Bush Absorbing Enron's Afghanistan Interests

May 8, 2002

by Harry Neville

George W. Bush is absorbing the Afghanistan interests of the now-bankrupt Enron and making them his own while claiming to advance the national interests of the United States.

What interested Enron was the idea of getting U.S. Government support for projects involving the harvesting of oil and gas from the Caspian Sea region near Afghanistan.

As early as last year, Bush publicly showed support for just such projects. For example, on 11/28/01, he issued a statement saying, "These [Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline] projects will help diversify U.S. energy supply and enhance our energy security, while supporting global economic growth."

That consortium wants to harvest the huge oil and natural gas reserves of the Caspian Sea region near Afghanistan and build pipelines to transport the oil and gas to neighboring countries.

A Unocal-led consortium proposed a pipeline route that would stretch across several areas and end in Pakistan. In 1996, Unocal was negotiating with Uzbekistan to connect Uzbekistan's pipeline network to a UNOCAL pipeline that would end in Pakistan. A "second proposed" UNOCAL pipeline would have transported natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and ended in Pakistan, near which is India, home of Enron's natural gas Dabhol power plant.

As recently as 4/19/02, Dow Jones Business News reported that Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan were "expected" to meet to discuss a natural gas pipeline that would route gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan. Dow Jones said the pipeline could extend to India, which is home of the Dabhol power plant.

Bordering on Turkmenistan and the Caspian Sea is Uzbekistan, a Central Asian Republic that is one of the largest producers of natural gas in the world.

A 10/22/98 article from Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections shows that Enron tried to gain access to Uzbekistan's natural gas supplies. Enron needed the supplies in order to fuel its Dabhol natural gas power plant in India, which borders on Pakistan, a country that could be connected to possible gas and oil pipelines from Uzbekistan.

On its Web site, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw Project Finance Practice Group listed Enron and Uzbek Oil and Gas (Uzbekneftegaz) as a "joint venture to develop an oil and gas deposit in Uzbekistan."

The Houston Chronicle reported on 2/15/02 that "President Bush as Texas governor personally pushed Enron Corp.'s business interests with the Uzbekistan ambassador and [with then-]Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge."

Tom Ridge is now director of the Office of Homeland Security.

A WashingtonPost.com article entitled, "Uzbekistan Thanked For Role In War," mentions the fact that Bush met with the president of Uzbekistan, Islam A. Karimov, on 3/12/02. The article says that Karimov..."allowed U.S. troops to use an air base in his country for the war in neighboring Afghanistan..."

So, Bush placed U.S. Troops in a region that could supply the Dabhol power plant with natural gas: Uzbekistan.

General Electric (GE), a company that worked in partnership with the Saudi Bin-Laden Group on Riyadh Power Plant 9 in Saudi Arabia, owns 10% of the Dabhol power plant and is currently trying to complete and retain control of the Dabhol plant.

GE also owns NBC News. On election night of the year-2000 presidential election, then-GE CEO Jack Welch allegedly pressured NBC to declare that George W. Bush had won the election, bringing Bush one step closer to the presidency and thus to control over Central Asian Republics such as Uzbekistan.

Journalist Mike Ruppert says in his article, "A War In The Planning For Four Years," that former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski views Uzbekistan as the key to controlling the other Central Asian Republics.

As evidence of this view, Ruppert gives the following quote from page 130 of Brzezinski's book, "THE GRAND CHESSBOARD": "Uzbekistan is, in fact, the prime candidate for regional leadership in Central Asia." And U.S.-controlled regional leadership in Central Asia would make it possible for the U.S. to control the Central Asian Republics that surround the Caspian Sea, source of huge amounts of oil and gas.

So, if Bush can control Uzbekistan, he can control all of Central Asia and all the oil and gas that comes with it. And if Bush can control one of the world's largest supplies of untapped energy--energy from Central Asian gas and oil-- he can control the world's energy.

On 4/30/02, in an article entitled "Pentagon Considering Ways To Keep Military Presence In Central Asia For The Long Run," the Associated Press reported that the U.S. currently has thousands of military forces in Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, and that the Pentagon is "drawing up a plan for a long-term military "footprint" in Central Asia," the area comprising Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakstan.

That same article referred to Uzbekistan as being "among the [Central Asian] region's most politically influential nations..."

Though U.S. forces are in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan to allegedly clear away Osama bin Laden's forces, Enron--source of many Bush Administration employees--did business with the Saudi Bin-Laden Group, the Bin-Laden family's construction company.

Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections noted on 11/26/97 that Enron submitted a bid in cooperation with the Saudi Bin-Laden Group for the Shuaiba power plant project in Saudi Arabia.

The Washington Post said on 3/2/02 that a "key investor" in Enron's Gaza Strip power plant project was Sheik Mohammed Imran Bamieh, "a prominent investor in the Saudi Binladen Group."

So, it seems that Enron and the Bin-Laden Group shared the same interests, and Bush filled his Administration with Enron employees and Enron investors.

