CHENEY ENERGY TASK FORCE - A "Whispering Campaign" Refresher Course

[LunaC]

This is part of THE WHISPERING CAMPAIGN

In view of former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's appearance on 60 Minutes tomorrow, a little background info might be helpful in understanding how the White House carefully planned and executed the PNAC's agenda right from the start.

===================================================
December 2000 - Immediately after the Supreme Court decided that George Bush was the new President, Cheney secretly assembled an advisory panel of oil and gas executives from Enron, Dynergy, Shell Oil, Chevron/Texaco and British Petroleum under the direction of James Baker (former Secretary of State under George Bush Sr.) to help shape our national energy policy and justify the PNAC's anticipated war with Iraq.

Contributing substantially to the task force discussions and recommendations was a shadowy group of unidentified observers who still remain unknown. Sheikh Saud Al Nasser Al Sabah, the former Kuwaiti oil minister, also made a contribution to the group's final report which was funded through Khalid Al-Turki (a Saudi Arabian oil and gas enterprise) and the Arthur Ross Foundation (a non-profit organization that - on the surface - appears to be a supporter of the Arts.)

http://www.yuricareport.com/PoliticalAnalysis/FraudinWhiteHouse.htm

March 2001 - Cheney closely guarded the details surrounding his energy task force but documents released through the Freedom of Information Act reveal a map of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals, as well as 2 charts detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects, and “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts.”

http://www.judicialwatch.org/071703.b_PR.shtml

As one DU poster pointed out:

"The Iraq map is not a map, it's a plan

"There are several areas marked 'earmarked for production sharing' (look at the map
legend), which means privatized oil fields. Iraq did not have privatized oil fields and
production sharing agreements before the US took it over.

"There are also parcels marked on the Iraq oil field and exploration map (numbered
'Block 1' through '9'). Iraq did not have an active, privatized oil exploration program
going on before it was conquered by the US.

"If you read the footnotes and entire contents of the other documents, there is a heavy
emphasis on business concerns, such as contracts and vendors over items one might
think would be more important in a government discussion, such as capacity, long term
reserves, etc...

"One footnote (in UAEOilProj.pdf) even contains investment advice for the participants
at the meeting, suggesting opportunities in downstream projects, such as power
desalination and pipeline projects.

"These are not 'just maps'. Read them."

http://www.judicialwatch.org/071703.c_.shtml

It can be argued that the spoils of war were being doled out two years before Iraq once again became a household word. Perhaps this explains why Cheney worked so hard and so long to keep this information suppressed until Iraq was under U.S. military control...by then it would be too late for the public to object to the invasion.

http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0403/83727.html

Also note that Iraq, circa March 2001, painted a completely different picture than the Evil Empire the Bush Administrations tried to portray in their determined rush to war.

"Iraq was one of the more progressive Islamic countries in the region. It provided full
rights for women and public education for its citizens who enjoyed a decent standard
of living."

"Despite the years of bombings and the even greater toll on human life taken by the
sanctions, visitors to Baghdad don't see a city in ruins. Much of the wreckage has
been cleared away, much has been repaired.

"In our hotel, there's running water throughout the day, hot water in the morning.
Various streets in Baghdad are lined with little stores, surprisingly well-stocked with
household appliances, hardware goods, furniture, and clothes (much of which has a
second-hand look).

"We see no derelicts or homeless people on the streets, no prostitutes or ragged
bands of abandoned children, though there are occasional youngsters eager to
shine shoes or solicit spare change. But even they seem to be well-fed and decently
clothed. ......large swaths of the city used to be shrouded in complete darkness;
today, there are lights just about everywhere

"People used to feel hopelessly isolated and now there seems to be more hope and
better morale

Sadly though, "more and more children are turning up with leukemia" (a result of
the tons of depleted uranium the U.S. military used and left behind after Gulf War I.)

