Bush and the Taliban

[jonathan flanders <jon_flanders@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Explosive New Book Published in France Alleges that
U.S. Was in Negotiations to Do a Deal with Taliban

Aired January 8, 2002 - 07:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN
ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Time to check in with
ambassador-in- residence, Richard Butler, this
morning. An explosive new book published in France
alleges that the United States was in negotiations to
do a deal with the Taliban for an oil pipeline in
Afghanistan.

Joining us right now is Richard Butler to shed some
light on this new book. He is the former chief U.N.
weapons inspector. He is now on the Council on
Foreign Relations and our own ambassador-in-
residence -- good morning.

RICHARD BUTLER, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good
morning, Paula.

ZAHN: Boy, if any of these charges are true...

BUTLER: If...

ZAHN: ... this...

BUTLER: Yes.

ZAHN: ... is really big news.

BUTLER: I agree.

ZAHN: Start off with what your understanding is of
what is in this book -- the most explosive charge.

BUTLER: The most explosive charge, Paula, is that the
Bush administration -- the present one, just shortly
after assuming office slowed down FBI investigations
of al Qaeda and terrorism in Afghanistan in order to
do a deal with the Taliban on oil -- an oil pipeline
across Afghanistan.

ZAHN: And this book points out that the FBI's deputy
director, John O'Neill, actually resigned because he
felt the U.S. administration was obstructing...

BUTLER: A proper...

ZAHN: ... the prosecution of terrorism.

BUTLER: Yes, yes, a proper intelligence investigation
of terrorism. Now, you said if, and I affirmed that
in responding to you. We have to be careful here.
These are allegations. They're worth airing and
talking about, because of their gravity. We don't
know if they are correct. But I believe they should
be investigated, because Central Asian oil, as we
were discussing yesterday, is potentially so
important. And all prior attempts to have a pipeline
had to be done through Russia. It had to be
negotiated with Russia.

Now, if there is to be a pipeline through
Afghanistan, obviating the need to deal with Russia,
it would also cost less than half of what a pipeline
through Russia would cost. So financially and
politically, there's a big prize to be had. A
pipeline through Afghanistan down to the Pakistan
coast would bring out that Central Asian oil easier
and more cheaply.

ZAHN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as you spoke about this
yesterday, we almost immediately got a call from "The
New York Times."

BUTLER: Right.

ZAHN: They want you to write an op-ed piece on this
over the weekend.

BUTLER: Right, and which I will do.

ZAHN: But let's come back to this whole issue of what
John O'Neill, this FBI agent...

BUTLER: Right.

ZAHN: ... apparently told the authors of this book.
He is alleging that -- what -- the U.S. government
was trying to protect U.S. oil interests? And at the
same time, shut off the investigation of terrorism to
allow for that to happen?

BUTLER: That's the allegation that instead of
prosecuting properly an investigation of terrorism,
which has its home in Afghanistan as we now know, or
one of its main homes, that was shut down or slowed
down in order to pursue oil interests with the
Taliban. The people who we have now bombed out of
existence, and this not many months ago. The book
says that the negotiators said to the Taliban, you
have a choice. You have a carpet of gold, meaning an
oil deal, or a carpet of bombs. That's what the book
alleges.

ZAHN: Well, I know you're going to be doing your own
independent homework on this...

BUTLER: Yes.

ZAHN: ... to see if you can confirm any of this.
Let's move on to the whole issue of Iraq. The deputy
defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, at one time was
considered one of those voices within the
administration...

For the complete transcript, go to the following URL:

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0201/08/ltm.05.html

------------------------------

BuzzFlash recently posted this headline about the book:

Bin Laden Brother Gets Book Banned in Switzerland 12/31

Here's the link:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page
/0,5744,3514962^1702,00.html

The story gives the title of the book, "The Forbidden
Truth," and speaks of Osama bin Laden's brother's work
in getting it banned in Sweden.

We'll repost it to the BuzzFlash home page.

------------------------------

http://www.BuzzFlash.com/

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