 50-50 from a consortium headed by ChevronTexaco to develop the area. (WMRC)

2002 December 8: Gen. Hamid Gul, a former Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence chief who hates America with a passion, boasted to UPI that a greater Islamic caliphate was fast approaching, one that would marry the oil riches of Saudi Arabia with the nuclear weapons of Pakistan "which could then deal with America on an equal footing."

2002 December 10: Russian oil company with contracts to develop Iraqi oilfields attacked U.S. plans to topple President Saddam Hussein, saying the superpower was only after cheap oil supply. Nikolay Tokarev, head of Zarubezhneft, said Washington had tried to get Moscow's support for its policy by offering contract guarantees in a post-Saddam Iraq, but his company wanted no part in the deal.

2002 December 11: A Senate Select Committee on Intelligence investigating the performance of government agencies before the 9/11 attacks releases its final report. The committee accuses the Bush administration of refusing to declassify information about possible Saudi Arabian financial links to US-based terrorists, criticizes the FBI for not adapting into a domestic intelligence bureau after the attacks and says the CIA lacked an effective system for holding its officials accountable for their actions. Asked if 9/11 could have been prevented, Senator Bob Graham (D-Florida), the committee chairman, gives "a conditional yes." Graham says the Bush administration has given Americans an "incomplete and distorted picture" of the foreign assistance the hijackers may have received. [ABC, 12/10/02] Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama), the vice chairman, singles out six people as having "failed in significant ways to ensure that this country was as prepared as it could have been": CIA Director Tenet; Tenet's predecessor, John Deutch; former FBI Director Louis Freeh; National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden; Hayden's predecessor, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minihan; and former Deputy Director Barbara McNamara. [Washington Post, 12/11/02; Committee Findings, Committee Recommendations] Shelby says that Tenet should resign. "There have been more failures on his watch as far as massive intelligence failures than any CIA director in history. Yet he's still there. It's inexplicable to me." [Reuters, 12/10/02, PBS Newshour, 12/11/02] Later in the week, FBI Director Mueller claims "probably close to a hundred [attacks] around the world," including some in the US, have been thwarted since 9/11. [AP, 12/14/02] Mueller says the FBI is "uniquely situated for the counterterrorism mission" and says that creating a new domestic intelligence agency would be "a step backward in the war on terror." [New York Times, 12/20/02 (REMEMBER that CIA Director George Tenet spoke out publicly contradicting Bush in October about Iraq, then was severely reprimanded by Bush. REMEMBER the CIA reports directly to the PRESIDENT and the PRESIDENT ONLY. THE CIA IS THE PRESIDENTS EYES and they talk everyday.

2002 December 11: In discussing the report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on 9/11 (see December 11, 2002(B)), Senator Bob Graham (D-Florida), the committee chairman, says he is "surprised at the evidence that there were foreign governments involved in facilitating the activities of at least some of the [9/11] terrorists in the United States. ... To me that is an extremely significant issue and most of that information is classified, I think overly-classified. I believe the American people should know the extent of the challenge that we face in terms of foreign government involvement. I think there is very compelling evidence that at least some of the terrorists were assisted not just in financing - although that was part of it - by a sovereign foreign government and that we have been derelict in our duty to track that down ... It will become public at some point when it's turned over to the archives, but that's 20 or 30 years from now." [PBS Newshour, 12/11/02]

2002 December 13: Iraq's oil ministry informed three Russian oil companies it is canceling a deal for them to develop the large West Qurna oil field. Iraq's Oil Minister Amer Rasheed said Friday that the lead company, Russian oil giant Lukoil, has failed to meet its commitments under the contract. Baghdad’s cancellation of a huge oil contract has removed one of Moscow's main reasons for opposing military action against Iraq. Moscow's RIA-Novosti news agency quotes one official "any nation's foreign policy is guided by its own interests and that Russia's economic interests outweigh any desire to defend Saddam Hussein" Russia has been one of Iraq's strongest defenders on the United Nations Security Council. Both Russian and French influence were instrumental in crafting the U.N. resolution that allows military action against Iraq only after arms inspectors continue searches for weapons of mass destruction.. VOA News

