Africa: Oil, al-Qaeda and the US military

[dArKeR]

Africa's Maghreb and Sahel regions recently exploded into world view with allegations that the Madrid bombers were tied to those areas' "al Qaeda" groups. And while United States concerns about terrorism in the region have been increasingly voiced, critics of the administration of President George W Bush say that the ongoing US pursuit of energy resources lies behind them. As early as the fall of 2002, Britain's Economist magazine charged that oil "is the only American interest in Africa".

In a fall 2003 interview with Asia Times Online, noted US security analyst Michael Klare, author of Resource Wars, had warned of America's potential African involvement. When queried as to where the next oil flash point might be after Iraq, Klare replied: "I've been looking at Africa. It's heating up over there."

Illustrating the basis for such statements, in 2001 Vice President Dick Cheney's report on a US National Energy Policy declared Africa to be one of America's "fastest-growing sources of oil and gas". By February 1, 2002, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Walter Kansteiner, declared: "This has become of national strategic interest to us." And a December 2001 report by the US National Intelligence Council, Global Trends 2015, forecast that by 2015 a full quarter of US oil imports would come from Africa.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FC30Aa02.html

[kalian]

1. Its amazing isn't it?

How AQ appears to sit right on top of those oil reserves....
:eyes:

[DulceDecorum]

2. Al qaeda, cannibals, voodoo and oil

all seem to go hand in hand.
Once you kill off the cannibals and the voodoo-people, then all you have do is get rid of the terrorists and the oil is there for the taking.

This most excellent blog will help keep you informed.
http://africanoilpolitics.blogspot.com/

[Monmartre]

3. Oil Revenue is for Dictators

Global Witness accused Angola's President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, of keeping large sums in bank accounts abroad. It also disclosed that Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang calls oil revenues a "state secret" while he keeps oil companies' payments in a bank in Washington DC under his own name.