Fwd:Fwd:Fwd: Conspiracy

I got the mail from good people, concerning a gold mine in Chile. Of course they're good people, that's why they forwarded the e-mail:

Please read about this absolute atrocity that is happening in Chile,
that could eventually happen in your own home, or maybe already is. And may this inspire us to say NO MORE! and start changing the world we live in!

Is it an atrocity? Well, could be, but Chile has approved an environmental impact estimate and Argentina's response is due in a few months. The mail describes in general terms something that may or may not be a bad thing: a project to mine gold from under a glacier. Mines are never clean things but whether this one will be environmentally sound or not is a question that should be argued by people who know mines and know the environment. I can guarantee you that whoever wrote this letter doesn't fall into either of those categories. This is the fact the letter writer is relying on to win you over:

The project is called PASCUA LAMA. The company is called Barrick Gold.

The operation is planned by a multi-national company, one of whose
members is George Bush Senior.

Except he's not on the board of directors, as claimed on half the sites that reference this. The other half claim that GHW Bush is on the International Advisory Board of Barrick Gold. He's not on that either. See, if the few things that can be fact checked turn out to be lies; how can you trust the other, unverifiable, claims? Barrick Gold is a public company and is happy to tell you who is on its International Advisory Board. The three American members are:

Vernon E. Jordan Jr. - Ring a bell? Clinton's lawyer during the Lewinsky scandal.

Andrew Young - Bells yet? This one is harder; long ago, Carter administration? He was Carter's ambassador to the U.N.

William S. Cohen - You should know this one: Clinton's Secretary of Defense.

Does that mean the gold mine won't be an environmental disaster? I don't know. Would linking George Bush Sr. to Barrick Gold tell you anything about the project? Read my lips: It would tell you nothing. If you feel this might be a bad project, then research the stinking project. Resist the lazy link-a-republican-name-to-it approach. It means nothing. The same way the Jordan, Young, and Cohen link means nothing.