2002 December 13,: Henry Kissinger resigns as head of the new 9/11 investigation [CNN, 12/13/02, ABC, 12/13/02, copy of resignation letter] Two days earlier, the Bush Administration argued that Kissinger was not required to disclose his private business clients. [New York Times, 12/12/02] However, the Congressional Research Service insists that he does, and Kissinger resigns rather than reveal his clients. [MSNBC, 12/13/02, Seattle Times, 12/14/02] It is reported that Kissinger is (or has been) a consultant for Unocal, the oil corporation [Washington Post, 10/5/98, Salon, 12/3/02] Kissinger claimed he did no current work for any oil companies or Mideast clients, but several corporations with heavy investments in Saudi Arabia, such as ABB Group, a Swiss-Swedish engineering firm, and Boeing Corp., pay him consulting fees of at least $250,000 a year. A Boeing spokesman said its "longstanding" relationship with Kissinger involved advice on deals in East Asia, not Saudi Arabia. Boeing sold $7.2 billion worth of aircraft to Saudi Arabia in 1995. [Newsweek, 12/23/02] In addition, it is difficult for Kissinger to travel outside the US. Investigative judges in Spain, France, Chile and Argentina seek to question him in several legal actions related to his possible involvement in war crimes particularly in Latin America, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Chile and East Timor. [BBC, 4/18/02, Village Voice, 8/15-21/01, Chicago Tribune, 12/1/02] In a surprising break from usual procedures regarding high-profile presidential appointments, White House lawyers never vetted Kissinger for conflicts of interest. [Newsweek, 11/23/02]

2002 December 16: President Bush names former New Jersey governor Thomas H. Kean as the Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, after his original choice, Henry Kissinger, resigned. [Washington Post, 12/17/02] The ten Commission members are: Republicans Kean, Slade Gorton, James R. Thompson, Fred Fielding and John F. Lehman, and Democrats Lee Hamilton (Vice Chairman), Max Cleland, Tim Roemer, Richard Ben-Veniste and Jamie Gorelick (see November 27, 2002). [New York Times, 12/17/02, Washington Post, 12/15/02, Washington Post, 12/16/02, Chicago Tribune, 12/12/02] In an appearance on NBC, Kean promises an aggressive investigation. "It's really a remarkably broad mandate, so I don't think we'll have any problem looking under every rock. I've got no problems in going as far as we have to in finding out the facts." [Chicago Tribune, 12/17/02]

2002 December 23: China steps up fight against terrorism, US military starts practice shooting with live ammo in Kuwait on Iraq border, N. Korea removes monitoring equip innuke plants , Bush warns N. Korea, Rumsfeld says US can fight both Iraq and N. Korea simultaneously, Striking oil workers, citizens trying to overthrow Venuazala president, Citigroup to pay 900 million (billion?) in fines (Enron), -- The United States advised its citizens on Monday to carefully evaluate travel to the Central Asian state of Turkmenistan in the wake of an attack last month on the Turkmen president's motorcade [CNN]

2002 December 25: Trans-Afghan pipeline project moving forward, faces risks Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai, Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf and Turkmenistan’s Suparmurat Niyazov – are scheduled to gather December 26-27 in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat -- the 1,500-kilometer-long pipeline, stretching from Turkmenistan to Pakistan, would cost upwards of $2 billion to build, and would be capable of transporting about 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. The trans-Afghan pipeline is crucial for the future of the Turkmenistan gas market -- ADB and World Bank are expected to provide the bulk of the financing for the Trans-Afghan pipeline project -- The US Agency for International Development (USAID), the international aid agency of the US State Department, is playing a role in the pipeline project, as well. [12/26/02 Daily Times - Pakistan]

