Report Says Africans Harbored Al Qaeda (washingtonpost.com)

After vowing to go after countries that help terrorists and failing to find any support for the rediculous charge that Iraq has supported al Qaeda, there is no comment from the administration as proof emerges that Liberia and Burkina Faso were the biggest supporters after 9/11.

Investigators from several countries concluded that President Charles Taylor of Liberia received a $1 million payment for arranging to harbor the operatives, who were in the region for at least two months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The terrorists moved between a protected area in Liberia and the presidential compound in neighboring Burkina Faso, investigators say.

Recent reports that the administration will increase attention and support to west Africa because of future oil production may be behind the lack of comment.

In October Peacework Magazine had Africa: The New Oil and Military Frontier writting about the Bush Administration's oil-driven foreign policy objectives as recommended by the newly created African Oil Policy Initiative Group (AOPIG).

In January of this year a symposium sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies (a Jerusalem-based think tank) was held in Washington to discuss "African Oil and US National Security Priorities," as Africa is quickly becoming the new oil frontier for the US.

AOPIG recommendations are divided into three categories: Energy Security, Developmental Strategies, and Regional Security--all encompassing the same theme of securing oil and strategic mineral resources.

The December Issue of Socialist Review had this article: The new scramble for Africa.

In the middle of last month a group of oil executives, US government officials and African politicians met in Houston, Texas, to organise a new carve-up of Africa's resources. The background is a scramble for oil that is reshaping western policy towards West Africa.

This meeting confirmed a trend that has been accelerating sharply. In September George W Bush held meetings with the presidents of 11 African states, all of them oil producers or allied closely to oil producers.

Why the focus on West Africa?

U.S. Oil Executive Optimistic About Finds in West Africa
Sees Equatorial Guinea as Kuwait of West Africa

In the not too distant future, West Africa will be producing more barrels of oil per day than the world's largest oil producer, Saudi Arabia, predicted Gene Van Dyke, president and chief executive officer of VANCO Energy Corporation.