War in Iraq Not About Oil, Says (rw) National Center for Policy Analysis

[Nambe]

U.S. Newswire

Speaking in Cincinnati today, Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry accused the Bush Administration for "spending $200 billion in Iraq instead of investing in making America energy independent." According to experts with the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) this statement makes the false claim that the war in Iraq is a war for oil. The NCPA also noted that Senator Kerry's energy plan would do nothing to increase America's energy independence in the near- term. ..

Kerry went further stating: "George W. Bush's energy policy is to trust the big oil companies and the Saudis. I want an America that relies on its own ingenuity and innovation, not the Saudi Royal Family. We're going to invest in technology and the vehicles of the future, so that no young American will ever be held hostage to our dependence on oil from the Middle East." Yet NCPA experts point out that there is no short-term solution to importing oil. Our infrastructure and transportation industries depend on it and will for at least the next two decades. ..

"We would have been less dependent on foreign oil now if the Senate had approved opening up ANWR for domestic production under either President George H. W. Bush or President Clinton," said Burnett. "The Clinton administration said drilling in ANWR could be done in an environmentally responsible manner." Senator Kerry has been a leading figure in blocking attempts to increase domestic production.

"Merely investing in technology and the vehicles of the future is tantamount to a Star Trek energy plan," said Burnett. "One day, in the distant future, these technologies may make a positive impact on our energy needs. But we need a plan for today and over the next 20 years."

The NCPA is an internationally known nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute with offices in Dallas and Washington, D. C. that advocates private solutions to public policy problems. We depend on the contributions of individuals, corporations and foundations that share our mission. The NCPA accepts no government grants.

[tandot]

1. Funny...I thought our gas prices increase when Iraq pipelines are attacked

I must be wrong on that. I am sure that the one has nothing to do with the other.

[Bread and Circus]

2. Great statement by Kerry....

"spending $200 billion in Iraq instead of investing in making America energy independent."

If only we could have really invested in that in new energy technology. Fuck an A.

[Cocoa]

3. there's oil in Iraq?

how 'bout that!

[Junkdrawer]

8. Oil??? Well, knock me over with a feather....

Next thing you know, you'll be telling me that the bulk of the 1000+ battlefield deaths occurred guarding oil tanker truck convoys.

[hatrack]

4. Yes, and if GHW Bush had succeeded in opening ANWR in, say, 1991 . . .

It would have already peaked, and production would already be declining, and where would we be?

Oh, that's right, we'd still be chained to the corpse that is Dubya's Iraq Holy FreedomWar that is not, I repeat NOT about oil.

The National Center For Protecting The Koch Family Ass(ets) can go pound sand.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. ANWR is the answer to our long term energy needs!

If we had only drilled for oil in ANWR back when chimp Sr. was president we would be all set! Who the hell are those idiots?

We NEED Kerry to win this election.

[MrMonk]

6. And there you have it

since advanced energy technology wouldn't break our dependency on oil for twenty years, there's no point in investing in it now. After all, in the long run, we'll all be dead or raptured.

[They_LIHOP]

7. On some of this, they are unfortunately correct...

Although, it would seem to me that by pointing out our immediate need for imported oil throughout the article as they do, defending it, they are essentially ADMITTING that the occupation IS 'about oil'. Otherwise, why even bring it up? Kerry is certainly NOT SAYING that Iraq was 'about oil'. The Institute seems to be the ones with the guilty conscience here.

Not only that, but you expect ANYONE to believe that this is truly a NON-partisan outfit with rhetoric like this Burnett guy is spewing? Gimme a BREAK!

And where is this line being attributed to:
"Senator Kerry has been a leading figure in blocking attempts to increase domestic production."

Who, exactly, is 'saying' this, in the context of the article? The Author? This statement appears to be nothing but editorial in the guise of news.

All of that said, folks, at some point we are going to have to drill ANWAR, the coasts, everywhere we possibly can, for energy. In my humble opinion, we might as well accept this fact and start now, while we still have at least SOME leverage to insist on environmental considerations. If we wait til it's a world 'peak oil' crisis, which is COMING VERY SOON, then the urgency factor could end up trumping all other concerns, and the environment could REALLY suffer a lot worse...

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE what a serious, serious problem peak oil is going to become in the very near future, and do not delude yourself thinking that there is some substitute for oil that 'the conspiracy' of the oil companies is keeping from us.

We are looking at an unbelievably serious catastrophe my friends. It's time to get real about it, and fast!

[Junkdrawer]

10. We need a Manhattan Project style push for alternate energy...

Wind and Solar are under exploited. Oil company PR people are claiming "no one wants their views blocked by wind farms"...Bullshit.

We should be saving the remaining oil and gas for fertilizers, pesticides and other non-energy related uses.

We can do better.

