-Caveat Lector-
You guessed it! Oil! Let's see, now, the over ten-year old war against Iraq; the
almost ten-year-old war against Yugoslavia (as a convenient bag); Columbia; E Timor
(Indonesia?). What kind of foreign policy mandates the oil trade at the point of a
missile? Rumour had it once that VietNam was part of LBJ's oil crusade. This is
like the trade deficit with the Chinese; once we become too reliant on others'
goods and services (resources), we become hollow. A<>E<>R
www.sfgate.com Return to regular view
For All the Oil in Colombia
Wednesday, February 14, 2001
©2001 San Francisco Chronicle
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/02/14/ED92758.DTL
PRESIDENT BUSH has inherited a $1.3 billion commitment to supply and train
government troops to fight rebel forces who protect -- and profit from --
Colombian coca-growing peasants. Now he must decide whether to pursue a policy that
has failed miserably and threatens to spread the 37-year-old Colombian civil war
into Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.
The first hopeful sign appeared last week, when President Andres Pastrana --
risking political support, as well as his life -- ventured into rebel-controlled
territory and rekindled peace talks that had been dormant for months.
For that brave and audacious gesture, however, U.S. military aid was unnecessary.
Otherwise, the news from Colombia has been grim. Last year, paramilitary forces
killed 60 labor leaders. Seven hundred peasants caught in the cross fire -- their
crops and families fumigated by military helicopters -- fled to Panama last month.
Colombian guerrilla forces have recently clashed with government troops in Ecuador.
Why are we in Colombia?
It may be that the country's huge oil reserves interest President Bush and Vice
President Dick Cheney -- both oil men from Texas -- more than coca leaves.
Last year, Colombia's main export poured some $4.6 billion into its economy.
But oil is not easy to procure there. Just days ago, leftist rebels bombed
Colombia's second-largest crude export pipeline, which forced Los Angeles-based
Occidental Petroleum Corp. to drastically reduce its production.
Guerrilla groups, which view the above-ground pipeline as the most visible symbol of
foreign corporate exploitation of Colombia's natural resources, bombed the 485-mile
oil duct 98 times last year alone. So far this year, they have crippled the pipeline
13 times.
When he campaigned for the presidency, Bush pledged to make Latin America his
highest priority. In the region, he sees a unique opportunity to leave a
distinguished foreign policy legacy.
But what kind of legacy? Neither the drug war nor the civil war in Colombia can be
won quickly or easily by military means. And if it is the flow of oil that Bush
seeks to protect, he needs to make his case honestly and directly to the American
people.
©2001 San Francisco Chronicle Page A24
A<>E<>R
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The libertarian therefore considers one of his prime educational
tasks is to spread the demystification and desanctification of the
State among its hapless subjects. His task is to demonstrate
repeatedly and in depth that not only the emperor but even the
"democratic" State has no clothes; that all governments subsist
by exploitive rule over the public; and that such rule is the reverse
of objective necessity. He strives to show that the existence of
taxation and the State necessarily sets up a class division between
the exploiting rulers and the exploited ruled. He seeks to show that
the task of the court intellectuals who have always supported the State
has ever been to weave mystification in order to induce the public to
accept State rule and that these intellectuals obtain, in return, a
share in the power and pelf extracted by the rulers from their deluded
subjects.
[[For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, Murray N. Rothbard,
Fox & Wilkes, 1973, 1978, p. 25]]
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
