Posted on 10/03/2001 9:25:39 AM PDT by hispanarepublicana
The United States and Britain yesterday called off military strikes against terrorist targets in Afghanistan at the last minute.
Washington officials say today that a severe attack of last-minute cold feet by some key Arab members of the coalition caused President Bush to postpone the operation.
The waverers are Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Oman, and US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is embarking on an urgent mission today to strengthen nerves in these countries.
Prime Minister Tony Blair is also about to undertake a hasty visit to the region. Saudi Arabia's support is especially vital, because Allied aircraft and commanders need its base facilities.
Two senior US officials have told reporters that until yesterday the Saudis were firm in their offer to provide assistance for strikes, including use of a state-of-the-art command centre at the Prince Royal Sultan Air Force Base.
Then the situation changed. One US official told Knight Newspapers: "That is no longer true. We fear there is something deeper here."
Mr Rumsfeld's trip to the Middle East is intended to mend these unexpected ruptures.
Downing Street, meanwhile, confirmed Mr Blair will be departing on a mission tomorrow but refused, on security grounds, to be drawn on any of the detail. Amid clear unease over the advance leaks of the trip, a spokesman dismissed all reports as "speculationî maintaining that some of the suggested calling points for the Prime Minister were simply wrong.
Mr Rumsfeld's tour, which includes Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt and Uzbekistan, is being compared to the stage-setting trip made by Dick Cheney, then Defence Secretary, to the Gulf just before the start of Desert Storm.
This time there is more at stake. Near the top of Mr Rumsfeld's list of priorities is to talk his way to an agreement with Uzbekistan, on the northern border of Afghanistan, to use the country as a staging area for the attack.
Uzbekistan is now regarded as a potential key asset in the coming showdown, but is rated the coalition's single most fragile link.
Highly attractive to the US are the number of abandoned air bases there, once used by the Soviet Union.
This will be Mr Rumsfeld's first face-to-face meeting with the ruling regime there. It has demanded that the US negotiate a complete Status of Forces Agreement before it will permit the use of its military bases - an unrealistic condition which could be tangled up in legal knots for years.
The trip, undertaken at the request of President Bush, is expected to last three days.
Oman, also skittish, is regarded as an important support base for a ground incursion. US special operations forces can be flown there and then put on amphibious invasion ships.
US officials are not sure whether this is a case of lastminute jitters, or " something more serious".
One notable omission on Mr Rumsfeld's itinerary is Pakistan. "The last thing Pakistan needs is a high profile visit by a US Secretary of Defence," said a Pentagon official.
The country is contending with ferocious anti-American demonstrations, with Mr Bus burned in effigy and hordes shouting: "Death to America! Let Americans come here to be buried!"
Washington officials advised reporters not to assume military action was only hours away. They stressed that Mr Bush will act only when he is convinced, by Mr Rumsfeld and others, that "all the pieces are in place". Such action will come "at various stages and times", they said. The President himself told reporters there is "no calendar" for the start of hostilities.
Don't have numbers handy, but, yes, some is going over to Korea or Japan.
FOR IMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2001
HOOLEY, DeFAZIO INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO REINSTATE BAN ON NORTH SLOPE OIL EXPORTS
Bill Endorsed by Public Citizen
32 U.S. House Colleagues Join in Introduction of Legislation
Washington, DC -- Today, Congressional Representatives Darlene Hooley (OR-5) and Peter DeFazio (OR-4) introduced legislation to reinstate the 1973 ban on exports of oil produced on Alaska's North Slope. Thirty-two members of Congress joined their fight by cosponsoring this legislation.
"As much as the President would like to claim that drilling in the ANWR is the answer to our energy problems, the fact is that oil companies have drilled in Alaska for the last 20-odd years," said Hooley. "Before the President even begins talking about the ANWR as a solution to our problems, let's use our common sense and make sure the oil that we're already drilling for in Alaska isn't alleviating some other nation's oil dependence."
"We're already suffering from an energy debacle in the West," said DeFazio. "And the Administration's answer to the crisis is to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Surely keeping American oil on American soil and protecting the pristine landscape in Alaska is a better answer."