"The Iraqi leadership could turn US policy completely around by uttering just two
magic words: "free market." All they have to do is invite the International Monetary
Fund and World Bank into Iraq, eliminate free education and free medical care,
abolish the minimal food ration that goes to every Iraqi, abolish the housing
transportation subsidies, and hand over the country's oil industry to the corporate
cartels. To lift the sanctions, Iraq must surrender to the tender mercies of the
free-market paradise....

"Until then, Iraq will continue to be designated a "rogue nation" by those policy
makers in Washington who themselves are the meanest profit-driven, power-mongering
rogues on earth."

http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=451&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

http://www.towardfreedom.com/2001/mar01/iraq.htm

The issue of trade sanctions against Iraq put the Bush Administration in a bind - the sanctions had been designed to punish Saddam for not conceding to U.S. demands but it ended up handicapping U.S. corporations and undermining the PNAC's drive for U.S. economic supremacy. The Bush Administration was on a tight four year schedule to oust Saddam and launch the PNAC's Grand Plan for World Domination but they still didn't have a viable script to sell to the public. Yet.

APRIL 2001 - "Sanctions against oil-producing countries have discouraged oil resource investment in a number of key oil provinces, including Iraq, Iran, and Libya...the maintenance of continued oil sanctions is becoming increasingly difficult to implement." So said the Baker oil-interest advisory group in their report "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges for the 21st Century".

www.rice.edu/projects/baker/Pubs/workingpapers/ cfrbipp_energy/energytf.htm

Strikingly similar in context and tone to the PNAC's "Rebuilding America’s Defenses" policy paper, the Baker report was noteworthy in several other ways: )

• The report urgently pointed to California's power woes as a sign of an impending national energy crisis of catastrophic proportions.




"Americans face long-term situations such as frequent sporadic shortages of energy,
energy price volatility, and higher energy prices....."

"As the 21st century opens, the energy sector is in critical condition. A crisis could
erupt at any time..."

"Electricity outages already have our most populous state in a vice and are
threatening to spread from California to other parts of the country."

"Price spikes and supply shortages could become widespread recurring events
making the United States appear more similar to a poor developing country."



• It recommended an energy security policy with "near-term actions" to diversify "energy supply resources" as a viable solution to prevent a crisis.




"National solutions alone cannot work."

"The United States must stake out new paths...and reassess the role of energy in
American foreign policy"

• The report also considered Saddam to be a trouble-maker.




"Iraq has been engaged in a clever public relations campaign to...stir up
anti-American sentiment inside and outside the Middle East.

"Iraq remains a destabilizing influence to U.S. allies in the Middle East, as
well as to regional and global order, and to the flow of oil to international
markets from the Middle East.



• It complained that "Iraq has effectively become a swing producer" because Saddam turned the spigots to his oil fields on and off at his whim and he threatened to use his own export program to manipulate oil markets




"The United States should develop an integrated strategy ..... to restate
the goals with respect to Iraqi policy.....

"Iraqi reserves represent a major asset" but "Saddam Hussein could be
a greater security threat to U.S. allies in the region if weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) sanctions, weapons regimes, and the coalition against
him are not strengthened"

"Once an arms-control program is in place, the United States could
consider reducing restrictions on oil investments inside Iraq."


According to the Baker report, the U.S. national energy security was in the hands of an unruly and unpredictable adversary that jeopardized U.S. and PNAC financial and political interests. It is believed that the Bush Cabinet agreed to a military takeover of Iraq at this time. interests. It is believed that the Bush Cabinet agreed to a military takeover of Iraq at this time.

MAY 2001 - The official National Energy Policy Report was finally released for public review but only after someone in the White House changed the final draft without the knowledge of the inter-agency government workgroup who drafted it - specifically, the Departments of Energy, Interior, Commerce, Treasury, and State as well as representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA.)

What ultimately became the official White House National Energy Policy Report was in reality a repackaged version of the Baker "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges for the 21st Century" report which in turn was just an eerie echo of the PNAC's "Rebuilding America's Defenses" Mideast agenda. Essentially, a bait and switch had occured, the PNAC's policy and the Bush Administration's policy had magically merged to become one and the same, but nobody knew whodunit although Cheney is a likely suspect.)

