Sabotage was hot on the lips of FOX News employees and Rush Limbaugh on April 30. Both, seemed to indicate a connection of the oil rig disaster to environmentalists who want all offshore drilling stopped.
Both Fox and Limbaugh of course were slammed by the left since, the idea came from FOX and Rush Limbaugh.
Sabotage theory over and done? Not so fast.
Let's consider the possibility of sabotage, shall we? After all, not even BP, Halliburton, or Transocean can say with any certainty, WHAT happened to the oil rig. In fact, if you watch BP slip-sliding, you'd think the entire event has fallen on their head from the sky in a vacuum.
Everyone who watches CSI, or SVU, or any crime show, knows that for a legal case to even be considered by a grand jury, there must be motive, and opportunity. These two, before moving on with the presentation of credible evidence.
Let's admit, there is no credible evidence of sabotage at this time. There is an oil rig resting 5,000 feet down on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, period.
Yes, environmentalists have a motive to discredit big oil as an industry, to do away with all drilling offshore. But motive to blow up or sabotage an oil rig? That seems a little weak; something akin to an ardent foe of nuclear power, causing a melt-down to prove his point. Deep insanity would be required, disregard for the very thing - the environment - environmentalists are trying to protect. Maybe? But, highly unlikely in my view.
And opportunity? There were no reports of bandit Greenpeace or other mystery enviro-pirate ships on April 20. Rush fails to mention this little tid-bit. It seriously decreases the opportunity for enviro-pirate-terrorist in this case, unless they worked for the oil contractors. Again? Likely? No. This sort of folk would likely not gravitate to the oil industry. I should know. I am an environmentally conscious person with a degree in geological oceanography. I went into the Peace Corps following a conference of Oil Industry execs in 1986 in Huston. I just could not plod down that road toward oil corps., following that meeting. The ocean is not a toilet. This is how the hard core enviro-freaks think. I should know.
Whereas, there is another party or parties, who may have a STRONGER motive, and opportunity for such action.
A read of Halliburton Watch is fascinating as it is illuminating. According to this source, which quotes heavily from New York Times and The Wall Street Journal archives and a compiler for Citizenworks.org, Halliburton saw an surge in revenue from 51 percent to 68 percent coming from overseas operations in 1995. Work overseas, continued to provide them lucrative contracts in Lybia, Iran, and Iraq, right up to and through the Gulf Wars I and II.
By 1997, with Dick Chaney as one of Halliburton's top execs, we see Halliburton gear up politically, according to Halliburtonwatch.
"Cheney contributes to the creation of an influential right-wing policy group called the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). The group advocates for the removal of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime as early as January 1998, and is later revealed to be the intellectual center of the drive to war in Iraq."
Their tenure in Iraq has not been without some controversy, here is only one example:
Halliburton continues to enjoy its profitable association with overseas conflict, and overseas drilling. War is business. Note "The number one recipient of contracts was Cheney's Halliburton."
So much so, it was announced in 2007 that the company was moving its headquarters to (wait for it) Dubai. A lot of people live in Dubai and enjoy the tax breaks found there. It is also, arguably, a world class haven for terrorists.
US citizen Feisal Schhzad, suspect in the Times Square bombing attempt May 2, had a ticket to Dubai and was on a plane bound for Dubai when he was apprehended by federal authorities. Authorities are conjecturing he was bound ultimately for Pakistan, but, produce no evidence.
The attempted attack certainly took the oil slick off the front page. The media of course, assumes that the ultimate goal of the bomb, like many bombs, was to actually detonate and kill.
Sometimes an undetonated bomb, or a bomb exploded on an unoccupied aka "soft" target, can produce whatever desired affect is necessary, terror, chaos, diversion, without the bloodshed.
I say this as a former Peace Corps volunteer to Honduras Central America, having been on the scene hours after our office was bombed by alleged members of the Fuente Morazonista Populares. The bombing left many questions, was destructive to our building, and yet not one "hated gringo" person was injured, as it took place at 4 a.m, Dec. 20, 1988.
