Home

World's Greatest Oil Consumer and Polluter

Comment by Larry Ross, June 16, 2007

Professor Klare is one of the world top authorities on oil and wars for oil.

In this paper he presents some startling facts on the amount of oil the Pentagon uses for its various wars, and to maintain its domestic operations and it's world-wide web of some 700 military bases. The Pentagon, its multiple operations, and its tentacles are colossal and growing. More and more it has emerged as the dominant factor in American society and politics, consuming some 50% of the US budget. It is deliberately made ever larger by working to implement the new Bush 'endless wars on terror' doctrines. The momentum of present wars will likely continue, as the Bush regime creates new justifications and lies to start new wars, such as their long-planned war on Iran.

Both Democrats and Republican politicians have leapt on board the Bush war wagon, with some politicians calling on the Administration to "nuke Iran".

America has become a 'Frankenstein-of-perpetual-war' creature, created by the machinations of Bush's neocon complex. Congress, elected to stop the Iraq war and correct any Administration excesses, and crimes, has lost any will to stop any present or future planned wars. Basically it is very much under the domination of the Bush executive and ideology.

Klare's paper provides a solid documentation of these trends today, and how they will become more severe in the future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fighting Wars for Oil to Fight Wars

by Michael T. Klare and Tom Engelhardt, June 15, 2007

Today, Michael Klare, expert on war and energy, and author of the indispensable book, Blood and Oil , gives us an unprecedented sense of what it means when the Pentagon fills its own tank (as well as its tanks). It is, after all, the Hummer of Defense Departments, the planet's gas-guzzler par excellence .

On the other hand, in the occupation of Iraq, the Bush administration turns out to be unable to find a local gas station still in operation. As you all undoubtedly remember, before its invasion in March 2003, the administration was quite convinced that Iraqi oil would quickly pay for any future occupation, reconstruction, and – though this was never said – permanent American presence. Then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz classically pointed out back in 2003 that Iraq "floats on a sea of oil" and told a Congressional panel, "The oil revenue of [Iraq] could bring between 50 and 100 billion dollars over the course of the next two or three years. We're dealing with a country that could really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon."

Over four years later, however, Iraq, under threat of an oil workers' strike , seems to be pumping only 1.6 million barrels of oil a day – almost a million barrels below the worst days of the sanctions-strapped regime of Saddam Hussein. In addition, an oil law, essentially prepared in Washington and aimed at opening Iraqi oil to multinational (read: American) oil companies, that has been declared by Washington's Democrats and Republicans as the crucial "benchmark" of Iraqi progress, seems dead in the water – or is it a pool of oil?

Given the "daily petroleum tab" in the Middle Eastern war zone that Klare cites for the Pentagon, you could, in a sense, say that the Bush administration is "running on empty" and that the Bush Doctrine, as Klare makes clear, gives the term "oil wars" new meaning. We may, someday, be fighting our "oil wars" just to preserve that very American right – to run our war machines on petroleum products. Tom

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Pentagon v. Peak Oil

Continue.....