From the chatter on the web, it’s clear that there are still a few diehard Bush/Blair supporters out there who believe this is about democracy and security.
I hate to disillusion such people, but everyone should be aware of this document:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/bushlay12.html
(This was released with other Enron court documents. To anyone covering the Enron story, it meant very little. Now, however….)
…and here’s the full text:
Kenneth L. Lay
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Enron Corp.
P.O. Box 1188
Houston, TX 77251-1188
713-853-6773
Fax 713-853-5313
April 3, 1997
Via Fax: 512/463-1849
The Honorable George W. Bush
Governor of the State of Texas
PO Box 12428
Austin, Texas
Dear George,
You will be meeting with Ambassador Sadyq Safaev, Uzbekistan’s Ambassador to the United States, on April 8th. Ambassador Safaev has been Foreign Minister and the senior advisor to President Karimov before assuming his nation’s most significant foreign responsibility.
Enron has established an office in Tashkent and we are negotiating a $2 billion joint venture with Neftegas of Uzbekistan and Gazprom of Russia to develop Uzbekistan’s natural gas and transport it to markets in Europe, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. This project can bring significant economic opportunities to Texas, as well as Uzbekistan. The political benefits to the United States and to Uzbekistan are important to that entire region.
Ambassador Safaev is one of the most effective of the Washington Corps of Ambassadors, a man who has the attention of his president, and a person who works daily to bring our countries together. For all these reasons, I am delighted that the two of you are meeting.
I know you and Ambassador Safaev will have a productive meeting which will result in a friendship between Texas and Uzbekistan.
Sincerely,
Ken
Natural gas. Electricity. Endless possibilities.
And I'm Mary Poppins… ("No, *I'm* Mary Poppins!")
1. As Wibbler notes in a previous comment, "Craig Murray" is one of the most popular blog-specific searches today. We have right-wing bloggers to thank for at least 30% of this activity. Well done, lads! 2. Chin-wiping cheerleader Michelle Malkin…
My Thoughts on Murray
After a day on treacherous roads, I come home to find many emails alerting me that Craig Murray is back in the news. The blogosphere is going nuts over his release of documents regarding intelligence obtained from the Uzbek government through torture….
"?There are still a few diehard Bush/Blair supporters out there who believe this is about democracy and security?"
These stupid Left coast democrats are decidedly blind to the beauty of Nixonian efficacy: ah the Halcyon days of "forward leaning" government when you could eavesdrop ad lib on those pinko fifth columnists and other torture yellow men without restraint!
When in doubt, veterans of the Nixon administration such as Dick Cheney recommend to err on the side of more power to the executive branch. And the man has a point: why not err on the side of security? After all, to err is human, and the American people are just fallible earthlings?
And if we have to give up either security or freedom, we should surely give up freedom as professor Abraham Maslow brilliantly argued in his hierarchy of human needs and motivations ? blah blah blah
In a 1979 interview, Lillian Hellman said the following on McCarthy, Nixon and their disciples:
"We were now facing a world we had never known before and had not expected?They were men cashing in in a quite scandalous way on perhaps normal and expected fears?McCarthy could have only sprung out of a certain war hysteria. I think something worse could happen in the future"
Prescient words in many ways?
DR VICTORINO DE LA VEGA
Love the way he addresses the future Dear Leader: "You WILL be meeting with Ambassador Sadyq Safaev …"
Bush, you are my beeyotch!
We in the U.S. apologize again … we let him steal TWO elections.