President Bush claimed he invaded to bring democracy, yet the fact is he invites to the White House Central Asian dictators having "hopeless human rights records," Johnson notes, one of "the worst" being President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan.
Johnson also tells how top U.S. officials backed a Chevron pipeline from Kazakhstan's Tengiz oil field across the Caspian Sea to Baku, then to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. Investors, though, feared possible sabotage in Chechnya and Dagestan. Its backers, Johnson says, "reads like a who's who of Republican oil politicians."
# Condoleezza Rice, then a Stanford University professor and a Chevron board member on a $35,000 annual retainer, was Chevron's chief adviser.
# VP Dick Cheney, earlier President Bush Sr.'s defense secretary, helped broker the deal in between political offices as a member of Kazakhstan's Oil Advisory Board.
# James A. Baker III, ex-Secretary of State, and member of the U.S.-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce advisory council (as were Cheney and Richard Armitage), had his hand in.
# Brent Scowcroft, Rice's boss when he was Bush Sr.'s national security adviser, said by Johnson to be a member of the Pennzoil board, was also an active investor.
Does Johnson's book mean the horrors befalling Afghanistan and Iraq stem from an oil grab? Is it possible the above fraternity of high-priced oil company consultants/U.S. officials, once their man entered the White House, unleashed wars of aggression for regime change to build pipelines for their favorite oil firms? Maybe this is just a conspiracy theory. But if Kissinger, Brzezinski, Cheney, Rice, Armitage, Scowcroft, Baker, Haig, Oakley, Karzai, and Khalilzad develop a sudden interest in harvesting Brazil nuts, somebody had better warn President Lula Da Silva!
#
(Sherwood Ross is an American reporter. Reach him at sherwoodr1@yahoo.com)
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