Posted on 29th November

The Black Son
by John Croft*

BCCI, Bank Commerce Credit International, known effectionally as the
International Bank of Crooks and Criminals, (BCCI) was founded 1972. By
1990 BCCI had offices in 69 countries, $15 billion in deposits, and $20
billion in assets. In July 1991 evidence of widespread systematic fraud at
BCCI led regulators in seven countries to seize the bank's assets, and its
operations in the remaining 62 countries were gradually also shut down. A
subsequent investigation resulted in a New York criminal indictment of the
institution and four of its units, and the arrest of some 20 BCCI officials
in Abu Dhabi for alleged fraud. BCCI was founded by Pakistani banker Agha
Hasan Abedi (1922- ), who remained its chairman until 1989. From March
1990, it was under the control of Sheik Sultan Zayed bin al-Nahayan, the
ruler of Abu Dhabi.

In July 1990 five former officials of BCCI were convicted in Tampa,
Florida, for laundering $32 million in cocaine profits for Colombia's
Medellin drug cartel. Despite these convictions and later evidence of
BCCI's fraudulent conduct, regulatory control was hampered by the fact that
the bank had no central office under the jurisdiction of an individual
government. Its two central offices were located in Luxembourg and the
Cayman Islands, both tax havens with secretive banking rules.

In October 1994 a US federal court sentenced Swaleh Naqvi, former chief
executive of BCCI, to an eight-year prison term for his role in defrauding
investors, adding to a 14-year sentence he had already been awarded in Abu
Dhabi. In addition, Naqvi was ordered to pay more than $250 million to US
investors.

The government of Abu Dhabi, which held a 77% share in the collapsed bank,
reached an agreement with the bank's liquidators March 1994, when it agreed
to reduce its claims against BCCI and contribute $1.8 billion to creditors,
a move approved by the High Court in London December 1994. Have a look at
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/BCCI.htm>http://www.apfn.org/apfn/BCCI.htm

The Bush family became involved in BCCI when it was used as a conduit to
channel money through the Iran/Contra arms deal, and to funnel money from
the Columbian drug lords through Panama to support the Contras against the
Sandanista government of Nicaragua. James R. Bath, friend and neighbor of
George W. Bush, was used as a cash funnel from Osama bin Laden's rich
father, Sheikh bin Laden, to set George W. Bush up in business, according
to reputable sources from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
The connection between GW Bush, the bin Laden family, and the Bank Commerce
Credit International (BCCI) is well documented. The excerpts from the books
and news articles are supplemented by the links at the bottom of the page
to the cash flow charts of the bin Laden-backed BCCI money which was
funneled into the Bush family in return for favors. See
http://www.geocities.com/burningbush2000/3.html>http://www.geocities.com/bur
ningbush2000/3.html

It would appear that a not explained reason for targetting the Afghanis
lies in the fact that since 1977 USA lifestyles have been dependent upon
the subsidy it receives from international oil inputs. George Bush Senior
established Zapata Oil, which pioneered off-shore drilling for oil in the
Persian Gulf and was one of the
major concession holders of the Kuwaiti oil that was nationalised by the
Iraqis when they invaded that country, in what was the World's 1st "Oil
War". George Bush Jnr, despite his links with BCCI failed in his own
attempt to float an oil company (Abrusco), the connections with the oild
industry are high. Dick Chenney, Vice President also has oil interests.

To capture control of the oil is what lies behind the USA and the G7
support of the Russian Economy. The "ace" that Russia has is control of the
Caspian Region which has 10% of the world reserves of oil, enough to fuel
Western Europe alone for 11 years. But unfortunately for Russia, the
Chechen people of the Caspian want independence, and hence Russia's
non-negotiable stance it has taken on the Chechen republic leaving the
Russian union. The War in Chechnia is the world's 2nd "Oil War". The only
possible oil pipeline routes at the present time to handle the massive flow
of oil from the Caspian Sea region under Chechnya is either through Kosovo
to the Mediterranean Sea, or through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian
Ocean. Two years ago, the Clinton administration attempted to place Kosovo
under international control and begin pipeline construction, but was unable
to complete the process. The dismemberment of Yugoslavia, the Wars in
Bosnia and Kosovo, and the involvement of the international community too
have been underwritten by the oil industry in an attempt to gain access to
the Caspian Oil Fields. Kosovo is the World's 3rd "Oil War". Following the
Soviet discovery of the vast Chechen oilfields in the late 1970's, they
attempted to take control of Afghanistan to provide a massive pipeline
system to allow the Soviets to market their oil directly from the
Afghan-Pakistan seaport. This resulted in the decades long Soviet-Afghan
war. The Soviets were stopped by the U.S. supplied and armed insurgent
groups, including Osama bin Laden, who defeated the Soviets in the late
1980's. The Soviets had massively built up their military in the 1980's,
including the world's largest nuclear submarine fleet, gambling on the huge
profits to be made by selling their Chechen oil on the open market. When
the Afghans under bin Laden, backed by the U.S. CIA stopped the
construction of the Soviet-Afghan pipeline, the Soviet Union went through
an economic collapse and ceased to exist in 1991.

