THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 217, November 12, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
OIL, TERROR, & ENVIRONMENTAL PIPEDREAMS
By Alan Caruba
PETROLEUM, AMERICA'S ENERGY NEEDS, & U.S. FOREIGN & NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY: THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN THE WORLD'S OIL SUPPLY & UNITED STATES POLICY IN IRAQ -- THE RELEVANCE OF OIL TO THE WORLDWIDE
ISLAMIST JIHAD THAT IS BEING WAGED AGAINST THE U.S.A. & THE WEST -- POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS & THEIR
PIPEDREAMS ABOUT ALTERNATIVE MOTOR FUELS, HYBRID CARS, & SHARPLY REDUCING AMERICA'S DEPENDENCE ON
MIDDLE EASTERN OIL -- "ENVIRONMENTALLY CORRECT" NOTIONS ABOUT FIGHTING ISLAMIST TERRORISM BY WEAKENING
THE ROLE OF OIL IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS & WORLD TRADE
FULL STORY:
In late October, I attended a luncheon briefing in New York, N.Y., sponsored by the Middle East Forum. The speaker was
R. James Woolsey, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and currently a vice president at Booz Allen
Hamilton. The room was filled with men who represent a class of citizenry known as “influential.” Woolsey’s topic was
“Energy Alternatives and the War on Terror.”
Normally, I give men like Woolsey a lot of respect because they’ve earned it. However, it didn’t take long before I began
to hear views that made me begin to question, not just the wisdom of what Woolsey was saying, but why he was saying
it.
“The way strategically over the long run to weaken the enemies of Israel, such as Ahmadinejad, is to weaken the role of
oil,” said Woolsey. “Oil makes it harder to avoid genocide in Darfur because the Sudanese have a deal with China, and it
makes it harder to deal with Iran, because China and Iran have an oil deal.”
Say what? Weaken the role of oil? Genocide in Darfur has something to do with China? Iran will not pursue its lunatic
Islamic apocalypse because it has an oil deal with China?
A lot of what Woolsey told the attendees is fairly common knowledge. He noted that natural events such as hurricanes
can affect the amount of oil available and that terrorism — he called it “malevolent interference” — could provoke a war
that would interrupt the flow of oil out of the Middle East.
If the availability of Iraq’s huge reserves of oil wasn’t a component of the reason the U.S.A. and its Coalition invaded
that nation, then we have wasted a lot of national treasure and lives for no good purpose. If a recent, failed al-Qa'ida
attack on Saudi Arabia’s largest refinery wasn’t about oil and the power that flows from it, then we are ignoring an
unspoken objective of the Islamic Jihad.
Granted, there’s no joy in knowing that a portion of our oil dollars is going to a handful of nations in the Middle East,
but that is where, like Russia, a lot of oil exists. However, the U.S.A. purchases quite a bit of its oil from Canada and
Venezuela, and secures a significant portion from national reserves in the Gulf of Mexico. No matter with which Middle
East oil potentates we must make deals, the oil — a global commodity — is going to flow.
So, when I heard Woolsey suggest that the United States needed to make “substantial changes in our transportation,”
i.e. begin to massively move away from gasoline to alternative fuels like ethanol, he really got my attention. Ethanol’s
price competitiveness as an energy source is protected by U.S. subsidies. Ethanol takes more energy to make, generates
far less energy than gasoline, and is not kind to automobile engines.
I kept waiting for Woolsey to recommend that the United States open up the massive oil reserves in the Alaska National
Wildlife Refuge or for coastal states to increase access to the massive, untapped reserves of oil and natural gas that lie
under the U.S. continental shelf on both coasts. What I heard was “hybrid cars.”
Woolsey’s main contention was that, if we reduce our use of oil for transportation needs, the U.S.A. could have a
substantial impact on events in the Middle East by reducing the dollars that flow there. This ignores the growing oil
needs of China, India, and other developing nations. Money will flow to the Middle Eastern region, no matter what steps
the U.S.A. takes. Competition for oil will increase. The answer is to find more oil, since vast, untapped reserves are
known to exist.
And I thought to myself, gee whiz, we could save billions if we just pulled all our troops out of the Middle East, along
with that huge naval task force that is parked off the coast of Iran. What this thought ignores is the fact that our major
export to that region is defense, security, and, for most of its nations, stability.
In the 1980s, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein waged an eight-year war with Iran, with the intention of getting his hands on
its oil. That war ended in a stalemate. When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, he was after its oil. Later, when enough
nations became concerned about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction (recall that everyone thought he had them and
he probably did), we invaded again.
Saddam, the tyrant who had killed millions of his own people, was not the issue. Saddam, the dictator and aggressor who
wasn’t content to skim millions in Iraqi oil revenue and live a quiet life of luxury, was the problem.
Granted the whole Middle Eastern region wakes up screaming “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” but even the
Saudis have put forth a quite rational plan to end the conflict with the Palestinians. What is happening in Iraq scares the
Sunni Saudis and what Shiite Iran is saying these days scares them even more. Do we want to keep Saudi oil flowing?
You bet!
“We could, with systems that have been invented and are on the market in different ways, begin, before long, to move
decisively away from oil as our principle transportation vehicle,” said Woolsey.
The environmentally-correct pipedreams of Woolsey and others who are trying to conjure up an economy in which most
of our cars get to plug into electrical outlets or maybe a nation of drivers in cars with batteries the size of bathtubs sound
to me about as realistic as the typical ranting about global warming or the horrors of nuclear power.
I admire R. James Woolsey for his service to this nation. I just wish he didn’t want to join hands with Al Gore to sing folk
songs. I wish he would take our enemies more seriously than suggesting “alternative” energy options.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
The Middle East & the Problem of Iraq
Page Two
Page One
The Problem of Rogue States:
Iraq as a Case History
National Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
Israel -- The Israeli-Arab Conflict
The Middle East & the Problem of Iran
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba’s new book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press.
© Alan Caruba 2006
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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