"Shareholders In The Bank of Terror," a 3/15/02 article from Salon.com, shows that, as of 1999, two of Osama bin Laden's sisters were still shareholders in Al Taqwa bank, which finances Osama's Al Qaida terrorist network. Osama's family, owner of the Saudi Bin-Laden Group, is therefore sharing its money with Osama. And Enron, Bush's campaign financier, did business with the Bin-Laden Group, supporter of terrorism.

In a move akin to re-shuffling a deck of marked poker cards, Enron announced during the first week of May 2002 that it was negotiating with creditors to get out from under bankruptcy and might soon re-emerge under a different name: OpCo Energy Company. Enron says the new company could have "15,000 miles of pipeline assets."

What would prevent a newly resurrected version of Enron from re-claiming its Dabhol power plant and from making natural gas pipelines leading to the Dabhol plant into part of the company's pipeline assets?

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Sources:

Enron's Ties To The Bush Administration:

Enron's Political Ties: A Shadow Government?
[Source: The Daily Enron]
http://www.thedailyenron.com/enron101/political.asp

Records: Bush Smoothed Path For Enron
[Source: Houston Chronicle]
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/business/1258323

Enron Plans To Return As Smaller Firm
[Source: The Wall Street Journal]
http://www.msnbc.com/news/746601.asp

ENRON PRESENTS PROCESS TO CREDITORS’ COMMITTEE FOR SEPARATING POWER, PIPELINE COMPANY FROM BANKRUPTCY
[Source: Enron]
http://www.enron.com/corp/pressroom/releases/2002/ene/23-050302ReleaseLtr.html

About Dabhol Power Company
[Source: Dabhol Power Company]
http://64.37.94.109/aboutdpc.htm

Caspian Oil And Gas:

President's Statement on Caspian Pipeline Consortium
[Source: WhiteHouse.gov]
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011128-11.html

Pentagon Considering Ways to Keep Military Presence In Central Asia For the Long Run
[Source: Associated Press]
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&
u=/ap/20020430/ap_wo_en_ge/us_central_asia_2

GE Won't Back India Dabhol Restart If Assets Sold
[Source: Dow Jones Business News]
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/dowjones/20020422/bs_dowjones
/ge_won_t_back_india_dabhol_restart_if_assets_sold__report

Pakistan, Afghan, Turkmen Gas Pipeline Talks In May
[Source: Dow Jones Business News]
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/dowjones/20020419/bs_dowjones
/pakistan__afghan__turkmen_gas_pipline_talks_in_may_report

The Enron-Cheney-Taliban Connection?
February 28, 2002
[Source: Albion Monitor]
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12525

The Quest for Caspian Crude
[Source: ABCNews.com]
http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/world/caspianoil930/index.html

Unocal Signs Agreements for Uzbekistan Oil and Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Studies
[Source: Unocal]
http://www.unocal.com/uclnews/96htm/110496.htm

Uzbekistan:

Uzbekistan Has Difficulties Finding Venues For Its Gas
[Source: Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections]
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/news/ntc85031.htm

Transactions
[Source: Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw Project Finance
Practice Group]
http://www.mbpprojectfinance.com/transactions/s_oilgas.html

What's At Stake For Whom? Uzbekistan At A Glance
[Source: World Press Review Online]
http://www.worldpress.org/specials/pp/uzbekistan.htm

[Uzbekistan's] Natural Gas
[Source: ITE Group]
http://www.ite-exhibitions.com/og/ogu2002/buyers/natural-gas.cfm

Uzbekistan Thanked For Role In War
[Source: WashingtonPost.com]
http://www.ncsj.org/AuxPages/031302Post.shtml

A War in the Planning for Four Years
[Source: From the Wilderness Publications]
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/zbig.html

[Profile of] Uzbekistan
[Source: UZWEB]
http://wyith.ch/home/uzweb.net/03.htm

Enron's Ties To The Saudi Bin-Laden Group:

Saudi Arabia Cannot Wait Too Long For Power Project
[Source: Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections]
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/news/ntm80429.htm

Stalled Venture In Gaza Shows Enron's Daring
[Source: WashingtonPost.com]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A26217-2002Mar1?language=printer

The Saudi Bin-Laden Group:

Saudi Bin-Laden Group Web site
[Source: Saudi Bin-Laden Group]
http://saudbinl01.uuhost.uk.uu.net/

Saudi Bin-Laden Group: Petroleum Chemicals & Mining
[Source: Saudi Bin-Laden Group]
http://saudbinl01.uuhost.uk.uu.net/pcm.htm

Shareholders In the Bank of Terror?
[Source: Salon.com]
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/03/15/al_taqwa/print.html

General Electric:

Riyadh Crude Oil-Fired Power Plant, Saudi Arabia
[Source: Power Technology]
http://www.power-technology.com/projects/riyadh/

Riyadh Power Plant Project 9
[Source: Saudi Bin-Laden Group]
http://saudbinl01.uuhost.uk.uu.net/ipp-97.htm

THE MEDIA COVER-UP OF THE GORE VICTORY
PART FOUR: DEMOCRACY, GENERAL ELECTRIC STYLE
[Source: MakeThemAccountable.com]
http://makethemaccountable.com/coverup/Part_04.htm

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