Counter-intelligence wears many faces. It was rife in Honduras when I was there. There were no clear answers. And, incidently in December 1988, where was Dick Cheney, former Chief of Staff to Gerald Ford? He was on the short list to replace Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci, by the Bush I administration, the post he took over, just three months later. Carlucci was also later a member of PNAC.
Cheney was Defense Sec. when Panama was invaded - Operation Just Cause - nearly a year to the day after the Peace Corps office bombing. Roughly a year later, Dick Cheney was still Defense Sec when we invaded Iraq for the first time - Operation Desert Storm - at the head of a coalition. The invasion of Iraq bumped the hotly-publicized Manuel Noriega trial well off the front pages everywhere. At that time, Noriega was making allegations against the Bush I administration, and their alleged drugs/drug profits for guns for Contras program. I attended the trial after my service in the Peace Corps, while living in Miami, and working on a novel about Honduras.
Cheney was Vice President during the 9-11 attack by Al Quada, and still vice president when we invaded Iraq the second time during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
Between his tenure with the Bush I White House, and the Bush II White House, Cheney was the CEO for Halliburton. He had been in the perfect place during his stint as Defense Sec, to see the possibilities of Middle East war profits. His connections within the intelligence community were and remain unparalleled. This is hardly the first time someone has said this.
Halliburton is only one in any number of contractors depending on our continued involvement within the Middle East for riches. Halliburton prides itself on its ability to support troops on the ground during the war. It is perfectly situated in the oil community to provide cement for oil rigs. There are many oil rigs in the middle east and on other foreign soils. In dealing with foreign countries many of whom do not recognize our customs and laws, the opportunity for enrichment is boundless.
On Deep Horizon, "Halliburton's was providing a number of services on the rig including cementing," said New York Times on May 4, in the article On Defense "BP Readies Dome to Contain Spill."
FBR Research market rating firm cut both Halliburton and Transocean ratings from Outperform to Market Perform based largely on anticipated results of an investigation into the tragedy. FBR report quoted in the NYT article "Our current theory is that an incomplete isolation by the cement allowed a buildup of annular pressure which contributed to a casing collapse."
In the paraphrasing words of the NYT " a bad cement job could have been one of the problems."
Sabotage, and incompetence, are often times hard to distinguish from one another. Those with experience in intelligence and counter-intelligence, know this, use this, live this.
The oil rig explosion and sinking in deep water makes the hunt for answers even harder than in shallow waters. That is such an understatement. Any SCUBA diver knows that for every 33 feet of depth in seawater, one atmosphere of pressure (14.7 pounds per square inch) is added. That means that the ambient pressures exerted by the seawater where the rig now lies submerged is more than 2,000 pounds for every square inch of surface area. The water is likely at or just above freezing 1 degree Celsius. The area where the rig can be found is also, likely soft sands, muds and silts in that is in the underwater alluvial fan of the Mississippi River delta.
Answers will come first and perhaps entirely from the surviving crew members and they are already pointing to problems with Cheney's Haliburton, but NYT would, strangely not say the FB found fault with Halliburton, despite the damning quote concerning the cement job previously mentioned in the article.
It should be noted a Transocean employee was thought to have been "rushing" the job of closing off the well, just before the explosion, according to a survivor quoted by NYT.
The oil rig sank. This is a fact. It's firey collapse into the sea is now world news. California's republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has pulled his support for offshore drilling.
Despite push-back from the left, President Barack Obama has said a green energy economy is necessary. First step in that is energy independence, which, sadly and short sightedly, in my opinion, includes drilling for oil in places where it has not been sought before.
Following this event? Those plans are less certain. However the energy needs of our society do not cease, they demand more and more and more.
Where do we turn for energy, if drilling at home in the offshore becomes unthinkable?
The Middle East all over again.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fl) on CNBC May 4; "I think the President's five-year plan is dead on arrival on the hill."
A special hearing is being convened for May 5, tomorrow, concerning the oil spill.
No comments:
Post a Comment