>Hey friends, TOR (totally optional reading). A film producer >friend, highly intelligent, generally skeptical, non-believer in >CT's (conspiracy theories) sent me this today, stating he puts >"nothing past this Bush government." Of course, I found it "mildly" >intriguing...lol Underlining in article is my friend's... > Franklin NP: L.A. Cowboy CD "Paganville": song - "The Third Man"... "Whatever happened to the third man, the one whose picture was all over the press? And why obliterate a major crime scene thirty days later, it's anybody's guess. It seems to me that bomb on girder number three...whoops, we've got ourselves one hell of a mess."
> > > ><http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/06.21A.pitt.watchtower.p.htm> >Print This Story ><http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/06.21A.pitt.watchtower.htm#> >E-mail This Story > > All Along the Watchtower > By William Rivers Pitt > t r u t h o u t | Opinion > > Thursday, 20 June, 2002 > > Stanley Hilton, a San Francisco attorney and former aide to Senator >Bob Dole, filed a $7 billion lawsuit in U.S. District Court on June >3rd. The class-action suit names ten defendants, among whom are >George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and >Norman Mineta. > > Hilton's suit charges Bush and his administration with allowing the >September 11th attacks to take place so as to reap political >benefits from the catastrophe. Hilton alleges that Osama bin Laden >is being used as a scapegoat by an administration that ignored >pressing warnings of the attack and refused to round up suspected >terrorists beforehand. Hilton alleges the ultimate motivation behind >these acts was achieved when the Taliban were replaced by American >military forces with a regime friendly to America and its oil >interests in the region. > > Hilton's plaintiffs in this case are the families of 14 victims of >9/11, numbering 400 people nationwide. These are the same families >that rallied in Washington recently to advocate for an independent >investigation into the attacks. The current 9/11 hearings are being >conducted by Congress behind closed doors, a situation these >families find unacceptable. > > Mr. Hilton, by filing his lawsuit, has joined the ranks of an >ever-increasing body of Americans who subscribe to what they call >the LIHOP Theory. LIHOP stands for Let It Happen On Purpose. The >LIHOP Theory puts forward the accusation that Bush and his people >allowed the September 11th attacks to take place, despite the fact >that they had been repeatedly warned of an impending strike. > > The LIHOP Theory is straightforward: In the months before 9/11, >American intelligence agencies received ominous warnings from the >intelligence services of nations like Israel, Russia, Egypt and >Germany. These warnings were pointed - an attack involving hijacked >aircraft and prominent American landmarks was imminent, our security >forces were told. Bush himself was briefed of these warnings weeks >before they happened. Instead of responding vigorously to these >warnings, the Bush administration and its security apparatus did >nothing. > > LIHOP is, of course, the purest breed of conspiracy theory, >involving high-ranking members of government from both parties, as >well as the CIA, FBI and NSA. Like all good conspiracy theories, >LIHOP is surrounded by disturbing facts and bits of evidence that >are difficult to ignore. > > The warnings from all those foreign intelligence services, after >all, are quite real. Egypt, Germany, Russia and the Israelis were >vociferous in their concerns. The German intelligence service BND >told US and Israeli intelligence that Middle East terrorists were >"planning to hijack commercial aircraft to use as weapons to attack >important symbols of American and Israeli culture." The BND's >information came through Echelon, the American-controlled network of >120 satellites that monitors all worldwide electronic communications. > > Egypt voiced similar warnings that same month regarding aircraft >attacks. Delivered just before the G-8 summit in Genoa, Egypt's >alert carried such weight that anti-aircraft batteries were placed >around Columbus Airport in Italy. The Russians warned the US that >same summer of 25 pilots who had been trained for suicide missions, >and Putin himself delivered the warning "in the strongest possible >terms" to the US government. The Israeli intelligence service Mossad >delivered a warning to both the FBI and the CIA detailing "a major >assault on the United States" against "a large-scale target" that >was "very vulnerable." > > The Washington Post has reported that the NSA intercepted two >messages on September 10, 2001, warning that something was going to >happen the next day. "Tomorrow is zero hour," was one of the >messages. The NSA's charter is to intercept, translate and pass on >to FBI and CIA operatives important electronic signals from all >across the globe. The Echelon satellite network which provided the >German BND with their 9/11 information last June is part of that >system. > > According to the NSA, the September 10th data was not translated >until September 12th, but it stands to reason that they were privy >to the same electronic data the other foreign services were using as >the basis for their warnings. One US intelligence source claims the >data provided "no actionable intelligence," a fair claim given the >vagueness of the messages and the volume of material NSA must deal >with. Yet in combination with the strident foreign intelligence >warnings, the words intercepted by our large electronic ears on >September 10th add to the growing questions. > > Then, there are the threads. A FEMA official told Dan Rather that >the disaster agency had been at the World Trade Center on September >10th. Why? Governor Jeb Bush of Florida signed executive order >#01-261 on September 7th, putting his state's National Guard on >heightened alert status, essentially placing Florida under martial >law for no demonstrable reason. Why? Attorney General John Ashcroft >stopped flying on commercial aircraft in the weeks before 9/11, >something he had commonly done since his entry into the >administration. Why? > > At the core of the LIHOP Theory lies motivation - what possible >purpose could be served by the Bush administration allowing a >terrorist attack to take place on American soil? It is flatly >inconceivable to most Americans that Bush and his people could >demonstrate such callous disregard for American lives, and >accusations that they allowed an attack to happen reek of the worst >kind of poisonous partisan politics. > > LIHOP Theory, however, is not so easily dismissed. Two French >intelligence analysts, Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie, >have published an extensively-researched book entitled "Osama