We need a War on Oil not Terror!

AMERICA, LETS WAGE WAR ON OIL NOT TERROR! 

Our Foreign and Energy Policy Stinks

by William Johnston

Disneyland to build in Iran. Walmart Opens up in Damascus.  World War III averted.  Oil at $ 25 a barrel for USA!  Ya think?

So amid the backdrop of our soliders dying in Iraq, extremists fighting against one another in Israel and Lebanon, the Gaza remaining a prison camp, and new U.S. Military Veterans being made each day while 85% on earth reject our direction, it occurred to me that maybe there is something awry with our foreign policy.  Are we really moving in the right direction?

I mean, did you hear all about the new business opportunities opening up for American business in the Middle East?  Neither did I!  However, most other countries have and are milking it for it’s resources while we, instead piss off the very people to whom we are trying to get oil from and sqaunder every business opportunity in favor of the smarter more resourceful Chinese, Russians, and others who are just loving our prolonged faux paux.  You see, we are never going to win friends and influence people under our current mantra.  We can’t ignore the world and pretend that they don’t count.  That’s silly and lacks intellect.

To me, we need a fundamental change in our thinking.  A paradigm shift.  A return to that Shiny City on the Hill.  To me, by simply putting America First with a simple foreign policy that “makes cents, then and only then can we actually make friends and influence people in the Middle East.

This is the key issue of our day and will have consequences for now and the future……..

To be very direct, our # 1 interest is oil.  The rest is just a bunch of side shows. 

Oil has been at the root cause of our negative involvement in the Middle East for the whole 20th Century and now it’s spilling over into the 21st Century.  Stop right there……we need to acknowledge this fact if we are going to sanely put ourselves on track. 

Oil is the problem!  It’s the great scourge of our time……….

Let’s fix it now and put forth the Greatest Marshall Plan for Energy that the world has every seen.  Let’s aim to marginalize oil within the next 20 years and render the Middle East a non-economic factor in the USA.  Kill off the incentive to oppress, invade, and wage war under the guise of justice at the expense of our freedom.  Let’s end the pollution of not only our cities but let’s end it for all cities in the world.  Let us end the pollution of our hearts too and stop bashing others into oblivion and destroying our own souls in the process. 

We don’t need a War on Terror; we need a War on Oil!

I mean, in the year 2006, Oil runs our economy and dominates our lives.  We need a clear supply to keep us competitive in the global markets.  There is just no way around it for us in the short term.  It’s that simple! 

A clear path to inexpensive oil keeps us competitive.  But 20 years from now, with a sane energy policy, we can get out of this mess.  Let’s turn the word “Oil” into an old word that once had some meaning in our culture – a former important resource that is just some noise that entered our history from 1900 – 2006. 

Clearly, a sane energy policy that gives us the clear path to true freedom is the real way out of this mess caused by complacency and profit mongers who cared not for our great society.   

Now, let’s make the case very simple!

In the Middle East, Israel has NO OIL.  Palestine has NO OIL!  So who has Oil?  And should we befriend them over everyone else? 

The short term answer is Yes!  Let’s do business with people that can get us the resources in the short term while we plan for a long term real solution to the problem.

I mean doing business with people that have something to offer make more cents then sending money to those that give us nothing in return!  Call me silly but I learned that in Business 101 – not in Ramallah or Tel Aviv but in Iowa!  Yeah, Iowa…..you see, I am an American, not Israeli or Palestinian.  I don’t really even know where those places are………..in fact, never been there.

Anyway, let me get this straight okay. 

As it stands, we give Israel, a country of 8 million or so people 5 billion dollars a year and match that amount with defense contracts for upwards of $ 10 billion dollars of our hard earned taxpayers’ money and we don’t get any oil!  Wow! That’s crazy! Who made that deal?  You’re Fired!

In fact, all we get is hate from the Arab states because we support Israel 100% in the most obvious uneven way while we divide the Arab states up by force and calling them all terrorists if they don’t like it.  Wow!  That’s interesting!

Now, if we had all the oil and another state wanted our resource but yet called us terrorists and threatened us with force, would we want to give it to them? 

Well, that’s what we are doing folks! 

Look, if you want to ignore the reality then we will continue to suffer the consequences.  But if you want to change it as much as I do and make it better, then we really need to see their perspective and put on their shoes first!  Geez folks.  I am old and now I know that people are people and the basic needs are always the same, no matter what the current mantras of lying politicians want us to believe. 

I contend that they don’t really hate our freedom as some have said.  I think they hate us stealing their oil, beating them up, supporting a country that gives them nothing but grief and basically push them aside and what they believe and what truly is a long standing culture that has tremendous gifts to offer.  If we would just take the time to acknowledge them, they would be more than happy to do business with us.  If we would just invest a bit of compassion and empathy, then that would go farther then a million missiles.  What would that cost us?  A handshake and a nicety!

