Editing Hamid Karzai (section)

===Unocal connection===
There has been much debate over Karzai's alleged consultant work with [[Unocal]] (Union Oil Company of California since acquired by [[Chevron Corporation|Chevron]] in 2005). In 2002, when Karzai became the subject of heavy media coverage as one of the front runners to lead Afghanistan, it was reported that he was a former consultant for them.<ref name="csmonitor">{{cite web|date=10 June 2002|url = http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0610/p01s03e-wosc.html|title = Afghan power brokers |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]| access-date =11 December 2007|author1=Ilene R. Prusher |author2=Scott Baldauf |author3=Edward Girardet |quote=Karzai is a former employee of US oil company Unocal&nbsp;... bidding for the lucrative contract to build an oil pipeline from Uzbekistan through Afghanistan |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070629145511/http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0610/p01s03e-wosc.html |archive-date = 29 June 2007}}</ref><ref name="atimes">{{cite web|year = 2009|url = http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/DA29Ag02.html|title = Mr Karzai goes to Washington|website= [[Asia Times Online]]|access-date = 12 September 2009|last = Marc Erikson|quote = And one further thing both men have in common is that in 1996/97 they advised American oil company Unocal on the US$2&nbsp;billion project of a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline.|archive-date = 8 November 2009|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091108124230/http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/DA29Ag02.html|url-status = unfit}}</ref> Spokesmen for both Unocal and Karzai have denied any such relationship, although Unocal could not speak for all companies involved in the consortium.<ref name="globalsecurity"/> The original claim that Karzai worked for Unocal originates from a 6 December 2001 issue of the French newspaper ''[[Le Monde]]'',<ref name="globalsecurity">{{cite web |year=2007 |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/afghanistan/karzai.htm |title=Hamid Karzai |publisher=globalsecurity |access-date=11 December 2007 |quote=The claim appears to have originated in the 9 December 2001 issue of the French newspaper Le Monde. Some have suggested that Karzai was confused with U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad. |archive-date=11 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211203925/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/afghanistan/karzai.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Barry Lane UNOCAL's manager for public relations states in an interview on the website Emperor's Clothes that, "He was never a consultant, never an employee. We've exhaustively searched through all our records."<ref name="emperors-clothes">{{cite web |date=9 July 2002 |url=http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/lane.htm|title=Emperor's clothes interviews Unocal Oil |publisher=Emperor's Clothes |access-date=12 September 2009 |last=[[Jared Israel]] interviewing Barry Lane |quote=Jared Israel: The other thing that is being asserted everywhere is that Hamid Karzai, the current head of the Afghan 'government' once worked for you.<br />Barry Lane: Yeah. Yeah, well that's probably one of the great urban legends. He never worked for us.<br />Jared Israel: He didn't work for somebody else who worked for you?<br />Barry Lane: No. No, not him. He was never a consultant, never an employee. We've exhaustively searched through all our records to try and find out where the hell that came from.|archive-date=10 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310213712/http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/lane.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="usembassy.gov">{{cite web|year=2009 |url=http://cambodia.usembassy.gov/definition.html |title=Misinformation |work=[[USA.gov]] |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |access-date=12 September 2009 |quote=all the company's records made it clear that Mr. Karzai was "never a consultant, never an employee" of Unocal. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070211062904/http://cambodia.usembassy.gov/definition.html |archive-date=11 February 2007 }}</ref> Lane however did say that [[Zalmay Khalilzad]], the former [[United States Ambassador to the United Nations]], was a Unocal consultant in the mid-1990s.<ref name="seattletimes">{{Cite news|date=5 July 2004 |url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001972076_fahrenheit05.html |title=Analyzing 'Fahrenheit 9/11': It's accurate&nbsp;— to a degree |newspaper=The Seattle Times |first1=Sumana |last1=Chatterjee |first2=David |last2=Goldstein |name-list-style=amp |access-date=12 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719034130/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001972076_fahrenheit05.html |archive-date=19 July 2008 }}</ref>