Stop Funding America's Enemies

[kach22i]

from May 2006...

Stop Funding America's Enemies
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/2006_05.html

Imagine if, in the middle of World War II, the U.S. government and its people gave Hitler billions of dollars, to train troops and build new weapons. Sounds impossible, right? But that's more or less the situation we find ourselves in today, former CIA director Jim Woolsey recently told the Naval Postgraduate School.

The U.S. is in the opening stages of a "Long War" with Islamic extremists. And these adversaries -- whether they're found in madrassas in Riyadh or the government in Tehran -- are funded, in so small part, by oil revenue. Petrodollars go, more or less directly, to training radicals. Petrodollars get funneled to those who make and plant bombs.

"Except for our own Civil War," Woolsey notes, "this is the only war that we have fought where we are paying for both sides. We pay Saudi Arabia $160 billion for its oil, and $3 or $4 billion of that goes to the Wahhabis, who teach children to hate. We are paying for these terrorists with our SUVs."

And we are paying for them with our tanks, our Bradleys, and our fighter jets, observes Defense Technology International, which has a special issue out on "The Military and the End of Oil." In 2004, the U.S. military gobbled up 400,000 barrel of fuel a day, at cost of $6.7 billion. A year later, those costs had climbed to $8.8 billion. In 2006, the price tag is expect to total $10 billion.

"Meanwhile, advanced green technologies like hybrid drive vehicles [despite their limitations] offer both fuel economy and stealth benefits in combat, a significant plus in the urban warfare scenarios that appear to be such a big part of future wars," writes Joe Katzman, who's been all over this issue.

The truth is that the military can't live without fuel, but every gallon of it is both a logistics burden and a financial burden... Now add the fact that diversified "green infrastructure" lowers vulnerability to the kind of "system disruption" attacks one sees in Iraq, and the military/security benefits become compelling.

It sure does. Throughout the military today, there are lots and lots of individual R&D efforts underway to find alternatives to funding our enemies. But a collection of engineering projects is not enough. If we're serious about fighting this Long War, breaking the military's addiction to oil has to become a top priority.

For reference:
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_con-energy-oil-consumption
#1 United States: 20,730,000 bbl/day

Doing some math, 400,000 divided by 20,730,000 x 100 = 1.9%

Even if the military used no oil our demand would not change because they use only about 2% of what we all use.

If the military is trying to get off oil, why hasn't anyone asked us to?

The president says we are addicted to oil, has he given us a plan in seven years to get off it anytime soon?

You may know that Bill Richardson just released a book called Leading by Example that outlines exactly how the United States and the world can realistically -- and quickly -- reduce our output of global warming pollution. He has a bold 10-year crash program to reduce our dependence on oil and cut greenhouse gas emissions. The Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters have hailed his plan as the most aggressive of any presidential candidate.

Book link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470186372/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[laurelelizabeth]

I agree. They don't seem to be trying.

 

[ShawnD]

[troll post]

We hear a lot of talk and hand-wringing about oil in this part of the world. But it's time to step up and stand for market principles: a free trade in oil for the middle-east will die out eventually because of natural market forces, not government fiat. Just as the Market should be left to decide the cost of wheat, so should the Market decide best how to rid the world of all this oil burning. I have no doubt that had WW II gone on much longer, even the statist Nazis would have stopped their Auschwitz business, because the economics just made no sense on the face of it.

[/troll post]The best thing you can do is get a fuel efficient vehicle when it comes time to buy a new vehicle. That way, you'll be ready for any weird gasoline taxes or spikes in oil price due to war/collusion/whatever.
I'm still laughing at all the people who bought SUVs a few years ago when oil was a lot cheaper, then had to sell them because they couldn't afford to pump thousands of dollars worth of gas into them every year. Never again. Buy a small car.

 

[kach22i]

More on the topic.....

Air Force tests new synthetic fuel
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/IBD-0001-21237300.htm

The U.S. military is trying to reduce its dependence on foreign oil by using synthetic fuel in some of its air craft. The Air Force has begun testing a 50-50 blend of fuel refined from natural gas and fuel refined from oil. Liquid fuel made from coal is expected to be available by 2012. Work also is being done to make a cleaner fuel that produces more energy per pound. If successful, synthetic fuels eventually could be utilized in commercial transportation.