Who Is Richard Armitage
And What Is His Interest In Afghanistan?

Armitage's Central Asian Targets

"....for the foreseeable future oil will remain an essential commodity. Greater attention must therefore be given to increasing supplies of oil in ways that diversify supplies from areas other than the Persian Gulf. The most promising new source of world supplies is the Caspian region, which appears to contain the largest petroleum reserves discovered since the North Sea. This geopolitical crossroad, which includes Iran, Russia, and a number of newly-independent states struggling with post-Soviet modernization and dangers of Islamic extremism, demands more attention by American policymakers."
AMERICA’S NATIONAL INTERESTS
A Report from The Commission on America’s National Interests, July 2000
Co-authored by Richard Armitage et al [pdf]

"The confusion over what the U.S. government should be pursuing was initially caused by reports ....... about the Caspian's oil reserves constituting a strategic alternative to established resources in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere....U.S. political and economic interests can end up paying a fairly high price for compromising American principles which value clean government, fair play, and respect for human rights..... Local public resentment of U.S. regional influence is likely to occur once governments realize that the U.S. government officials they once trusted as impartial negotiators are now working for oil companies... Imagine the reaction in the region when Ambassador Maresca upon leaving government service went to work for one of the major oil companies [Unocal] lobbying Washington to ingratiate itself with Azerbaijan.... upon leaving government service, the official responsible for negotiating Section 907 language, Richard Armitage, joined many other Administration officials by enthusiastically lobbying for repeal of Section 907. Instead of observing the law, prior and present Administrations are working to circumvent it, while promising Azerbaijan that Congress would repeal it."
ASSEMBLY CHAIRMAN KRIKORIAN TESTIFIES AT SENATE CASPIAN OIL HEARING
Armenian Assembly of America, Press Release 8 July 1998

"Like current Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Khalilzad was a paid adviser to UNOCAL Corp., a U.S. oil company that was competing for Taliban approval to construct a $2 billion gas and oil pipeline across Afghanistan."
Zalmay Khalilzad - The Neocon's Bagman to Baghdad
CounterPunch, 17 April 2003

"Unocal has intriguing connections with Afghanistan and Iraq. It has been widely reported that Zalmay Khalilzad, former US ambassador to Afghanistan and now US Ambassador to Iraq, while working for Cambridge Energy Research Associates in the mid-1990s, conducted risk analyses for Unocal on its ill-fated project to build a US$2 billion natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan. Other notables involved in this effort included Robert Oakley (of Iran-Contra fame), Henry Kissinger and Richard Armitage. In December 1997, Unocal Texas hosted Taliban officials during a US tour (during the Taliban period, completion of the pipeline would have required their cooperation)."
Let Unocal take care of itself
Asia Times, 16 July 2005

"Mr. Chairman, the Caspian region contains tremendous untapped hydrocarbon reserves......[one] option is to build a pipeline south from Central Asia to the Indian Ocean. One obvious route south would cross Iran, but this is foreclosed for American companies because of U.S. sanctions legislation. The only other possible route is across Afghanistan, which has of course its own unique challenges..... From the outset, we have made it clear that construction of the pipeline we have proposed across Afghanistan could not begin until a recognized government is in place that has the confidence of governments, lenders, and our company.....The 1,040-mile long oil pipeline would extend south through Afghanistan to an export terminal that would be constructed on the Pakistan coast."
U.S. INTERESTS IN THE CENTRAL ASIAN REPUBLICS,
HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA AND THE PACIFIC OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 12 February 1998 - evidence by Mr. John J. Maresca, vice president of international relations, Unocal Corporation (US oil company)

"....Central Asia now is a repository for a lot of oil. We have the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan, places of that nature. It seems to me that this is going to give us many more choices and certainly lessen somewhat our dependency on the Persian Gulf for oil but oil is a valuable commodity and any shortage anywhere affects all of us whether you live in Brisbane or whether you live in Adelaide or whether you live in Washington DC and it's going to be a factor for some time to come."
Interview with Richard Armitage, US Deputy Secretary of State
18 Feb 2002, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

"The CPC [Caspian Pipeline Consortium] project also advances my Administration's National Energy Policy by developing a network of multiple Caspian pipelines .... These projects will help diversify U.S. energy supply and enhance our energy security, while supporting global economic growth."
George Bush, White House Press Release, 28 Nov 2001

