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Editor: 

As a progressive I must agree with former chief of staff for the Republican Party Tom Cole when he referred to the Enron mess saying, “And particularly in the wake of Sept. 11, this stuff seems pretty trivial.” (”Parties Weigh Political Price Of Enron’s Fall”, New York Times, January 12) 

Indeed we all remember when the Taliban were willing to negotiate the terms under which they would hand over bin Laden. We all remember our government saying it would not negotiate. How fortunate indeed for Bush’s oil buddies that the Taliban are now gone and a compliant government in Afghanistan is ready to pave the way for oil profits from the Caspian Sea to reach U. S. corporate coffers. With bin Laden still nursing his subpar kidneys in obscurity, I am led to wonder at the true intentions of the Bush administration.  

Following this line of thinking, one can conclude that the Bush administration was willing to 

trade the lives of more than 3700 Afghan civilians (not to mention uncounted American and Afghani military lives) for oil and military profits. By comparison any corruption uncovered in the Enron matter will certainly seem “pretty trivial.” 

George Palen 

Berkeley