2002 December 27: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan sign an agreement for the building of the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, a US$3.2 billion project that has been delayed for many years. [BBC, 12/27/02, CNN, 12/26/02] A study by the Asian Development Bank stated that the pipeline would move natural gas from Turkmenistan's huge Dauletabad-Donmez fields to the Pakistani port city of Gwadar. The pipeline was originally launched in 1997, but was abandoned when a consortium led by UNOCAL withdrew over fears of being seen as supporting the Taliban and because the US launched missile attacks on Afghanistan in 1999. The Afghan, Pakistani and Turkmen leaders relaunched the project in May 2002. UNOCAL has denied it is interested in returning to Afghanistan. Skeptics say the project would require an indefinite foreign military presence in Afghanistan. [CNN, 12/26/02, BBC, 5/30/02]

2002 December 27: Former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean the man chosen by President Bush to lead the 9/11 commission had business ties with Osama's Brother in Law. 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. Powerful financier Khalid bin Mahfouz’ younger sister is married to Osama bin Laden. (US Senate, Senate Judiciary Committee, Federal News Service, 3 Sept. 1998) Bin Mahfouz is suspected to have funnelled millions of dollars to the Al Qaeda network. (See Tom Flocco, Scoop.co.nz 28 August 2002). Thomas Kean also has business ties with bin Mahfouz and Al-Amoudi. Thomas Kean is a director (and shareholder) of Amerada Hess Corporation --Hess-Delta (joint venture). Delta Oil of Saudi Arabia is owned by the bin Mahfouz and Al-Amoudi clans.
Delta-Hess "was established in 1998 for the development and exploration of oil fields in the Caspian region... In AzerbaiJanuary Delta Hess is involved in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli PSA (2.72%) and the Garabaghli-Kursangi PSA (20%). It is also an equity holder in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline": Delta- Hess, which... is registered in the Cayman Islands says the terms of the alliance--are subject to confidentiality clauses. 'There's no reason why this should be public information,' a Hess spokesman says." (Energy Compass, 15 Nov. 2002) Thomas Kean is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, together with another prominent member of the board of directors of Amerada Hess, former Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady: Delta Oil Ltd. of Saudi Arabia --which is a partner in the Hess-Delta Alliance--is in part controlled by Khalid bin Mafhouz, Osama's brother in law.
The 9/11 Commission has a mandate to investigate Khalid's brother in law, Osama bin Laden. Dr. Kissinger had a conflict of interest and resigned. The vice chairman of the Commission, former Sen. George Mitchell of Maine, resigned for the same reason. (See Xymphora, 19 December2002 ) Corporate media applauds Thomas Kean without acknowledging his Saudi business connections. Thomas Kean is heralded as "a man of extraordinary integrity, decency and intellect." In the words of the Baltimore Sun: "he lacks obvious conflicts of interest" (26 Dec.2002).
Thomas Kean also sits as co-chairman of the Homeland Security Project (HSP) under the auspices of the Century Foundation. In this capacity, Kean has played a key role in the draft recommendations of the Century Foundation, which laid the groundwork of the Office of Homeland Security legislation.