"The United States-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (USACC) has just been established in Washington, D.C. Their goal is to promote and advance the development of business and commerce between the US and Azerbaijan. The Chamber will facilitate the entry of US businesses into Azerbaijan's market, serve as a liaison between them and the Azerbaijani government, as well as help Azerbaijani businesses connect to markets here in the US. The Chamber extends deep appreciation to the following companies which have contributed to its establishment: Amoco, BP America, Chevron, Exxon, Mobil, Occidental, Panalpina, and Unocal. Board of Directors [include].... Ambassador Richard Armitage, Armitage Asscociates.... John Imle, President, Unocal Corporation..."
Azerbaijan International, Spring 1996 (4.1)

"In July 1997, Turkmenistan signed a memorandum of understanding with Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan to build a Central Asia Gas pipeline to carry 0.7 Tcf of natural gas per year via Afghanistan to Pakistan (and possibly on to India). In October 1997, Unocal set up the Central Asian Gas Pipeline (Centgas) consortium to build the pipeline, which would run 900 miles from the Turkmen natural gas deposit at Dauletabad through Kandahar, Afghanistan, and terminate in the Pakistani city of Multan. The pipeline was estimated to cost $2 billion.... On August 22, 1998, Unocal suspended construction plans for the pipeline due to the continuing civil war in Afghanistan and the U.S. missile attacks on suspected terrorist training camps. In April 1999, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan agreed to reactivate the Centgas project, and to ask the Centgas consortium, now led by Saudi Arabia's Delta Oil, to proceed, but continuing fighting in Afghanistan, as well as sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the United Nations on Afghanistan, kept the project on hold. Until recently, the pipeline was considered effectively dead, but with a fragile peace in Afghanistan established and the Taliban removed from power, the idea of a trans-Afghan pipeline has been revived. Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai have expressed their support for the pipeline, and Uzbek President Islam Karimov is also on record advocating the pipeline. In May 2002, Karzai, Niyazov, and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf held trilateral talks on the pipeline proposal."
Caspian Sea Region: Natural Gas Export Options
US Energry Information Administration, July 2002

"Enron's export plan remains the most ambitious attempted so far by a foreign investor in Uzbekistan: a deal signed in 1996 gave it the rights to explore 11 fields in the Surkhandariya and Bukhara region. The proposed project called for an initial investment of $300 mn that would reach $1.3 bn over the next 20 years. The US government funded a feasibility study for the project, coupled with a pledge of $400 mm financing and insurance support [the largest U.S. goverment backed Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC) investment in Central Asia at that time, nlpwessex]. The aim was to see gas flowing through the existing infrastructure to markets in Russia and elsewhere [i.e including southern asia via Afghanistan and Pakistan, nlpwessex] from the fields as early as 1998.... Like other Central Asian countries, double-landlocked Uzbekistan is keen to develop alternative export routes to the Russian pipeline system.... Ambitions of linking into a southern export pipeline crossing Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan to deliver gas to Pakistan have vanished for the time being, now that project sponsor Unocal has put it on the back burner.... Uzbekistan signed an MoU with the countries involved to participate in the project. But in August the Taliban consolidated its control over Afghanistan by capturing key northern towns previously under the control of ethnic Uzbek leader Rashid Dostum. Uzbekistan is extremely concerned at the growing strength of the Taliban and its potential impact on stability in Uzbekistan, making any future co-operation on a pipeline project which benefits the Taliban unlikely."
Uzbekistan has difficulties finding venues for its gas
Alexanders Oil and Gas Connections
Volume 3, issue #27 - 10-12-1998

"This tender is part of an aggressive oil and natural gas investment bid launched by Uzbekistan on April 28, 2000, when President Karimov decreed that foreign companies involved in exploring and extracting oil and gas in Uzbekistan would receive tax exemptions and options to produce any oil or natural gas they discover within a set period of time. ...With estimated natural gas reserves of 66.2 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), Uzbekistan is the second largest natural gas producer in the Commonwealth of Independent States (after Russia) and one of the top ten natural gas-producing countries in the world."
Central Asia: Uzbekistan Energy Sector
US Energy Information Administration, May 2002

"..Atul Davda, who worked as a senior director for Enron's International Division until the company's collapse, confirmed to The ENQUIRER: 'Enron had intimate contact with Taliban officials. Building the pipeline [across Afghanistan] was one of the corporation's prime objectives.' As The ENQUIRER revealed two weeks ago, Enron secretly employed CIA agents to carry out its dealings overseas.... an FBI source told The ENQUIRER: 'Enron and Unocal dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into Afghanistan and the Taliban. The pipeline would relieve our dependence on Saudi Arabia -- and Enron would make billions.'... The visit [to Texas in 1997 at the invitation of Enron and Unocal] was aimed at getting Taliban cooperation to build the pipeline, which would carry vast gas and oil deposits from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Enron had exclusive contracts with the former Russian republics, according to another former Enron employee. The pipeline was to travel through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian Ocean. "
Enron gave Taliban $millions
National Enquirer, Monday March 4, 2002

