This book from France (and a French news service) is, in fact, the ONLY source for this pipeline story. There is no evidence for it anywhere else. Almost all the other sources of this story eventually track back to it. You might want to keep that in mind before spreading this thing any further.

It appears to be a desperate attempt by the left to lay September 11th at the feet of the United States, and God willing and the creek don't rise, at the feet of George W. Bush, currently Number 1 with a bullet on the leftist shitlist.

Unocal's statement on this can be found here. Take it or leave it, as you wish.

And despite my long despair over ever getting you to apply at least a minimal filter to your sources, you might make note of the fact that your source for this one, William Pitt, may also have a few small axes to grind.

Remember, "progressive" is just the current word for "New Left," which replaced "socialist," which replaced "Communist." The Left changes its labels as frequently as a man who passes bad checks changes his name, and for much the same reason.