Comparing the various position papers used in the sleight-of-hand shuffle, it's notable that the additions and revisions made to the final draft of the National Energy Policy Report included seventeen of Enron's energy recommendations, wildly exaggerated and oft-repeated claims of a national energy "crisis" based solely on California's energy issues and numerous urgings that energy "security" become a priority of U.S. trade and foreign policy. But there was one final act of misdirection yet to come...the official White House Energy Report didn't mention either Saddam or Iraq when both the other policy papers did....because the public wasn't supposed to know that a plan for a Mideast takeover existed and that war was imminent.

Later investigations revealed that Enron - with Cheney's knowledge and possibly at his direction - had intentionally manipulated the California energy market and created a manufactured "crisis" by exploiting regulatory rules that existed only in that State. The looming national energy "crisis" Cheney described at length in his White House National Energy Policy Report never really existed but it provided the groundwork to coalesce the military against Saddam to capture his kingdom for the PNAC.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy/
http://www.yuricareport.com/PoliticalAnalysis/FraudinWhiteHouse.htm
http://cryptome.org/rad.htm

"It is important to shape circumstances ........" - PNAC Statement of Principles
At the same time the PNAC agenda was transformed into the official White House energy policy, the U.S. State Department met with Iran, German and Italian officials to discuss Afghanistan.

Afghanistan was strategically located between the Mideast, Central and South Asia as well as Turkmenistan, China and Japan. Turkmenistan was a natural gas bonanza but the only export route to exploit this valuable natural resource was through Russia. The road to riches needed alternative pipeline routes but the incessant civil wars in Afghanistan made construction impossible. And so it was decided that the ruling Taliban would be toppled and a "broad-based government" would control the country so the golden pipeline could one day emerge through the rubble.

Afghanistan was also strategically important to the U.S. for another reason - it was the world's foremost opium and heroin supplier. U.S. control over this veritable gold mine could help finance their special military operations without accountability to the prying eyes of the public, reminiscent of the Iran-Contra Affair. It was important for the public to remain in the dark for as long as posible and at any cost.

http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/features/fex20867.htm
http://www.deepblacklies.co.uk/deep_black_1_2.htm
http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/total_coverage/coke.html

Even as plans were being made to remove the Taliban rulers from power, Colin Powell announced a $43 million "gift" to Afghanistan, ostensibly for the "War on Drugs."

http://www.cato.org/dailys/08-02-02.html

JUNE 2001 - Wanting to milk the California energy-cow dry, Ken Lay of Enron held a secret conference with California Republicans to "preserve deregulation" and perpetuate the manufactured "crisis". Attending by special request was Arnold Schwarzenegger, an actor who harbored secret political ambitions.

http://salon.com/opinion/conason/2003/08/11/enron/index_np.html

Still planning ahead with a keen eye on Iraq - the strategic cornerstone for the PNAC's great Mideast conquest - the White House needed Something Big to pin on Saddam to stir public emotion and rally support for an attack against him. With Enron already under suspicion of energy market manipulation and the energy "crisis" off the table, the Bush Administration needed a new scenario to get the public's attention by striking fear in their hearts. Fear was a powerful motivator. The PNAC was counting on it.

Advancing the concept of dying a horrible, agonizing death from weapons of mass destruction cooked up in a madman's lab sounded like a perfectly plausible script for public consumption but there was one problem....experts didn't believe Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction at the time. According to a Canadian conference of military officers-turned-analysts, current and past weapons inspectors, and senior members of U.S. government agencies,



"Iraq's nuclear weapons program (didn't exist) because (the Iraqi government) had
dismantled it."


One analyst even distinguished what a "weapon of mass destruction" really was and what it wasn't.



"Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction, whereas biological and chemical weapons are akin to weapons of mass terror. They are militarily ineffective."


http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4147.htm

Even the Administration-friendly Council on Foreign Relations (which plays a behind-the-scenes role in formulating U.S. foreign policy) went on record to indirectly admit that Saddam had destroyed his WMD's. When the Council wrote the "Report on U.S. Policy Options Towards Iraq" they recommended changes to the Iraq
sanctions policy to include:



"...a refinement of the list of prescribed dual use technologies that can assist Saddam
Hussein's efforts to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction."