bin >Laden: The Forbidden Truth." In it, they allege that the Bush >administration put energy policy before national security concerns. >According to Brisard and Dasquie, a foundering pipeline project >aimed at exploiting natural gas reserves along the Caspian Sea in >Turkmenistan was revived by the Bush administration when it arrived >in Washington in January of 2001. > > The pipeline project, which sought to bring oil and natural gas >from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to a warm water port, had been >the brainchild of American petroleum giant Unocal for much of the >1990s. After the destruction of two American embassies in Africa in >1998 by Osama bin Laden, the Clinton administration forbade any >American companies from doing business with the Taliban, which had >been sheltering bin Laden in Afghanistan. Unocal's pipeline project >was frozen. > > After the Bush administration came to power, Brisard and Dasquie >allege that reinvigorating the pipeline project became a >high-priority matter of policy. Assistant Secretary of State >Christina Rocca was dispatched to Pakistan to discuss the pipeline >with Taliban officials in August of 2001. Rocca, a career officer >with the CIA, had been deeply involved in Agency activities within >Afghanistan. According to documents Brisard and Dasquie claim to >hold, the main subject of their discussion was oil. A Pakistani >foreign minister was also present at the meeting, and witnessed the >exchange. > > How does this pipeline relate to September 11th? According to >Brisard and Dasquie, the main obstacle to the completion of the >pipeline was the fact that it had to pass through Taliban-controlled >Afghanistan. The project would receive no international support >unless the Afghan government somehow became legitimized. In >bargaining for the pipeline, the Bush administration demanded that >the Taliban reinstate deposed King Mohammad Zahir Shah as ruler of >Afghanistan, and demanded that the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden >for arrest. In return, the Taliban would reap untold billions in >profit from the pipeline. According to Brisard and Dasquie, part of >the Bush administration's bargaining tactics involved threats of war >if these conditions for the legitimization of Afghanistan were not >met. > > The BBC of London reported on September 18th, 2001 of the existence >of war plans on Bush's desk aimed at Afghanistan. Niaz Naik, a >former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, stated that the war plans were >slated for October of 2001. Conditions set by the Bush >administration to avoid war involved the Taliban's handing over of >bin Laden and the acceptance of King Zahir Shah. Naik went so far as >to doubt that America would hold off on war even if these conditions >were met. > > The result, according to the French analysts, was total disaster. >The Bush administration fundamentally misunderstood the Taliban >regime - to bring back the King and hand bin Laden over to the West >would have been tantamount to suicide for the Taliban. Instead of >acquiescing to the hard-sell tactics of the Bush administration, the >Taliban unleashed their pet attack dog, Osama, upon America. They >were going to lose everything, and chose to attack first in the hope >that all-out war would break out in Central Asia and rally other >Muslim nations to their cause. > > Motive suddenly becomes far more clear. The Bush administration >very much wanted the Unocal pipeline to go through, and put intense >pressure on the Taliban to see it happen. As this was happening, >American intelligence services were flooded with warnings of an >impending attack upon American targets by bin Laden and Al Qaida. >The decision was made - let the attack come, and in the ensuing >outrage American forces can carve out the guts of the Taliban >government like a ripe gourd, replacing them with a 'legitimate' >regime more receptive to the pipeline plan. > > Did the Bush administration have an inkling of the massive death >and destruction that would come on September 11th? Those who espouse >the LIHOP Theory disagree on this point. Some believe that FEMAs >presence at Ground Zero on the day before the attack, coupled with >specific language within the international intelligence warnings >pertaining to aircraft and high-profile targets, are prima facie >evidence of specific prior knowledge. Others believe that the Bush >administration only knew vaguely that an attack would come, but not >where or when. They did not foresee the level of destruction, and >were caught flat-footed when those planes appeared along the New >York skyline. > > In the end, LIHOP Theory can encompass either view. Whether they >had specific knowledge beforehand, or merely decided to let some >attack happen somewhere, the final results were the same. The >Taliban were routed and replaced by an interim government headed by >a man named Harmid Karzai. Karzai was recently elected President of >Afghanistan in his own right, legitimizing the Afghanistan >government. Soon after this, Karzai announced the impending >construction of a pipeline that would exploit Turkmenistan's natural >gas reserves He named Unocal as the lead company for the project. >Before becoming President, Karzai was an advisor to Unocal. > > For LIHOP Theorists, the evidence is clear. The Bush administration >got the pipeline it wanted. Along the way, they used the horrors of >9/11 to place themselves above reproach. In the patriotic fervor >that resulted from the attacks, both the press and the Democratic >opposition were bracketed by the administration-espoused idea that >any questions or criticism were tantamount to treason. > > The passage of the PATRIOT Anti-Terror Act has given the US >government sweeping abilities to snuff dissent by defining it as >terrorism, thanks to the loosely-defined wording of the bill. Bush >enjoyed stratospheric approval ratings that persist to this day, and >American citizens were given new enemies to hate. The Defense >Department, and the weapons contractors who cater to them, received >billions from the federal budget to do with as they pleased in order >to address the objects of that hate. > > Even the most hardened political observer must admit the dismal >truth - September 11th was the greatest thing ever to happen to the >Bush administration. Attorney Stanley Hilton has brought LIHOP >Theory into the federal court system with his class-action suit, and >with the families of 9/11 victims he represents. It will be >interesting to see what transpires when these two facts collide in >an American courtroom. Given the current climate, it does not seem >likely that much will come of it. After all, these conspiracy >theorists are just a bunch of nuts. > > Right? 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