Well, I could have just have said that The New York Times ran that article about Unocal. I remember very well reading the article (pointed to me by a colleague with whom I had been discussing this). But since my memory could fail me in the details, and I didn't want to be the blamed of lying in case the newspaper was The Washington Post and/or the company was Exxon-Mobil (for example), I was a bit vague on purpose.
But the point is that the signing of that agreement while heavy fighting was still going on, and no truly stable government existed, looks a lot like "rushing" to me.
If you have not seen any evidence of this "rushing" it may be because you haven't read all the back pages on the newspapers (I don't do either, but sometimes by chance you run into these news). Many of these news are very far form the front page, and probably never make it to the TV.
You can probably find the reports if you search for Unocal on the news websites.
Along a different line, many of the people that now loudly denounce the Taliban for its ties to terrorism and/or its brutality didn't say a word when US oil companies invited Taliban representatives to Texas (probably treating them to the best and most expensive hospitality) to negotiate the pipeline construction. The same can be said about the now high-principled Rumsfeld, Chenney and Co. and their recent talk about Iraq. All principles go out the window when big profits can be made, especially from oil and weapons.
by Rafael Gomez on September 26, 2002 at 6:19 PM