[They_LIHOP]

15. No arguments here, I'm just saying ...

that we've really waited too long, and now our only hope is, as you say, an all-out, MH project-type deal in order to hopefully mitigate the very worst of the coming disaster. It cannot be avoided, and mitigation of any kind will be only be remotely effective if we start SOON and with incredible vigor.

CLEARLY we need to look very seriously at our way of life in the USA, and the effect it's having on the entire planet, and esp. the sustainability of said lifestyle in terms of the planets capacity to produce the energy we need, and how we are going to make up the energy lost from fossil fuel depletion (there are amazingly few alternatives, and NONE of them, alone or in combination, are capable of replacing oil, so...)

Once that is done in a scientific and entirely unbiased way, and the facts presented to the American People, it is going to be very interesting to watch the reaction as it dawns on people that there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that our way of life can continue for much more than a few years into the future... unless we are ready and willing as a nation to simply wipe about 2/3 of the population off the face of the earth so that the remaining energy resources can be exploited at a much slower pace. and even that solution is only temporary...

I hate to say it again, but the reality is, the American 'Way of Life' IS on the verge of utter, permanent collapse, due to the phenomenon of peak oil. Yet the Nation still sits there and cheers for their favorite NASCAR driver, oblivious to the fact that they are literally paying money to watch a bunch of energy vampires voraciously sucking away and squander the lifeblood of the entire world.

We're whistling past the graveyard as we speak...

[Junkdrawer]

19. Couldn't agree more. Among other things, the SUV tax break is obscene....

It's like someone wants to increase our addiction to oil. Hmmm...wonder why...:think:

[Gyre]

22. I have an SUV

And I haven't seen any stinking tax break!:grr:

Gyre

[catzies]

9. "...so stop SAYING that!"

:eyes:

[chelsea0011]

11. And Iraq's not really in the Middle East?

[aquart]

12. Corporate shills?

"We depend on the contributions of individuals, corporations and foundations that share our mission."

The derogatory "Star Trek energy plan" is particularly Republican in phrasing. It sneers at invention, creativity, and imagination.

And Kerry never said he would "merely invest." Bush had four years to start looking for alternate energy and he aggressively refused.

[Disturbed]

13. More Right Wing Bullshit!

The Grand Oil Party is being funded by the American Middle Class whose jobs are being outsourced and mfg. is being re-located. In the meantime the Neo Fascists and their Mulit-Corps backers will suck American blood dry.

[dbt]

14. At first, I thought it was about the oil.

But that's just a small part of the Great War To Make Dick Cheney Rich. This whole goddam shitheap has been about corporations making money.

Fuck bu$h.

Deeply.
Severely.
Repeatedly.

:argh:
dbt

[maxsolomon]

16. in what way do they assert that iraq isn't about oil?

saying "But we need a plan for today and over the next 20 years."? nope, THAT FUCKING REINFORCES THE POINT.

there is no reason to be there BUT oil. we're not in zimbabwe protecting private property. we're not in NK removing a nuke-weilding fruitcake.

[Jackpine Radical]

17. Well, it ISN'T just about oil.

It's about world domination and empire building. Oil is one of the things you have to control in order to take over the world.

[Thurston Howe IV]

18. The Bastards are a front group for industry

The National Center for Policy Analysis is a "communications and research foundation dedicated to providing free market solutions to today's public policy problems."

Check out the complete reference, lists all the CEO's on their board:
http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=National_Center_for_Policy_Analysis

For a smart approach to energy independence AND job growth, check out the Apollo Alliance:
http://www.apolloalliance.org/
This is the kind of thing Kerry should have been pushing a year ago.

[struggle4progress]

20. White House energy task force papers reveal Iraqi oil maps (WorldNetDaily)

Posted: July 18, 2003
5:00 p.m. Eastern
By Paul Sperry
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – The controversial White House energy task force two years ago reviewed Iraqi oil-field maps and "foreign suitors for Iraqi oil-field contracts," reveal documents turned over under court order to a government watchdog group by a member of the task force. <snip>

The secret White House task force solicited input from the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston.

The Baker report, which was submitted to Cheney in early April 2001, recommended considering a "military" option in dealing with Iraq, which the report charged was using oil exports as a "weapon," by turning its spigot on and off to "manipulate oil markets," WorldNetDaily has learned.
<snip>

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33642


I personally don't like WND as a source, but the fact that the rightwing Judicial Watch was involved in dislodging some of these documents must make it somewhat uncomfortable for wingnuts who wish to pretend that no evidence links the Iraq war to oil issues.

[leesa]

21. OK. World control then...whatever, it's pure evil

[manteuffel1]

23. So what IS it about, then?

[Carolab]

24. It's about DOMINION

The NEW WORLD ORDER--remember?

It's about ensuring the euro doesn't surpass the dollar, it's about geopolitical dominance, about strategic military presence--and most of all it's about the U.S., Britain and Israel neoconservative Zionists tag-teaming for complete control over the Middle East.