** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
My mind boggles that the hue and cry is still to milk Mother Earth
for every last drop of her billion-years-old crude before we begin to
look seriously to other sources for energy. Meanwhile, I look around
my home...one home among thousands (millions?) in Madison...one city
among millions in the US...one country among hundreds on the globe. I
see electrical dependence all over our house, and the electric
umbilical cord connects to the political turmoil "out there" and is
taking everything it needs with no thought for tomorrow, no thought
for Mother Earth. More and more technology, more and more energy, and
no consideration for sustainability. Am I preaching to the choir?
>** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
>
>From: jennifer loewenstein <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Me <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Plunder for Profit: US appears to have fought war for oil and lost
>it
>Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 19:08:22 -0500
>
>This is a very important letter. Read it for yet more insight into the minds
>that gave us the latest Iraq debacle. -J
>
>>By Ian Rutledge
>>Financial Times
>>Letter to the Editor
>>April 11, 2005
>>
>>
>>Sir, Your recent report that oil prices have reached an
>>all-time nominal high and that Goldman Sachs has
>>suggested the possibility of a "super spike" in prices
>>to as high as $105 per barrel ("Crude at all-time high
>>despite Opec's efforts", April 5) should be of no
>>surprise to anyone who has studied the informed
>>opinions of US energy experts in the period leading up
>>to the invasion of Iraq. Nor, for that matter, to
>>anyone who has seen my own observations on future world
>>oil prices in my recent book Addicted to Oil.
>>
>>In a crucial report to President George W. Bush by the
>>US Council on Foreign Relations in April 2001, the
>>president was warned that: "As the 21st century opens,
>>the energy sector is in a critical condition. A crisis
>>could erupt at any time . . . Theworld is currently
>>close to utilising all of its available global oil
>>production capacity, raising the chances of an oil
>>supply crisis with more substantial consequences than
>>seen in three decades."
>>
>>With US oil consumption in 2001 at an all-time high
>>(19.7m b/d), import penetration at 53 per cent, and
>>dependence on Arabian Gulf oil also at an all-time
>>record (14.1 per cent of total US domestic and foreign
>>supplies), the council stated that it was absolutely
>>imperative that "political factors do not block the
>>development of new oil fields in the Gulf" and that
>>"the Department of State, together with the National
>>Security Council" should "develop a strategic plan to
>>encourage reopening to foreign investment in the
>>important states of the Middle East".
>>
>>But while the council argued that "there is no question
>>that this investment is vitally important to US
>>interests" it also acknowledged that "there is strong
>>opposition to any such opening among key segments of
>>the Saudi and Kuwaiti populations".
>>
>>However, there was an alternative. In the words of ESA
>>Inc (Boston), the US's leading energy security
>>analysts: "One of the best things for our supply
>>security would be liberate Iraq"; words echoed by
>>William Kristol, the Republican party ideologist, in
>>testimony to the House Subcommittee on the Middle East
>>on May 22 2002 that as far as oil was concerned, "Iraq
>>is more important than Saudi Arabia".
>>
>>So when, according to the former head of ExxonMobil's
>>Gulf operations, "Iraqi exiles approached us saying,
>>you can have our oil if we can get back in there", the
>>Bush administration decided to use its overwhelming
>>military might to create a pliant - and dependable -
>>oil protectorate in the Middle East and achieve that
>>essential "opening" of the Gulf oilfields.
>>
>>But in the words of another US oil company executive,
>>"it all turned out a lot more complicated than anyone
>>had expected". Instead of the anticipated post-invasion
>>rapid expansion of Iraqi production (an expectation of
>>an additional 2m b/d entering the world market by now),
>>the continuing violence of the insurgency has prevented
>>Iraqi exports from even recovering to pre-invasion
>>levels.
>>
>>In short, the US appears to have fought a war for oil
>>in the Middle East, and lost it. The consequences of
>>that defeat are now plain for all to see.
>>
>>Ian Rutledge, Chesterfield
>>
>>http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a0bb7970-aa25-11d9-aa38-00000e2511c8.html
>>
>
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Anita H. Makuluni * Madison WI * [log in to unmask]
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