Is it time to ask what Shelby was doing in the middle east in June 2001?

[The Backlash Cometh]

After the 9/11 attacks, in an effort to understand the "why," I searched newspaper archives and read old articles. I came across one which I've never seen discussed on DU, but in lieu of what O'Neill is saying about the Bush Administration desiring a premediated attack on Iraq, I think the time has come to look closer at Richard Shelby's little visit to the Middle East in June 2001.

Here's the article:

June 26, 2001
Vernon Loeh Washington Post Staff Writer
Page A15

"U.S. Has Bin Laden 'On the Run,' Sen. Shelby Says"

Back from a six-country tour of the Persian Gulf, Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala) believes U.S. counterterrorism officials are winning the war against Saudi extremist Osama bin Laden.

It's not always easy to understand how, since bin Laden and other Islamic fundamentalists clearly have the U.S. military on edge. Whatever terrorist groups attacked the USS Cole last October has succeeded in driving the Navy away from the Yemeni port of Aden. And the circulation of a bin Laden propaganda video in the Middle East last week, coupled with reports of increased activity by individuals linked to bin Laden, put U.S. forces on the highest state of alert throughout the region.

But Shelby, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a recent interview that bin Laden is the one who's on edge.

"He's on the run, and I think he will continue to be on the run, because we are not going to let up," Shelby said.

"I don't think you could say he's got us hunkered down. I believe he's more hunkered down," Shelby said. "He's moved and tried to be one step ahead of our inelligence on where he might be. He knows he's hunted, and he's not exactly strolling down the streets of London of Paris or Berlin, shopping."

<There are three more paragraphs worthwhile reading and you can find the rest of the article in the WP archives (which you have to buy)>

[cosmicdot]

1. a google found this site

and, what appears to be the full article

http://www.yaislah.org/pressrev/EN26june01.htm

After meeting with U.S. intelligence and law enforcement personnel throughout the region, Shelby said that he thinks the CIA has made progress in hiring case officers who look and talk like natives of the region.

"They're doing a lot better -- I've seen it," Shelby said. "But they've got a long way to go."

on edit:
the WP article can be found here
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A45532-2001Jun25¬Found=true

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Atleast we know that they were keeping tabs on Osama before 9/11

The questions that come to mind are:

1) Did Cheney put Osama on the back burner so he could push his oil deals? or

2) Did Cheney force the Osama issue with the Taliban so he could push his oil deals and, therefore, trigger the chain of events that led to 9/11?