A chance to look back on another war that didn’t need to happen, we are told by the last foreign minister of pre-occupation Afghanistan that the government repeatedly offered to “resolve the Osama issue” before 9/11 by offering to arrest him and present him for trial at an international court for his role in attacks on US facilities in the 1990s. The US refused.
Former CIA official Robert Grenier confirmed the offers, but said the US was not interested because they considered the offers “a ploy.”
Click here to read more on the pre-9/11 ambivalence at al-Jazeera
Just remember also that George W Bush gave several months before to the Taliban 160,000,000 dollars to increase there efforts to destroy Opium poppy fields. So there was dialogue and trusted Dialogue between the Governments.
Unfortunatly all the coulda, woulda, shouldas didnt happen and because of it there are millions dead, in the US, Afghanistan, Iraq and the many other countries that have suffered because of Terrorism!
It was never about OSB it was all lies to get the American public to support an illegal war.There still has never been a real fair investigation.When will the American government ever let a real investrgation be done?Probably never they have to much told to much lies and were involved in september 11.The news had OSB named within hours with no investigation.He was there fall guy that they made tapes of someone that looks a bit like him only to latter admit they were not him and fakes.Everthing they said has been lies.
I'm not convinced that the U.S. thought Taliban overtures to solve the Osama bin Laden impasse was a "ploy." While in Kandahar in 1997, I had the opportunity to interview the Taliban Foreign Minister Mutawakhil. He talked of numerous offers made to the administration for the extradition of OBL. He said that OBL was under virtual house arrest to preclude him initiating operations against any country from Afghan soil. At the conclusion of the interview, he said that "I think your country wants war with Afghanistan."
I believe, after doing some research on the proposed Trans-Afghan-Pipeline (TAP), failed negotiations between Taliban and UNOCAL for constructing the pipeline was the motive force that led to regime change, and for war.
With Taliban deposed, America's Northern Alliance allies were more than delighted with the defeat of the Taliban and their subsequent ascendance fro a motly gang of narco lords and collaboratore to American financed fat-city.
I agree with you 100% about their intention to surrender OBL to international court, however, we have another liar here (The Lion) who I guess is a Fed claim G.W.Bush offered the Taliban $ 160 Millions to erradicate the opium fields which is total lie and the opposite is the true story. Taliban erradicated the opium fields in Afghanistan which made the CIA & the Pakistani Intelligence Agency very furious because they depended on exporting Heroin to supply their operation. Depite the Taliban being premitive group but they are very smart & intelligent people.
Think of all the struggling defense contractors who would have continued to struggle if Dubya had taken up the Taliban's offer. Think of all the local police forces that would have not been able to purchase all the weapons and high-tech civilian suppressing tools if Bushco had decided that endless war was really not a very good idea. Think of all the chest-thumping demagogues in Congress who would not have been (so easily) able to push their fears and narrow thinking so deeply into the American psyche.
Think of all those kids who would not have grown up thinking that war and occupation are normal states of being for America.
Dick Cheney, George W, Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, etc – ALL should be on trial for WAR CRIMES.
Bil Clinton also refused when Sudan offered bin Laden on a platter in exchange for taking the country off of the States Sponsors of Terrorism list. This was back in the late 1990s.
This decade following the 9/11 attacks have been considered the decade of Bin Laden, though David Miliband has written a piece, to be found on Project Syndicate, underlining many alternate realities which can be considered of more importance, and why aggrandizing Bin Laden was a bad idea,
Find the article here, http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/milib…
This decade following the 9/11 attacks have been considered the decade of Bin Laden, though David Miliband has written a piece, to be found on Project Syndicate, underlining many alternate realities which can be considered of more importance, and why aggrandizing Bin Laden was a bad idea,
Read more here, http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/milib…
They didn't want to lose a useful and convenient boogyman.
Lose bin Laden? Then we'd have to come up with another excuse for attacking Iraq.
Oh but we could have used 'to prevent Saddam Hussein from massacring the Marsh Arabs' as a pretext- oh wait, we encouraged him to do that. My bad.