Uhh yeah, what he said.... AFCA: The US NEVER recognized the Taliban government, only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE did.
I don't think that has anything to do with a government. The term 'Illegal combatants' was used in prosecution before when dealing with the German spies in WWII. Germany was recognized by US at that time. My understand to that is - the government wants someone to die, real bad, but unable to do so under the regular, normal law. Therefore 'illegal combatant' was invented to facilitate that.
Let me guess - we export too much of our culture, we didn't sign the Kyoto Treaty, we don't "respect" other cultures, we're fat and rude and deserve whatever we get. Is this what you were aiming at? Or is it the simple "we support Israel too much"?
Forgot that one. Let's shut down the American economy & see what ripple effects it has on the rest of the world. BTW - are you really an American or just a visiting student?
Dante, I'm not saying you're wrong, but.... The US did sent money to the Taliban under a "destroy opium" program.
True, but the US didn't have any relationship with the Taliban in regards to oil contracts as was previously mentioned.
Okay. I dunno the exact procedure in these matters but if you are trying to make a deal with a foreign government contracts and such usually come in handy. Can you even make a deal with a government that is not 'recognized'? I read this explanation for the illegal combatants stuff in a paper. If I'm wrong please enlighten me... why are these guys illegal combatants and thus not protected in any way?
do you have an actual link from a reputable news source? I remember this being posted around the time of the initial Afghan invasion, but to say the links were from websites I could design w/ a websites for dummies book.
Don't give that 'got a link' crap. No I don't. I don't save every link I visit because I might need it as evidence. I'm 100% about one place where I read about this though. A Dutch newspaper called 'De Volkskrant'. A very well known and respected newspaper. Besides that these talks are also referred to in a book about OBL from two French guys... but that might be a bit biased for obvious reasons. And there's more places, but I wouldn't know from the top of my head.
That is actually a damn good article that everyone might be able to sympathize with. Unless the real answer is "they hate our freedoms"
You're right, back in 1997 there were and the Argentinian company Bridas was awarded the contract to build the pipeline.
Fair enough. Wonder if that Dutch newspaper cited things like this: http://www.unocal.com/uclnews/98news/centgas.htm or this: http://www.unocal.com/uclnews/98news/082198.htm See, that's the wonderful thing about the internet. It allows people who aren't completely fvcking lazy the opportunity to quickly do some research so they do not have to reach far into their ass for information
See, that's the downside of internet... 2+2 can have a million different outcomes on a million different websites. But seeing someone from unocal say on the unocal website that unocal didn't engage in any not-so-politically correct activities ends all discussion of course.
Well one would think that Bridas, and Argentinian company, acquiring the rights to build a pipeline in Afghanistan in 1997 would have ended the conversation.... oh well, anyways let's try to get back on topic.
One would think that, if one also thought that time stopped in 1997. http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cnc75005.htm http://members.localnet.com/~jeflan/jfafghanpipe.htm http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/12.30A.afgh.pipe.htm I'd frankly welcome some actual contradictions and refutations here - I happen to think the US had every reason in the world to invade Afghanistan and overthrow the Taliban. But seeing that Karzai used to work for Unocal is highly troubling here, simply on a graft and corruption level. Which Unocal ain't exactly above.
Dalai Lama spoke in Central Park yesterday. The theme was compassion and nonviolence. "The very concept of war is out of date," he said to applause. "Destruction of your neighbor as an enemy is essentially a destruction of yourself." Dalai Lama for president?