Look, they hate our oppression of their peoples in the name of ………and they are reacting to it with extremism, just like Thomas Jefferson did against the British oppression of the 13 Colonies.  Can we afford to be so duplicitously myopic and still expect the world to follow our lead?  Wow, that’s arrogant!  I think that if we are to resume our role as a great country then we must be called upon to do great things that require more than just bombs!

Does this make cents or what? Think about it!   Don’t bash me yet!  I have more!

Okay, so what do we really get for our investment in Israel?  What’s the Return on Investment?

As a taxpayer, I demand a real answer and not some rhetoric by some paid off Washington Politician! It’s a simple question!  What are we getting for it? 

Now don’t take the easy way out and try to assassinate my character by calling me anti-Semitic.  I am from Iowa and don’t know where Semitic is located.  I am only talking about America’s interest and not Israel’s or anybody else!  So step up brother!

So what’s the answer? 

A HEADACHE!  That’s what we got!  A HEADACHE!

Yeah, I know, I have heard the phrase “Israel is the only democratically elected government in the region”, yet the Palestinians elected their officials and instead, we bashed them into oblivion because we just did NOT like their choice.  So now what are we saying?  Choice democracy only when it’s convenient for us?  And if we don’t like your choice, then you get hammered?  Is that how we are going to sell the peace?  Wow!  That’s straight up hardcore!

Furthermore, we actually have a long history of NOT supporting democracies when convenient so that this is not news.  We just have to stop pretending that we stand for democracy because we don’t.  We only stand for ourselves.  The problem is that our foreign policy is breaking our backs and not helping ourselves and its backfiring big time.

Here’s an idea! 

What if we simply just dropped our support for Israel and made friends with those states that can give us something in return for our investment.  Wouldn’t that make cents?

Heck, I would vote for sending money to Israel.  However, for $ 10 billion, I want at least a 20% return on the investment.  What? That’s business!  Nothing personal Israel!  You give us a return on our money or you get ZERO! 

Oh, and can I include Egypt in that group as well?  I mean, what the heck are we getting for $ 4 billion a year from them?  Dump them too! Geez!

Look, our 58 year support for Israel has brought nothing but ill will.  In fact, there are over 300 million Arabs and over 1 billion Moslems.  In Israel, there are only about 8 million citizens and worldwide only about 25 million people who worship Judaism worldwide.  Hello!  Why are we investing in Israel?  Geez!

Supporting 8 million and sacrificing 300 million?  Wholly Cow!  In business school, we would call that straight up stupid! Do you have any idea that amount of sales we are losing with this stupid plan!  Does this make cents to you?  Fire the idiots that support this lame move.

Look, I am not naive.  I know there are many of you who are of the position that all Arabs are dogs and all Israelis are doves.  I know that I can’t help you see a point of view that covets making cents as its mantra and places America First as its centerpiece. 

No matter what, I know you are determined to justify a position that is grounded in some other principle that has a different set of values.  So, this article is not for you.  In fact, this article is only for Americans who put America First. So if you support another country, then go there and go for it and leave our taxpayer money alone!

To me, I am sick and tired of watching our American taxpayer dollars go to places that don’t generate a return on the investment.  It’s that simple.  No more No less.

Now 50 years from today, I truly hope that our leaders understood that oil was a dead technology and put forth a sane energy policy that killed oil off the map and did it a gradual way that did not cut off our legs while we made the transition.  That would be super leadership!

You know we have the technology to do it.  Wouldn’t it be grand if someday, whatever happens in the Middle East between the combatants there would be no concern to us?

I mean Jews, Moslems, and Christians, go to it folks!  If you kill one another in the name of Allah, Yahweh, Jesus, or whomever you think is gonna save you and promise you land or whatever, then go for it.  That’s your problem! That does not concern us here in Iowa!

But realistically, for now, oil is our problem because our leaders got us to this point in history.  For that we ought to apologize.  We messed up!  It’s now time for us to acknowledge our complicity in the decades of chaos and change direction.  We really need to do what makes cents for America First and stop worrying about Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, or Palestine.  That’s there problem to solve, not ours.

So, let’s do business with the oil producers and take the short term benefit while we truly develop a serious energy policy to get us out of other people’s conflicts and put us back in the drivers’ seat of our own freedom and destiny.

So I say no more support for Israel! No more support for Egypt or Palestine!  Instead, let’s make deals with Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Saudi, and all those other countries that have the resources that will get America back on track.  And then, let’s implement the greatest human achievement in the modern age by declaring our intent to rid the world of it’s’ addiction to oil.  Now that’s putting America First!

Oh, and while we are at it, let’s build some Wal-Marts and Disneylands there too while we get back to the business of being the greatest country in the world. 

So Sorry Hammas!  Sorry Israel! Sorry Hezbollah!  You got nothing to offer us!

Oh, and did I mention, anyone who buys an “Oil Free Car” gets a 100% income tax break for calendar year 2007.  How’s that for incentive?   

Oh, and finally, if we get it right, then we can truly reconfirm and reclaim our pummeled and sidelined Constitution.  I just hope it’s not too late to take it back for our children and once again hold it up to the world as a living ode to freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

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