Prior to 1995, the U.S. banned the export of oil produced on Alaska's North Slope -- and for good reason. The Arab oil embargo in 1973 not only crippled America's economy, but the residual inflated energy prices sparked a global economic recession that lasted for nearly ten years. Since the pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez crossed federally protected lands and cost taxpayers millions of dollars, it made perfect sense to insist that oil benefitted the U.S. national interests.
However, in 1995 oil from the North Slope was cleared for export by Congress and the President, a seemingly short-term perspective of America's needs. Not only have oil prices subsequently skyrocketed along the West Coast, the public has been made aware that government expert witnesses working for the Federal Trade Commission learned that British Petroleum -- the largest producer of Alaska North Slope crude oil -- intentionally "shorted" West Coast oil supplies by selling Alaska crude to Asia for less than it could have gotten from U.S. refiners.
Despite the deliberate price gouging of BP Amoco and the demonstrated need for North Slope oil in the U.S., President Clinton hesitated to reintroduce a ban on exports. Moreover, President Bush has focused on oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as the cornerstone of our 21st century energy policy -- without mentioning whether that oil will stay in America.
"The House should immediately pass the Hooley/DeFazio bill, which prohibits the export of oil from Alaska to foreign nations, said Wenonah Hauter, Director of the Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program at Public Citizen. "How can any members of Congress advocate drilling in the arctic with a straight face, without supporting this legislation? Obviously, the only logical reason is that they care more about making oil companies money, than protecting American consumers."
The Hooley-DeFazio bill will ensure that crude oil produced in Alaska's North slope benefits U.S. consumers. The bill currently has 32 other cosponsors: Representatives Lynn Rivers- Michigan 13th, Rod Blagojevich - Illinois 5th, Corrine Brown- Florida 3rd, David Bonior- Michigan 10th, Bob Filner- California 50th, Jay Inslee- Washington 1st, Carolyn Maloney New York 14th, Sherrod Brown- Ohio 13th, Ed Markey- Massachusetts 7th, John Lewis- Georgia 5th, Dale Kildee- Michigan 9th, Gerald Kleczka- Wisconsin 4th, Mike Capuano- Massachusetts 8th, Mike Thompson- California 1st, George Miller- California 7th, Frank Pallone- New Jersey 6th, Maurice Hinchey- New York 26th, Cynthia McKinney- Georgia 4th, Jim McDermott- Washington 7th, Barbara Lee- California 9th, Patsy Mink- Hawaii 2nd, James Moran- Virginia 8th, Karen Thurman- Florida 5th, Ann Eshoo- California 14th, Bernard Sanders- Vermont At Large, Lane Evans- Illinois 17th, John Baldacci- Maine 2nd, Dennis Kucinich- Ohio 10th, Anthony Weiner- New York 9th, Frank Mascara- Pennsylvania 20th, Bill Lipinski- Illinois 3rd, and Tom Lantos- California 12th.
For more information please contact:
Joan Mooney
Chief of Staff/Press Secretary
Congresswoman Darlene Hooley (OR-5)
1130 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-5711
Fax: 202-225-5699
General LeMay! You're alive!
Told ya so!
A coalition is unnecessary. And as you can see, cumbersome.
We shouldn't involve Arab and Muslim nations in our fight.
The most I would do in their regard is to call their leaders and say, "Watch this"!
Then I would strike with such a force as to scare the p*ss out of them.
If this is true, its so damn predictable. I am so sick of these other nations and there hate for us. Spit*
My guess is that Powell is the sole architect of the "let's back a Palestine state on Israel's border" policy.
Its other name is "preemptive surrender", also known as "let's kill Israel and the U.S. with a master stroke".
My guess is that Powell is the sole architect of the "let's back a Palestine state on Israel's border" policy.
Its other name is "preemptive surrender", also known as "let's kill Israel and the U.S. with a master stroke".
I think Colin has promised otherwise
Rumsfield will have a hard time convincing these Gummints that it is in their best interest to support the USA and perhaps get overthrown as a result.
It might KILL them to have to read Zhivago (no Cliff's notes..)
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