Evidence is mounting that the Bush administration may have deliberately provoked a terrorist attack on the U.S. as a means of justifying its plans to replace the Taliban in Afghanistan with a puppet government friendly to gas and oil development in the region. Control of the area is considered crucial not only to development of oil and gas resources, but to a new "Silk Road" commercial corridor long planned by corporate interests. Many of the important players in this initiative are top officials in the Bush administration, and include VP Cheney and the President himself.

Commercial success in the region could only occur through military domination, since the fractious political situation in these countries has stymied all progress in this direction. However, direct intervention by the U.S. military would have been impossible to justify since pursuing speculative development plans can hardly be classified as "protecting U.S. interests".

In July of this year, the U.S. "leaked" word to the Taliban that it planned to invade Afghanistan and replace the Taliban government. This was either incredibly stupid "foreign relations" or a cynical and deliberate effort to provoke a preemptive attack on U.S. soil and thereby "justify" the requisite use of force. In this circumstance, attacks such as those carried out at the WTC and Pentagon were inevitable.

There should be an immediate call for a full and open inquiry into the Bush administration's role in provoking the WTC attacks - all the indications are there, and criminal indictments are routinely obtained on a lot less evidence than this.

Sources on US actions leading up to attacks:

US planned attack on Taleban - BBC News September 18, 2001
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1550000/1550366.stm

Secret memo reveals US plan to overthrow Taliban regime - September 21, 2001
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4261737,00,html

Threat of US strikes passed to Taliban weeks before US attack - Guardian September 22, 2001
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/wtccrash/story/0,1300,556279,00.html


Sources on oil/gas interests:

Testimony by John J. Maresca VP, International Relations UNOCAL CORP - February 12, 1998
(Mr. Maresca was George Bush Sr.'s Ambassador to Cyprus )
 http://www.house.gov/international_relations/105th/ap/wsap212982.htm

Afghanistan Fact Sheet (note section titled "Regional Pipeline Plans") - December, 2000
 http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/afghan2.html

The New Great Game - Guardian, March 5, 2001
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4146099,00.html

See also article titled "Afghanistan and Enron"  http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=66181&group=webcast