Inside Job:

Inside Job

The 9/11 Project

By Chance DeWitt

Smashwords Edition Copyright 2011, Chance DeWitt

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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All rights reserved. Chance DeWitt, Inc.

Foreword

This story is fiction. Or is it? Perhaps someday, the true story of the 911 disaster will come to light. Or perhaps the darkness of secrecy will continue to linger over what really happened, what caused the tragedy and what were the motivations of those involved. Like so many other, sinister events the public will never know the truth. Perhaps the public doesn’t want to encounter the truth.

—Chance DeWitt, 2011

CHAPTER 1

WASHINGTON, D. C.

February 22, 2001

2:45 p.m.

Five grim faces reflected in the glass covered expanse of the massive antique mahogany conference table. Although the quintet included some of the most powerful men on the planet they were not happy. The news had not been good.

John Baxter, Director of the secretive government-funded International Resource Council was the first to comment on what they had heard.

So what you are telling us is that we reached what you refer to as a ‘peak oil’ about six years ago, and that given our known resources there is no foreseeable way that we will ever again be able to produce as much oil as the world consumes.

Bill Tyler president of the International Petroleum Association, a private group of the world’s largest petroleum producers, responded, "Yes, Sir. As I mentioned, our preliminary estimates of the Caspian Sea reserves were one hundred ten billion barrels of oil. That amount would rank behind only Iraq whose reserves are approximately one hundred thirteen barrels and Saudi Arabia with two hundred twenty six billion barrels. The Caspian reserves now are estimated at only nine to thirteen billion barrels. B-P Statoil has pulled out, as have three other major companies. The sad fact is that the Caspian Sea production will not make any material difference to world supply.

The only good news is that the natural gas reserves in Turkmenistan have been proven as large as estimated. And for this reason it is imperative to secure the natural gas pipeline route from Turkmenistan to Pakistan. The only way to do that is to stabilize Afghanistan where much of the pipeline crosses. Without securing Afghanistan, the pipeline will not be able to be built and my guess is that it will be the only pipeline built across Afghanistan. Unless we control the guerrilla warfare with the Taliban and other tribes it will never be built, making those huge natural gas reserves in Turkmenistan almost worthless. But again, the bad news is that we have no more big oil fields to deliver, and that is disturbing at best.

The group knew that Tyler’s words were not to be discounted. He represented virtually every petroleum producer throughout the world and headed his own international conglomerate, Apex Industries. Apex not only produced and controlled a substantial market share of the world’s petroleum, but through its many subsidiaries, manufactured and provided military weapons and other supplies to various governments, including the United States. It was also involved in reconstruction of areas destroyed by the weapons it had produced for the military.

Baxter stared intently. Blond, athletic and quick witted, his youthful appearance belied his fifty-two years’ existence on earth. His customary quips were not apparent this morning. As the President’s silent but influential advisor on energy matters affecting national security, Baxter was no novice to the machinations of the petroleum-based energy companies. For six years he had served as president of Axiom energy, then the country’s largest producer of domestic oil. He had climbed his way up the ranks of Axiom, beginning as a drilling rig mucker as he paid his way through college. After graduating from Texas A&M with a bachelor’s degree in geology, he was awarded a position in lower management assisting the exploration department of Axiom. He continued his education as he worked, obtaining a MBA from the University of Texas in Austin and quickly ascended Axiom’s management ladder. His acute memory and ability to assess the salient components of the big picture in any transaction forged his reputation as a tough negotiator. He was relentless when he identified a goal and chose to attain it.

But Baxter was not without a sense of humor, which he often used to break the tension of impasse during negotiations. His quick-witted, dry, self-effacing retorts were often the difference between a deal made and a deal lost.

As president of Axiom he continued to make more friends than enemies, friends who were now in the upper echelon of the political arena. His politics were amorphous, as he had curried much political favor through well-placed donations to successful candidates. He favored no political party. In this way, he made enemies of neither, or perhaps enemies of both.

As is often the case of successful businessmen Baxter’s personal life did not reach his expectations. Perhaps he devoted too little time or energy to develop or even formulate those expectations. Perhaps his personal life meant little compared to his business goals. Whatever the reason, Baxter’s only marriage lasted six years. He never remarried, had several promising relationships, but the demands of his career nullified any chance for success in anything but business. His only child, a daughter, the product of his marriage, had seen little of her father during the first twenty years of her life.

