SwiftVets.com

[Mother]

Was the war for oil? I don't believe it was, however, I believe global security includes securing fuel sources. Then, as I was about to submit this post this morning, blessed NBC did a spot on "Winterizing Your Home". Here are some of their comments (Miranda, anything you say can, and will, be used against you):

Crack in the garage wall?
Chill out. A little work can keep the cold outside, where it belongs.
Save thousands.
Definitely worth fixing.
Keep your gutters clean.
Do it yourself.
That will really prevent further damage.
A lot of folks don't know where the shutoff is.
Each percent that you save...
You've got a great way to demonstrate what leaks will do.
Save your life with a detector.
Can't smell (deadly fumes) it if it's in your house.
Service contracts are great.

Here's where my mind has gone...
Swift Vets and POWs for Truth Service Company-
Temperature Fluctuating between Farenheit 911 or Celcius 41.11?
Our Service Crew Can Fix It. We'll Winterize your Home.

11/13/04 7:53 am
Flint Michigan 21 F -6 Celcius
Brainerd Minnesota 26 F -3 Celcius
Moorhead Minnesota 28 F -2 Celcius
Thief River Falls Minnesota 27 F -3 Celcius
Defiance Ohio 31F -1 Celcius
Truth or Consequences New Mexico 36 F 2 Celcius
Frenchville Maine 12 F -11 Celcius
Red Oak Iowa 23 F -5 Celcius
Great Falls Montana 34 F 1 Celcius
Faith and Winner South Dakota 31 F -1 Celcius
Alabaster Alabama 53F 12 Celcius
De Queen Arkansas 45 F 7 Celcius

[You GottaBeKidding]

I have a friend who does believe that this is a war for oil, but not in the sense that most people think.

He believes that one of the radical Muslim agendas is to control the world's oil supply... Can you imagine that havoc that would wreak on the world economy?

[Beatrice1000]

[JannDallas]

I've also heard if they get the Westerners out of there, the whole place would turn into a dust bowl again as they can't do it themselves. If that ever took place where the extremist controlled this oil and tried to extort us, I think we should leave em with what they had before we got there and let them start building those refineries from scratch. Nice place to see what one of those Daisy Cutters could do when you add a little fuel to it.

I'm just being mean but if all we really wanted was their oil, I think we could have had it by now.

[Guest]

[lrb111]

[Paul R.]

I've been meaning to make a longish post about this for a long time, but never have the time!

Briefly, these people who say "no blood for oil" are blinder than those who could not see the threat that Hitler posed. For better or worse, oil is the lifeblood of the world, right now. If the MidEast oil supply is restricted, or the price set artificially high, for an extended time, tens to hundreds of thousands of people around the world die. The more the restriction or the higher the price, the worse the direct and indirect effects get. If MidEast oil is mostly to totally cut off, you can make that millions, instead of thousands.

All you have to do to see the truth of this is to go and spend some time in a place like the Philippines (where my wife is from). There alone, you have tens of millions of people living in poverty that people in the "comfortable" West cannot imagine, unless you have been there. And yet, even this standard of existence is largely dependent on a relatively cheap supply of oil. A lot of these people (around the world) are literally on or near the "edge", in this regard. Many would die. That's just the short term effect, say, 1-2 years.

The U.S. could ride something like this out. It would be hugely problematic, but, we could do it. In terms of "life & death", probably the biggest problem would be heating oil in the Northeast, the first winter. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that we could hold fatalities down to a few thousand. (I've never read of plans to deal with such a situation, but I have to believe someone has to have it in contingency plans, somewhere.)

Non-embargo countries that are oil exporters would likely benefit, assuming nobody invades them for their oil! Light importers could also "get by." The problems for nations such as Japan are far worse. And, I've already covered most of the "Third World". This does not even begin to cover the ramifications of a collapsed or partially collapsed world economy. Again, though, the U.S. could ride it out better than most other countries.

It might be pointed out that the results of the first Arab oil embargo were not so drastic, but, the world is much more "interconnected" now, and, much more dependent on MidEast oil. This goes way, way beyond whether soccer moms keep driving their SUV's, or have to go back to Honda mini-wagons.

Obviously, the "world" could not allow a major embargo to happen. A coalition that would dwarf Gulf War 1 would go in and eventually the oil WOULD flow. Any crazies determined to get their allotment of virgins in Heaven (Hell) would be accommodated. An occupation of the major MidEast oil producers could get incredibly ugly. There are too many possibilities for me to cover here...

There are of course lesser scenarios. But, somehow I don't think radicals who cut off their victims heads and distribute the videos are likely to take half-measures. Anybody care to speculate?

In the short term, Iraq is not really about oil. We went in when we did for other reasons. But, in the long term, oil figures heavily in the strategy, because oil is arguably the most important commodity on the planet. My only gripe is that I wish Bush would also spend 87 billion on energy independence. Even if Halliburton gets the biggest slice of it...
_________________
Paul R.

[Mother]

You may not feel like an "expert", but this post is a very good outline. It is well worth sending on to some of Doll's and my "friends" that are stricken with Kerryism. Thank you, Paul.

While I'm at it, on one of the MSM webpages was a picture of war protesters in the Phillipines (I think) holding a placard that said,

"Stop the killing in Fallujah."

My response to that would need to be,

"We're working on that, stupid!"