"So what was the UK's 'national security adviser' doing in America on Sept 11? Was his visit prompted by the terrorist threat that Tony Blair now confirms 'everybody knew' was being planned? Despite his de facto status as Blair's special envoy on foreign affairs and security matters the US State Department appointment records show no scheduled meetings for Manning with Secretary Powell himself during the days immediately prior to the attacks. Those records do, however, show that he was meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage on September 10th. Armitage is second in command to Colin Powell who left for a trip to Peru later that day, meaning that the Bush administration's principal 'dove' was out of the country when the attacks happened. In Powell's absence 'when the storm breaks [on 911] Richard Armitage... is at its heart' according to the BBC's Edward Stourton (Radio 4, 27 August: 'With Us or Against Us'). So who is Richard Armitage? Described by Stourton as a 'bulldog diplomat', Armitage has had a 'colourful' previous history. This embraces alleged covert operations with the CIA, including illegal arms and drug running on behalf of the US government. Those activities include illicit dealings with people within what is now know as the 'axis of evil' (see links at bottom of page). He was also deputy to Dick Cheney when the Vice President was Secretary of Defense in the previous Bush administration. However, Armitage's wider interests are especially pertinent to the situation that had developed in Afghanistan by the summer of 2001. As Armitage himself has publicly acknowledged the energy reserves of the Caspian Sea region are of great strategic importance to America and its allies in the industrialised world. But they also appear to be of some personal importance to Armitage himself. A report by the US National Bureau of Asian Research cites an article in the Washington Times 28 July 1997 which lists Armitage, along with Dick Cheney, as having business or consulting interests in the Caspian zone. It is also claimed that Armitage was contracted by US oil and gas corporation Unocal to work on Central Asia pipeline interests in 1997 when he was head of Armitage Associates (also at Armitage Associates was Peter Watson, previously Director of Asian Affairs at the National Security Council in the first Bush administration. Watson was appointed President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) by George W. Bush in 2001. OPIC provides political risk insurance and loans to US companies operating overseas 'because it is in America's economic and strategic interest'. Since Watson's appointment, in a deal worth $350 million, Unocal has absorbed nearly the whole of the allocation of an OPIC joint initiative with the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency for US business investment in Indonesia . The allocation had been announced September 2001. The deal is despite Unocal's human rights record and allegations that State Department documents indicate the company's involvement in 'corruption, collusion and nepotism' in several billion-dollar power plant deals with the Suharto government. Similar allegations have also been made against Enron). The importance of Afghanistan in this context was spelt out in evidence given to a congressional hearing in 1998 by Unocal's Vice President for International Relations, John Maresca: 'Mr. Chairman, the Caspian region contains tremendous untapped hydrocarbon reserves......[one] option is to build a pipeline south from Central Asia to the Indian Ocean. One obvious route south would cross Iran, but this is foreclosed for American companies because of U.S. sanctions legislation. The only other possible route is across Afghanistan, which has of course its own unique challenges..... From the outset, we have made it clear that construction of the pipeline we have proposed across Afghanistan could not begin until a recognized government is in place that has the confidence of governments, lenders, and our company.....' Unfortunately efforts by the Bush administration to reach a deal with the Taliban over the proposed pipeline collapsed in the summer of 2001. No longer willing to tolerate an impasse the US government threatened Afghanistan with military action during at a meeting which the BBC reports took place in Berlin in July. According to one representative of Pakistan who attended the meeting a US attack on Afghanistan was already planned for October. Thanks to the special 'skills' of US diplomacy, therefore, it seems that the first overt provocation in the west's new war with the Taliban was made by the US in Berlin in July 2001, and not by al-Qaeda in New York on Sept 11. It is something of an understatement to say that in the history of international affairs it is not unknown for provocation to produce response. Given the threat made by the US in July, it would be reasonable to have expected trouble there onwards. The intelligence picked up by the British and other governments last summer would seem to confirm this. This brings us back to Sir David Manning's meeting in Washington with Armitage on September 10. Presumably Manning also had other meetings in Washington that day, although with whom it is not clear. Neither is the purpose of his visit. Was he in fact passing on specific intelligence information about the impending terrorist attacks? It is certainly possible. By coincidence or otherwise Newsweek magazine reported 24 September that on that same day 'a group of top Pentagon officials suddenly canceled travel plans for the next morning, apparently because of security concerns.' It would be interesting to know what, if any, security issues relating to America where discussed by Manning during his pre-Sept 11 meetings in Washington and whether they involved any specific intelligence."
'The Special Relationship' - Armitage And The UK National Security Adviser
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'Fight Smart', 28 August 2002

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