In the past few years, however, Baxter had made a diligent effort to rectify his inattention, largely out of guilt and the realization that his mortality was no longer to be ignored. At least once a week Baxter would have dinner or lunch with his daughter, now a stockbroker in New England. He would religiously make the trip to New York every weekend and meet his daughter at least once. During the past years he had recovered some of the respect and love his daughter had lost for him, but he knew that much more had to be done. Today, however, he was giving little thought to her.

Two years ago, when Axiom was bought out by Petron, an international energy conglomerate controlled by U.S. interests, Baxter was recruited by the President of the United States to chair the International Resource Council, a fledgling off-the-books agency reporting directly to the President on energy matters relating to national security. His work involved almost daily interface with the highest levels in the National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The general consensus of those closest to the problem of petroleum resources was that at some point in time an irreversible energy crisis was likely to occur. At some point the world’s demand for petroleum would exceed the supply, and as unmet needs for petroleum increased, international pandemonium would ensue. The bedlam would be most acute in the United States where the dependence on petroleum products was the most intense.

Of all the countries in the world, U.S. citizens had truly become petroleum men. Virtually every phase of U.S. lives revolved around petroleum. Automobile production and operations, housing, furniture, carpeting, food production, fertilizer, electricity, toys, shampoo, prescription medicine, medical supplies, and paving for roads involved the use of petroleum. Campaigns to utilize renewable sources of energy or bio-fuels would only affect a small percentage of petroleum needs. The increasing demands from emerging nations and developing nations only served to underscore the eminent catastrophe.

I just don’t believe that we can’t find a solution, Baxter said as the frustration blanketed his face. What about those reported tar sands in Canada which claim that there is more oil available in Canada than in all of Saudi Arabia?

Those reports have to be taken with a grain of salt, Tyler replied. "The tar sands in Canada cannot be extracted economically unless oil is $700.00 per barrel. Even then the quality is poor. If oil could be extracted at even $300.00 per barrel, what is going to happen to this nation if gasoline is thirty dollars per gallon and all costs of petroleum related products rise proportionately, including food production? We will have widespread unemployment, starvation, unheated homes, and no means to bring any products to market affordably.

Baxter interrupted, But what you have projected here, Bill, just can’t be allowed to happen. How much time do we have before the shortages will be so severe as to create rioting among the general populace?

Tyler leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head in a bemused gaze at the ceiling. I guess it depends on the population’s tolerance for pain, he smiled. If the general population will pay thirty or forty dollars for a gallon of gas and ten dollars for a loaf of bread, we could postpone a crisis for twenty years. However, in my considered opinion the threshold of pain for Americans is much lower—maybe eight of nine dollars a gallon. After that I think we’ve got problems. In this scenario we’ve only got less than ten years before the shit hits the fan.

What about the possibility of obtaining more control over the world’s oil supply so that it can judiciously be distributed? asked Ben Billens to no one in particular. Billens served as White House advisor to the President on matters involving political strategies. He was a long-time friend whose association with the President began in college. That way, he continued, the U.S. interest comes first and U.S. citizens get the lion’s share of the oil. To hell with those Chinese commie bastards.

No one smiled. The momentary pregnant silence was broken by Tyler, whose forehead furrowed as he spoke. That may be good in the short run, but consider the turmoil -if not outright hostility- against the U.S. if such control is exercised. Certainly, China and India will be unwilling to sacrifice their economic and national interests and let what they consider their fair share go to the U.S.—at least not without a fight. It’s a matter of survival for both of them.

And it will be survival of the fittest in the most rudimentary form. Baxter said.

More likely, survival of the most numerous, quipped Tyler.

James Hadley, the chief of security of the Central Intelligence Agency, appeared unamused by the conversation. A slight, graying non-descript man who easily blended into the crowd, he had listened to the conversation with increasing agitation. It was his responsibility to anticipate major nationwide regional trends in political activity that could pose a threat to national interest and to neutralize the causes of such trends. Neutralization included discrediting leaders, infiltrating organizations and dividing them, trumping up charges against influential leaders of suspect organizations and, in some cases, liquidating certain targeted persons or close family members.

