By Carl Bagh: Subscribe to Carl's RSS feed
July 29, 2010 10:48 AM EDT
An assassination plot fabricated by insurgents in Afghanistan which included replacing beer with sulfuric acid to poison American soldiers, as revealed by Wikileaks set of recently leaked documents, gained credence as a US geologist confirmed a similar assault to the media.
James Yeager, an American geologist who was part of a mult-ibillion dollar mining contract in Afghanistan, confirmed that in 2007 his residence in Kabul was broken into and the burglar escaped with money but left a bottle of Corona beer.
Yeager, a geochemist, later found the bottle to be filled with sulfuric acid or battery acid. Wikileaks had reported the unraveling of similar plot by Pakistan's ISI spy outfit in 2007, which included poisoning alcoholic drinks consumed by American soldiers.
The multibillion dollar bid was swapped by Chinese state-backed mining company for $3.5 billion. The mine in question is the Aynak copper deposit in Logar Province south of Kabul. James Yeager a former adviser to Ministry of Mines had contested the deal on the grounds of lack of independence and transparency of the bidding process. He had later published a 78 page document compiling details as to how deal was maneuvered in China's favor.
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However Yeager's admission, reported by Christian Science Monitor, fails to attest Wikileaks findings as the cited case of poisoning and points more in the direction of acute corruption that has permeated the Afghanistan's government.
Also a report last month suggested that U.S. geologitsts and Pentagon officals uncovered extensive reserves of precious minerals such as lithium, gold, copper, iron, valued at around $1 trillion. One is intrigued with the timing of Yeager's confession now.
After Wikileaks posted 91,000 reports on Afghanistan on Sunday, there has been a significant negative build up against the US policy of troops' deployment in Afghanistan. It seems like Yeager's testimony uses Wikileaks find to attest his claims of significant mineral reserves in Afghanistan - a find so substantial to cause an assassination attempt. The report in effect builds a case for the US to stay in Afghanistan and delay any pull-out on grounds of extensive mineral deposits. But the Wikileaks has diluted its impact.
Surely, the leaks can be used in myriad ways to swing arguments between pro-Afghanistan occupation and the one against it.
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