Delta officials (involved in the UNOCAL trans-Afghan pipeline consortium) played a key role in negotiations with the Taliban. Enron, (whose former CEO, Ken Lay, had close connections to the Bush family) had been contracted to undertake feasibility studies for the Unocal-Delta consortium. Enron Corporation had also been entrusted --in liaison with Delta-- with pipeline negotiations with the Taliban government
George W. Bush had dealings with Khalid bin Mafhouz, when he was in the Texas oil business. Both George W. Bush and Khalid bin-Mahfouz were implicated in the Bank of Commerce International (BCCI) scandal:
Links between Bush and Mahfouz found in the Carlyle Group an investment firm managed by a board on which former president George Bush himself sat. George W. Bush personally held shares in Carlyle group, (Caterair company, between 1990-94). Carlyle today ranks as a leading contributor to Bush’s electoral campaign. On Carlyle’s advisory board is found the name of Sami Baarma, director of the Pakistani financial establishment Prime Commercial Bank that is based in Lahore and owned by Mahfouz. In the wake of 9/11, Khalid bin Mahfouz (Osama's brother in law) was carefully exempted from the Treasury investigations which led to the freezing of the financial assets of some 150 Saudi businesses, charities and individuals: "The US Treasury has frozen the assets of 150 Saudi individuals, companies and charities suspected of financing terrorism. It has named Blessed Relief, a Saudi "charity" as a front organisation providing funds to Osama bin Laden. "Saudi businessmen have been transferring millions of dollars to Bin Laden through Blessed Relief," the agency said. One rich Saudi patriarch under suspicion is Khaled bin Mahfouz, owner of the National Commercial Bank, banker to the Saudi royal family,
Thomas Kean --in contrast to Dr. Henry Kissinger-- was selected to head the 9/11 Commission because he was "close to the families of the 9/11 victims, an important credential to the White House, which was coming under increasing criticism from those families" (Scripps Howard News Service, 17 December 2002)
The $1 trillion lawsuit filed last August by the families of the victims of the September 11 attacks, lists two of Thomas Kean's business partners in the Hess-Delta joint-venture, among the accused: Khalid Bin Mahfouz (Osama's brother in law), and Mohammed Hussein al Amoudi. Both individuals have been tagged in the lawsuit as alleged "financiers" of Al Qaeda. Now, how will Thomas Kean deal with that in the context of the 9/11 Commission?
Mystery Surrounding the 1998 Embassy Bombings
Former CIA director James Woolsey's testimony confirms that the Sudan pharmaceutical company bombed in 1998 on the orders of President Clinton was owned by Salah Idris, a business associate and protegé of Khalid bin Mahfouz. The bombing was in retribution for the alleged Al Qaeda African Embassy bombings.
The Mahfouz conglomerate, owns the National Commercial Bank (largest bank in Saudi Arabia) was preparing to pump money into the trans-Afghan pipeline deal. Delta-Hess was also set up in 1998 to explore and develop oil and gas resources in the Caspian Sea basin. Why would the Clinton administration order the bombing of a factory which was controlled by a business crony of Unocal Corporation and Amerada-Hess?
[From Michel Chossudovsky article in globalresearch.ca, 27 december 2002 ]
Georgia buys pipeline surveillance technology
By an OGJ correspondent

