In Forbidden Truth, the number one bestseller in France, two journalists reveal the secret negotiations between the Bush administration and the Taliban for control of Central Asian oil fields and the safe passage of Osama bin Laden, already the subject of an international arrest warrant, from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia. Oil makes strange bedfellows: Texas tycoons, Islamic fanatics, respectable bankers, high-ranking members of the Bush administration, pro-Taliban lobbyists, the Arabian monarchy, and patrons of terrorism?all had a stake in an expedient alliance. Exhaustive research into money trails and pipeline plans, and an astonishing revelation by the FBI?s ex- counter-terrorism chief, John O?Neill, suggests that the failure of that alliance precipitated the attacks of September 11 and is the real reason for the invasion of Afghanistan. O?Neill quit the FBI in protest over its inability to press Saudi Arabia on its connections with bin Laden. He charged the State Department with obstructionism (during the summer of 2001), and with proposing a quid pro quo to the Taliban: Let us run a pipeline from Kazakhstan through Afghanistan to the Indian Ocean, and America will recognize the Taliban extremists and reward them with billions of dollars?and bin Laden can escape to Arabia. Other sources listed in the book, such as Ahmed Rashid?s Taliban, and reports from The Times of London, The Washington Post, and The Toronto Star, corroborate O?Neill?s accusations. O?Neill took a job as head of security for the World Trade Center and was killed on September 11, 2001. ?The book opens with a scoop ... and an indictment of the hypocrisy of western governments.??L.A. Times ?The charges made by [Brisard and Dasquie] deserve close scrutiny.??Rep. Ron Paul calling for an investigation of charges made in the book on the House floor