It s All Terrorism, Stupid!

"America likes the status quo just fine the way it is"

Quite wrong. We have been at war since 9-11. The next target on the list is Saddam. Overthrowing governments is not "liking the status quo just fine". We've as much as told the Iranians they either give up their nuclear ambitions, their support for terrorism, or face us next. The US is no longer a status-quo power in the middle east. Time is on the side of those seeking nukes to mate to their terrorist clients, to take us on. We now seek revolutionary change in the region - toward democracy, away from Islamicist radicalism, away from support for myriad terrorist groups. The status quo is no longer acceptable, due to 9-11 itself and the threat of a nuclear repeat.

We are at war, and we ain't stopping for stale cold war era rhetoric from the Buchanan crowd.

I agree puppets are better - when they do do our bidding, and when they don't allow their territory to be used for attacks on us. Whether the Saudis are still in that category is, to my mind, very much up in the air. But we can do it the direct way, and the threat of that is what limits the concessions and misbehavior the "puppets" extract from us, or get away with.

The direct way is also not as difficult as you seem to imagine. The oil is not in densely settled areas covered with holy sites. It is in remote areas or along the coasts, with sparse populations around it. Enclaves seperated from the bulk of the local population would be quite feasible. Seperation can be made effective without inviting terrorist attack, simply by using enough barbed wire, mines, etc. And of course we can invite those beyond to a better career as puppets, instead of futile hostility. This would be a lot easier with democratic governments we install than with the present pack of tyrants.

The formulation the president has put forward strikes me as perfectly sound. Everybody has to choose between us and the terrorists. Those who choose the wrong way are going to get their clocks cleaned. We should not appease anyone making the wrong choice, whether there is oil near them or not. We can be perfectly friendly to those who make the right choice, whether present governments or future ones. Everybody will have strong incentives both ways, carrot and stick, to get out of our way. But undoubtedly many will choose not to, human nature and pride being what they are. They are free to choose. And we will take whatever war they have the belly for, and win it too.

The rest of the world would not lose their oil because the rest of the world is kissing the butts of assorted ME dictatorships. This fear of losing oil supply is a red herring, we can make that up from many sources including Mexico and Russia and even here in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alaska and other states that have capped their wells. Domestic oil has been kept in the ground for just such an emergency. If you are going to make a case then do it without throwing up straw men.

This fear of losing oil supply is a red herring, we can make that up from many sources including Mexico and Russia and even here in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alaska and other states that have capped their wells.Domestic oil has been kept in the ground for just such an emergency.

Do you have a source? While I'm not positive that we may not have domestic wells capped, what I have read indicates that our policy with OPEC and specifically Saudi is based more on extracting as much oil from fields that we paid to develop. Which certainly makes sense.

Get as much out of sunk cost and hold domestic sources for an emergency. However, the exploration and development costs of ANWR would be extremely high in comparison to sources currently available.

No?

she believes that since America now has an interest in anti-terrorism, America somehow no longer needs oil

Well, if we need oil that bad, maybe we ought to apologize to Osama Bin Laden?????

I doubt if the author thinks that we don't need oil, (oh pallease)

Most likely she believes that doing things that are repugnantly immoral (like being a total frigging hypocrite re: terrorism) because it serves ones "self interest" is Clintonian.

It ain't about Israel first, its about putting what's right first.

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