anyone remember when bush* gave $MILLIONS to osama in May 2001?

[diamond14]

it was some kind of US Foreign Aid to stop growing poppies...wish I had a link to the story....in May 2001? mostly I recall the American outrage at this bush* aid to osama, people screaming that $$ would be used for terrorism, etc....


anyone have a link? will this be brought up by 9/11 commission?

[Bertha Venation]

1. vaguely, but I thought it was just given to the taliban

:shrug:

I'll follow this thread. You might unearth something.

[wyldwolf]

2. here

http://www.robertscheer.com/1_natcolumn/01_columns/052201.htm

[diamond14]

8. thanks!...$43 Million to the taliban, who were harboring osama...

wonder why this wasn't brought up during the 9/11 hearings today...maybe tomorrow it'll be brought up...I often thought that this bush* 'AID' was used to pay for the 9/11 attacks....

-snips-

Bush's Faustian Deal With the Taliban
By Robert Scheer
Published May 22, 2001 in the Los Angeles Times


That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban's estimation, are most human activities, but it's the ban on drugs that catches this administration's attention.

Never mind that Osama bin Laden still operates the leading anti-American terror operation from his base in Afghanistan, from which, among other crimes, he launched two bloody attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998.

Sadly, the Bush administration is cozying up to the Taliban regime at a time when the United Nations, at U.S. insistence, imposes sanctions on Afghanistan because the Kabul government will not turn over Bin Laden.

The Taliban fanatics, economically and diplomatically isolated, are at the breaking point, and so, in return for a pittance of legitimacy and cash from the Bush administration, they have been willing to appear to reverse themselves on the growing of opium. That a totalitarian country can effectively crack down on its farmers is not surprising. But it is grotesque for a U.S. official, James P. Callahan, director of the State Department's Asian anti-drug program, to describe the Taliban's special methods in the language of representative democracy: "The Taliban used a system of consensus-building," Callahan said after a visit with the Taliban, adding that the Taliban justified the ban on drugs "in very religious terms."

http://www.robertscheer.com/1_natcolumn/01_columns/052201.htm

[nostamj]

3. it was not Osama

the bushies wanted to make an oil deal with the Taliban

remember: carpets of gold or carpets of bombs

you need to read some Ted Rall on Afghani realities....

[whistle]

4. Shouldn't this count as treason...

...in light of what is being revealed now about Bush and the whole White House operation?:think:

[proud patriot]

5. 43 million to the taliban in may of 2001

[kiahzero]

6. No, because it is a myth.

It was given to the UN and NGOs.

As we have noted many times, President Bush granted $43 million in food aid and food security programs to relieve an impending famine in Afghanistan in May 2001, continuing an aid program initiated by President Clinton. The programs were administered directly by the United Nations and NGOs, bypassing the regime.

http://www.spinsanity.org/post.html?2003_02_23_archive.html

[Imajika]

7. I don't think the millions were to Osama

I thought this story was about 43 million or so in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

Its been years since I looked at this, but what I remember reading wasn't nearly as bad as some people made it sound.

I could be wrong, but I thought it was just an installment of humanitarian aid that the Bush administration decided to go ahead with.

Imajika