Not In Our Best Interest
 

War costs lives, money and oil. One American life lost is too many, we have bankrupted our treasury and are now dipping into the Social Security Fund, and the military runs on oil.

In peace time, the US military consumes 37 million barrels of oil each year. War increases that figure to 150 million barrels. While oil supplies about 34% of the world's energy, it supplies 79% of the military's needs.

Consider these figures:
A US aircraft carrier burns 5,628 gallons of fuel an hour
An M1 Abrams tank uses 252 gallons of fuel an hour
A B52 bomber guzzles 3,612 gallons of fuel an hour
An F-15 torches 240 gallons of fuel a minute

This administration has a foreign policy of pre-emptive strikes and has a list of countries that are ear-marked for regime change. George W. Bush will lead our nation into war again, and again, and again...Syria, Iran, North Korea.

We will reach global peak oil sometime during this decade, with some scientists saying as early as 2006. This is when the demand for oil outstrips its production, heralding the beginning of a complete change in the way we will be forced to live in order to adapt. It is not a matter of if it will occur, but rather the exact date of when. There have been no preparations for this eventuality, although it has been known within the oil community and the government for decades. Instead, this administration has passed legislation giving tax breaks to those buying the most inefficient gas guzzling SUVs, and is leading us into one war after another, which will use many millions more barrels of oil, in an attempt to control the remaining, diminishing oil in the Middle East and Central Asia.

The wise course of action would be to conserve the remaining oil to serve as a bridge toward a sustainable society, while we learn to adjust to living without oil and use the money being spent on waging wars to develop alternative forms of energy. Every aspect of our lives, at present, depends on oil. Aside from the obvious uses, like gas for our cars, heating our homes, and air travel, oil is used to produce our electricity, grow our food and deliver it to local markets, deliver our water, treat our waste, power our hospitals and in the production of all of our consumer goods. There is no one alternative energy source at present that is suitable for all of the uses currently served by oil. There is a desperate need for educating the public on how to adapt to these looming and permanent changes in our lifestyles, which will be necessary if we are to survive.

By grabbing the remaining oilfields, we can deny oil to other countries and the oil companies can charge whatever the market will bear. It may make fortunes for the officials of the oil companies, but as far as the rest of us are concerned, the current course of action being undertaken by this administration is certainly not in our best interest.

2-9-04