It went on to say:



"Saddam Hussein is likely to behave egregiously at some point in the future."
"Iraqi acquisition and deployment of weapons of mass destruction or their use
including nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons" would be a "red line" the
U.S. warned against crossing


"Reconstitute" means to "start anew." "Acquisition means "to gain possession". Saddam didn't have any WMD's but....perhaps a case could be made in the event he might have them at some future date. This was certainly a promising, plausible and tenable premise for the White House to surreptitiously rouse the public in support of the PNAC's plan for Saddam.

http://www.cfr.org/publication_print.php?id=3990&content=

"It is important to shape circumstances..........." - PNAC Statement of Principles
JULY 2001 - The private plot formulated in May for toppling the Taliban was divulged during the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. The G8 is a meeting of the world's largest industrialized democracies who meet annually to discuss major economic and political issues. Immediately after the conference, American, Russian, German and Pakistani officials secretly met in Berlin to finalize the strategy for military strikes against the Taliban, scheduled to begin before mid-October 2001. The Operation was dubbed "Pipelineistan".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1550366.stm
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/features/fex20867.htm

SEPTEMBER 2001 - Rapidly creating a massive Armed Forces was the PNAC's founding ideal and with uncanny prescience and timing, the "catastrophic and catalyzing" modern-day Pearl Harbor they had envisioned to launch their dream was finally realized. The WTC and Pentagon were attacked and the finger of blame was pointed at Osama bin Laden, a former CIA operative with ties to Afghanistan. Suddenly, the U.S. "gift" of $43 million to the Taliban in May was cast in a new light.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO109C.html

Coincidentally, Pakistan had participated in the plan to attack Afghanistan and the chief of Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence agency was later linked to a 911 hijacker after wiring him $100,00 just days before the WTC fell.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO109C.html

================================================

Please see the companion piece to this article that documents the PNAC's takeover of the White House and the nation. THE WHISPERING CAMPAIGN

[LunaC]

1. Harumph!

This is great background info to have before O'Neill's appearance on "60 Minutes" tomorrow but nobody seems to care.

I'm takin' my toys and goin' home......sniffle......

Maybe this kick can resurrect what appears to be a dead post.

[Trajan]

2. WONDERFUL post ....

Full of good information .... and certainly timely ....

I recommend another posting during daylight hours ...

Great stuff: .. Ill be bookmarking this for future reference ...

[Insider]

3. bingo!

just posted this in an LBN thread before i saw this. what the heck:

"Estimates indicate that over the next 20 years, US oil consumption will increase by 33 percent, natural gas consumption by well over 50 percent, and demand for electricity will rise by 45 percent. If America's energy production grows at the same rate as it did in the 1990s we will face and ever-increasing gap.

Increases on this scale will require preparation and action today. Yet America has not been bringing on line the necessary supplies and infrastructure."

REPORT OF THE NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY DEVELOPMENT GROUP, May 2001:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy/National-Energy-Policy.pdf

somebody ought to ask dick cheney how we're doing now on the energy situation. somebody ought to be bold enough to ask him for an update after roughly three years in office, three years to effect change and improve america's energy situation. has it improved? are we better off now than in May 2001, and why? was it something he did? was it something america did to secure energy supplies for the future?

and btw, afghanistan is not mentioned once in that entire 170 page document. i bet control of that turf has improved our situation. iraq is mentioned in exactly 3 very minor places. but i bet that little piece of turf has improved our position significantly.

[LunaC]

4. One.....more......time....

for the morning crowd.

Pay close attention 'cuz there's gonna' be a quiz later.

[WyLoochka]

5. Bookmarked as Essential

Well worth the read. Thanks for your efforts, LunaC.

[mdmc]

6. didn't read

but :kick: and bookmark