The vast Chechen oilfield still remains fallow and untapped. As identified
in "Black Gold Hot Gold," the Empire of Energy is now making a new attempt
to market the Chechen oil by carpet bombing Afghanistan and building the
Afghan pipeline.

George W. Bush's statement about declaring war on "terrorism" is obviously
hollow and sallow. It strangely does not include the terrorists in Northern
Ireland, nor even the terrorist suicide bombers among the Palestinians.
Instead it makes an instant leap of logic to aim the U.S. military directly
at Afghanistan. In this way Afghanistan is the world's 4th "Oil War". Like
a drug addict, whose supply of their drug is being compromised, they become
a pusher. George Bush, like his father, has declared the oil-dependent
American "way of life" is non-negotiable. Rather than attempt to reduce
their dependency on the black drug they want to ensure their "fix"
continues uninteruptedly.

September 11th is just being used as an excuse for "taking out the
Taliban", an event which was becoming necessary so as to give the USA a 2nd
alternative handle to shipping the oil out through Kosovo. By having two
possibilities, the USA can put pressure on Putin and the Europeans to lower
the costs of oil through the European route, by threating to take the oil
out through the Central Asian route and out through Afghanistan and
Pakistan. Why are the Bush Administration and the Pentagon so intent on
invading Afghanistan? If Bush has the "evidence" he claims, why not bring
Bin Laden before the World Court? Are they really just interested in
bringing down the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden? After all, it was the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency, along with Pakistan's intelligence forces who
helped establish the Taliban as a base of power in Afghanistan in the first
place. As recently as May 2001, George W. Bush sent the Taliban $43 million
allegedly to aid in the fight against drugs in northern Afghanistan, the
one part of the country controlled by opposition forces. Now Congress is
allocating billions more dollars for "America's new war". There's not much
new about it, however.

U.S. bombs and missiles have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in
Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan in the past two
decades alone. More often than not the aim has been to secure U.S. control
over the oil rich resources of the Middle East and southern Asia, and this
latest war drive, with the pretext of revenge for September 11, may be no
different.

Ever since the fall of the former Soviet Union ten years ago, Exxon, Mobil,
Chevron and the other big oil monopolies have been scheming to get their
hands on the vast oil and gas wealth around the Caspian Sea, just north of
Afghanistan. This region's oil reserves may reach more than 60 billion
barrels - enough to service Europe's oil needs for 11 years. Some estimates
are as high as 200 billion barrels. The Caspian Sea reserves are 10 percent
of the world's known supply - worth about $5 trillion at today's prices.

In February 1998, Unocal Corporation testified to the House Committee on
Internal Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific that the "Taliban
government in Afghanistan is an obstacle" to having an oil pipeline from
the Caspian region to the Indian Ocean - that is, through Afghanistan. In
1997, Unocal even tried to woo the Taliban with billions of dollars to
support the proposed pipeline through their country. The unrecognized
Taliban government, however, was a set back to their plans.

Having a government in Afghanistan that is beholden to U.S. interests,
along with stationing U.S. troops in the former Soviet Republics of
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, would secure the region and allow
this project to proceed. And just in time, as far as the U.S. oil companies
are concerned, because there is
international competition for the Caspian Sea oil resources.
http://www.iacenter.org/nowar_oil.htm>http://www.iacenter.org/nowar_oil.htm

As Paulo Freire says "In any oppressive situation, there is always some
free space. That free space exists where the contradictions are highest."
Oil dependency offers another alternative - the chance to seriously start
working to reduce our dependence upon it. We can break the fossil fuel
"habit". The life of future generations, human, and non human, requires it.

For the Earth

* jdcroft@yahoo.com