World War III more likely from oil grabs than radical Islam (OpEd)

[jpak]

http://www.energybulletin.net/20086.html

Recently, with midterm elections just two months off and the war in Iraq more unpopular than ever, President Bush has begun to reframe the war on terror as a "war on Islamic fascism." But clever rebranding aside, and with all respect due to our brave troops, by now everybody knows that invading Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism and everything to do with oil.

Of course, ongoing civil unrest has kept America from getting much oil out of Iraq even after Bush announced "Mission Accomplished" in 2003. But whatever Iraq's problems, its location provides a base for U.S. operations near the largest remaining oil reserves on earth at a time when instability in the Middle East has reached an all-time high.

If there's a palace coup in Saudi Arabia, or if Al-Qaeda blows up pipelines and refineries there or in any of the other Gulf states, American boots on the ground in Iraq will help the U.S. respond quickly. Washington must also hope that its presence in Iraq will deter Iran from blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most crucial waterway for oil tankers.

Given the administration's role in Iraq, as well as efforts to bolster oil regimes around the world who are their friends (Nigeria and the Central Asian republics) and to topple those who aren't (Iran and Venezuela), it is clear that the Bush White House has chosen to deal with fears over oil supply using the blunt instrument of military force and coercion.

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[muesa]

1. Central thesis of Michael Klare and others

Michael Klare (Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict by Michael T. Klare, Blood and Oil : The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum by Michael T. Klare) and others (Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy by Matthew R. Simmons) have been saying this for years. But nobody has listened -- and the domestic auto industry has fought EV's and hybrids, and the energy industry has fought alternative and renewable energy (until it developed its own alternative and renewable energy business).

Even PNAC (Rebuilding America's Defenses - a large pdf file) is really all about going to war to assert Western (American) hegemony over ME oil.

Question - is is too late (green house gases, global warming, impending peak oil- at least as applied to accessible crude oil) to get our house in order?

Historical questions--

1. Did Henry Ford screw up when he turned down Thomas Edison's suggestion to make his car an EV?
   
2. Did Henry Ford screw up again when he turned down Milton Hersehy's offer to supply ethanol as a motor fuel?