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P A G E+2 tamraz, president of Oil Capital Ltd. Inc. of New York, wanted a pipeline to connect the rich Caspian oil fields with the Mediterranean. This pipeline would have to run beneath Azerbaijan and Armenia. The idea had some merit; it was the most direct route and would be relatively inexpensive to build. But the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), an $8 billion consortium comprising BP, Amoco, Exxon and Unocal, among others, had a different idea. It would rather ship the stuff through Georgia to the Black Sea, or possibly through Chechnya to Russia. Since the proven reserves around the Azerbaijan capital of Baku are the largest on earth, there are plenty of forces in Washington -- the U.S. Export-Import Bank among them -- eager to make a deal. But there were obstacles to overcome. The first was the gruesome past and abusive present of Azerbaijani President Haydar Aliyev, dismissed from the old Soviet Politburo for corruption and creator of a new authoritarian regime in the Caucasus. The second was Section 907 of the 1992 Freedom Support Act, which bars the United States from giving government-to-government aid to Azerbaijan on account of the Azerbaijani blockade of Armenia and the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Well! If you want to see influence peddling of the sort to make Tamraz look like a small-time Levantine grocer, follow the trail laid by the AIOC and its heavily-muscled Azerbaijan lobby in Washington. One former Republican secretary of state (James Baker) and one former Democratic secretary of the treasury (Lloyd Bentsen) give it an immediate blue-chip and bipartisan "feel." Add a couple of former national security advisors (Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski -- another interchangeable elephant and donkey), a square-jawed former defense secretary (Dick Cheney) and a former chief of staff (John Sununu). Then get to work on the Hill, on the bureaucracy and on the press. The press has been especially easy so far. James Baker was allowed to write an op-ed piece for the New York Times last July, hymning the qualities of Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze as a trans-Caucasian Pericles, without troubling to disclose that Baker's law firm represents the AIOC. It's quite an old pal's reunion. Lloyd Bentsen is a large shareholder in a concern based in Azerbaijan, whose chairman is William H. White, formerly Clinton's deputy secretary of energy. And guess who is "on the ground," helping to train the Azerbaijani army: none other than former Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord, last seen testifying about his role as Ollie North's boss in the Iran-contra affair. It didn't take long for the lobby to start posting some impressive returns. Undersecretary of State Strobe Talbott, the point man on these matters, presented the administration's considered view last July. Speaking loftily about history, Talbott recalled the "Great Game" of imperial manipulation that, "fueled and lubricated by oil," had mutilated the Caucasus in the 19th century. No more, he said, would this be the dynamic. Then, almost quickly enough to escape notice, he called for the immediate repeal of the relevant sections of the 1992 Freedom Support Act. Within three weeks, and without waiting for Congress to assent, President Clinton was greeting President Aliyev and Al Gore was witnessing a Roosevelt Room signing session between Aliyev and the assembled representatives of Exxon, Amoco and other AIOC members. Forgotten were the State Department reports of human rights abuses in Azerbaijan, and the record of Aliyev personally in the ethnic cleansing of Armenians. As David Remnick put in his "Lenin's Tomb": "Once installed as republican party chief, Aliyev ruled Azerbaijan as surely as the Gambino family ran the port of New York. The Caspian Sea caviar mafia, the Sumgait oil mafia, the fruits and vegetables mafia, the cotton mafia, the customs and transport mafia -- they all reported to him, enriched him, worshipped him."
As with Tamraz, the appeal of this man to Bill Clinton is obvious. Not only does he work extremely hard. He understands the rules.
Christopher Hitchens is a columnist for Vanity Fair. |
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