RE: [Marxism] Marxism and Conspiracy

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Andrew:
> People bring in demolition teams all the time without many people noticing.

I didn't know you were such an expert on such matters.

>   And if a team was brought in in the aftermath of these attacks, 
> then the only people who would have seen it would have been the 
> people working the scene who were made aware of it.  This is why 
> when the building is ready to be collapsed they bring it to 
> everybody's attention and clear the area.  Furthermore, I am 
> curious about WTC-7, the building Larry Silverstein told them to 
> pull.  I am not asking questions about the other two towers (or the 
> other towers, which they openly pulled).  In case you aren't aware 
> of it, demolition experts refer to controlled demolitions as 
> "pulling."  Silverstein told them to go ahead and pull the 
> building.  I heard him say it, Louis.  I can't pretend I didn't.  I 
> can't lie to myself.  That would be crazy.

No, what is crazy is believing that a NYC real estate developer was 
part of a vast conspiracy that worked in perfect harmony like a Swiss 
watch to foment a new crusade. What is crazy is believing that 
somebody like Mohammad Atta was preparing an elaborate ruse to throw 
people off the CIA's trail by going through a religious/political 
conversion that had all the appearances of being typical of what 
Chalmers Johnson described in "Blowback". What is crazy is believing 
that Mohammad Atta loved the USA so much that he sacrificed his life 
to give George W. Bush the excuse he needed to go to war against the 
Taliban, an outfit that stood in the way of American ambitions in the 
region. Or did it?

----

The US oil group Unocal and Delta Oil of Saudi Arabia want to build 
an oil and gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan by way of 
war-torn Afghanistan.

While the companies have made a show of negotiating with both sides 
in the Afghan civil war, as a practical matter, success has been 
thought to *depend on a total victory by the Taliban*, who are 
reported to be supported by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and have 
already taken most of the country. They are opposed by Russian and 
Iranian backed factions in the north. But the Taliban's offensive was 
foiled by a key defection, plunging the country back into another 
round of tribal warfare which appears to preclude any early 
resurgence of interest in the scheme.

The US may also have been swayed by Turkmen arguments that Iran's own 
domestic demand for natural gas is such that it will have little left 
over, at least in the early years of the pipeline, to export to Turkey.

But whatever the motivation behind the US action, senior western 
diplomats in the region continue to caution against any sudden change 
in the fundamental US position towards Iran. "We will support any 
pipeline arrangement that makes commercial sense," said one senior 
diplomat recently. "But not Iran please."

Mr Rich Hildahl, a consultant for Cambridge Energy Research 
Associates in the US with extensive experience in the area, also 
cautions against reading too much into the US action. But he also 
says there is an important lesson to be drawn for all the 
protagonists in the region, especially on the Russian side. "They 
must be aware that the political dynamics can change in a hurry."

Financial Times (London,England), July 31, 1997 


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