2003 January 7: NICOSIA The government of Georgia signed an agreement with Northrop Grumman Corp., Los Angeles, to develop an aerial surveillance system to monitor the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan export pipeline and its adjacent area. Giorgi Chanturia, president of Georgian International Oil Corp., said Georgia would receive radar configurations similar to those used currently by the US in Afghanistan. US officials allocated $11 million to Georgia to form a 400-member special military unit to protect the BTC pipeline, Chanturia said. The rapid reaction unit would consist of Georgian military personnel trained by US instructors under a US program for development of anti-terrorist forces.

2003 January 6: Turkmenistan: Russia, Iran Seeking To Protect Caspian Energy Interests. Russia and Iran have both paid visits to Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov in recent days, suggesting new strategies in the decade-old struggle to divide the Caspian Sea. But it is unclear whether the sudden missions are signs of a breakthrough or just more maneuvers in a continuing stalemate. Moscow moved swiftly to protect its energy interests from damage last week as it sent a top official to meet with Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov following the country's alleged coup attempt. (RFE/RL) --
Adolf Hitler made oil central to his plans for conquest in World War II. His I’ll conceived invasion or the Soviet Union was halted just short of the rich oil resources of the Caucasis [The Prize – The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and power Daniel Yergin]
The world energy situation/problem will remain in chaos until the consumer and producer has better energy data and a reliable energy model that is transparent for all parties.
Look Who’s "In" the News, Politics and the Military
Richard Perle is currently Head of the Defense Policy Board, Department of Defense which advises the Pentagon. Perle is also Director of Hollinger Inc, Hollinger Digital also owns Onset Technology which cooperates with spy messenger software of Comverse and Odigo. Hollinger Inc. owns more than 400 newspapers worldwide and controls almost 50% of the Canadian press. They are the third largest newspaper chain in the Western world, after Gannett and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Chairman and CEO of Hollinger is Conrad Black who controls about 78% of Hollinger through a private holding company. Hollinger also owns the Sydney Morning Herald, the Chicago Sun Times and the Daily Telegraph. On the board of Daily Telegraph is Henry Kissinger, ex-CIA-Director James Woolsey, Newt Gingrich, former Admiral David Jeremiah, Dan Quayle, former US-ministers James Schlesinger and Harold Brown. On 26th of October Daily Telegraph tried to promote the Iraq-October-anthrax theory: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2001%2F10%2F26%2Fwirq26.xml
Hollinger and their board members, including Henry Kissinger, have connections to Sunday Times, Chase Manhattan Bank, AT&T, American Express, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Hasbro and Israeli Yellow Pages.
Hollinger also owns the Jerusalem Post. It's very convenient to follow Richard Perle’s strategy, supported by his friends James Woolsey, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Armitage. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is one of the most important think-tanks advising the US government, as well as many other governments abroad. CFR members include the Pentagon's top advisers, Richard Perle, Henry Kissinger, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, ex-CIA chief James Woolsey, http://www.mdsme.de/cgi-bin/nph-spinnerproxy.cgi/110110A/http/whatreallyhappened.com/
http://www.mdsme.de/cgi-bin/nph-spinnerproxy.cgi/110110A/http/www.whatreallyhappened-mirror.tk
Democracy and the Media
This chapter presents the Chomsky and Herman propaganda model for US mass media also covered in Manufacturing Consent. The main points of the model are these:
1) The media are owned and controlled by the elite property owning class of the nation. They manage the media to serve their interests and to manufacture consent in the mass public.
2) The media business has grown to such a degree that independent-minded alternatives to the mainstream press are impossible. Alternative media that once existed were squeezed out, and current financial requirements prohibit start ups.
3) Advertising is straight jacket on the media. Advertisers will not support non mainstream programming.
4) Control of the media is insidious:
a) The elite frames issues so debate begins and ends on their terms. Grand issues - for example, does the US have the right to spread its form of democracy around the world? - are never considered.
b) A marginal amount of dissent is tolerated. It gives the media some feeling of independence and the public some doubt that it is manipulated.
c) Reporters are not necessarily dishonest, but they cannot seem to think outside the lines. They often go silent when confronted with ‘aberrant’ evidence.
d) If US policy does go wrong and public support turns, the fundamental terms of debate are never questioned. The application of policy was at fault. Vietnam is the best example of this. US intentions were good; we were supporting democracy. No one in the media questioned whether Diem represented democracy, or whether the US had the right to impose its liberal capitalism on Vietnam.
5) The media often use the government and its agencies as their sources. Even when the media gets information from other sources, the government has usually set the terms of discussion by flooding them with information.
6) The media’s treatment of client states and foes is rife with hypocrisy. For example, if the Israelis raid inside Lebanon, it is justifiable pursuit; if the Sandanistas chase Contras into El Salvador, it is incursion and demands retaliation.
7) The propaganda model is verifiable by analyzing the media’s treatment of events like the one mentioned in point 5.

2006 May 4: Silk Road Strategy Act of 2006

2009 December 4: Annex C: Assessments Required by the Silk Road Strategy Act of 1999

The Ten Largest Nonfinancial Multinational Corporations

General Motors (cars and trucks)
Ford Motor (cars and trucks)
General Electric (diversified)
Royal Dutch/Shell (oil)
Exxon (oil)
IBM (computers)
Fiat (cars and trucks)
Mitsui (trading)
British Petroleum (oil)
Matsushita Electric Industrial (electronics)
The September 11th Attack on America - The Energy Connection
If They Had Advanced Knowledge, Why Did September 11th Still Happen?
September 11th 2001 - Follow the Money
9/11 Insider Trading,  Who Tried to Profit?
Was the 9/11 Commission a White Wash?
Domestic Spying - Hack Attacks & Secret Searches
A Real Case of Domestic Spying in Grantham, New Hampshire
Anthrax & the Patriot Act 
The News Stories You May Have Missed
Anthrax Research Time Line     My Complete 9/11 Timeline
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. (Geo Orwell)
And now some truth (and helpful info)