Most recently he had discredited the leader of secessionist movement in the Pacific northwest by linking him to a child pornography ring. It had been easy. A few keystrokes on a CIA computer equipped with the appropriate software and the target was arrested and his computer was confiscated containing the child pornography that would imprison him for years and discredit him forever. It made no difference to Hadley an innocent man was framed. The secessionist movement posed a threat to the security of the U.S. government and such a threat called for strong countermeasures. It wasn’t the first time that a perceived enemy of the state had been wrongfully accused—and it wouldn’t be the last.

But today’s enemy of the state was different and Hadley was most concerned. It was ubiquitous and unconquerable by any former methods—an invisible and insatiable shortage that would continue to grow more potent as world demand increased. It was an enemy that would soon cause riots, insurrection, chaos and anarchy. Not only did the oil require control, so did the populations. And the mechanism for control had to be implemented far in advance of the civil unrest that would inevitable ensue. It was a problem that called for drastic measures.

The real problem, said Hadley not looking up from his reflection in the glass table top, is not that we have too little oil. We just have too many people.

What are you saying? Baxter challenged.

Well, Hadley replied, I am merely suggesting that in the absence of being able to rid ourselves of about one-half our population, particularly in the industrialized countries, we are going to need to come up with a solution to control the masses when—and I don’t mean if—when they rise up in desperation because they are starving or freezing to death.

But you’re not suggesting that we let them die? Baxter asked.

It’s a possibility… to reduce demand. Otherwise, we need to have them under control so that they cannot effectively resist those who have power over them, Hadley replied with cold, dispassionate indifference.

Ben Billens spoke in a tone evidencing a combination of frustration and fear at what was being suggested. Don’t you gentlemen think that this all a bit melodramatic? The American people are not going to stand around and let the federal government put a noose around their collective necks while they face starvation.

Of course they won’t, Hadley replied, but under the right set of circumstances the America people themselves will put the noose around their own necks—and perhaps even tighten it.

I don’t think the America people are that naïve, Billens responded.

The fifth member of the group, Vice President Richard Chandler, said nothing as he sat at the table puffing on his pipe, steely scrutinizing the others.

The gathering adjourned two hours later with admonitions and pledges that the meeting itself as well as its content of necessity must remain confidential. Every attendee left confronted with the realization that years ago a turning point in world history had occurred without anyone really paying attention. If the world’s supply of oil was not incapable of meeting foreseeable future demand and if that demand was inextricably linked to civilized society as we know it, then civilized society was headed on a collision course with disaster—a collision that would occur in their lifetimes.

It required little imagination to visualize what would be the effect of acute oil shortages. People in the large cities would be the first to feel the impact. Transportation costs and fuel shortages would curtail deliveries of food. Jobs would be lost because the cost of doing business could not be met by enough consumers with money. Utilities, if they had the fuel to produce power, would have so few to sell it to. In the winter, homes would go cold. In the summer, the heat would be deadly stifling. Less and less food would be produced as a result of the costs of fuel and a shortage of fertilizer. What food was produced would quickly spoil due to lack of available packaging materials. Grumbling, complaints and shouting would accompany diminishing supplies of lipstick, household cleaners and shampoo, but the shouting would turn to shooting when starvation and freezing was imminent. Very few fathers would stand by and watch their families starve to death or freeze in the cold winter. They would be forced to put up a fight. The chaos that began in the cities, would spread to the suburbs. Roving bands of families joined together for protection and their quest for food would prey upon those who were weak or defenseless. When food became even more scarce they would eventually turn on each other in a classic scenario of the survival of the fittest. This was all the upshot of civilization’s parasitic reliance on hydrocarbons.

The thought of societal consequences was sobering. Each member of the quintet concluded that drastic measures were needed. It would be up to them to form a viable plan to meet the challenge before them. Some already knew what had to be done. Some could only conjecture.

CHAPTER 2

WASHINGTON, D. C.

FEBRUARY 23, 2001

9:00 a.m.

It’s the Vice President on the phone for you, Mr. Baxter.

"Put