 April 4, 2005 Update to friends Greetings from the Set America Free coalition. The past few weeks have offered plenty of illustration as to the national security implications of our dependence. As oil prices skirt 57 dollars a barrel, a wealth transfer of unprecedented proportions is taking place from our economy to the economies of oil producing countries. Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security policy, puts it bluntly: "the tens of billions of petrodollars flowing to terrorist-sponsoring states each year translate into income that is available, in part, to people trying to kill us — clearly, an untenable situation if we are serious about prevailing in this War on Terror." New York Times columnist Tom Friedman agrees: "By doing nothing to lower U.S. oil consumption, we are financing both sides in the war on terrorism and strengthening the worst governments in the world...we are financing the U.S. military with our tax dollars and we are financing the jihadists - and the Saudi, Sudanese and Iranian mosques and charities that support them - through our gasoline purchases." 
Raking it in. OPEC's acting secretary general Adnan Shehab-Eldin said that prices could even go as high as 80 dollars a barrel within the next two years and Goldman Sachs equity analysts warned this week that U.S. oil prices could top 100 dollars a barrel even without a major supply disruption.
Oiligarchs. The influx of petrodollars not only undermines our national security but is also undermining the prospect for democracy in the Middle East and other oil producing domains. Marina Ottaway, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, writes: "market forces have given oil-rich autocratic regimes new revenue with which to dispense patronage and buy off popular discontent [...] Oil and democracy do not mix easily in countries that depend highly on oil revenue." Time is of the essence. As former National Security Advisor Bud McFarlane points out, "Al-Qaeda has made public its intention to begin attacking oil facilities in the Persian Gulf and if we were to lose as much as some say as much as five or six million barrels a day for an extended period, this would literally cause a meltdown of the global economy." The International Energy Agency (IEA) is worried about supply disruption, and will soon be releasing a list of emergency measures countries should take if world oil supply drops by even 1 to 2 million barrles a day. Bottom line. "We must work immediately to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," exhorts Lou Dobbs in US News and World Report, "We can't afford to waste another quarter century in coming to terms with our dependence on imported oil." We couldn't have said it better. With your help we can keep building support to take action now. Joining forces. We're glad to announce new members have joined the Set America Free coalition:
As Max Boot summarized in the LA Times: "Absent some political courage in both parties, we will continue to be at OPEC's mercy." Watch and forward Oil dependence costs America jobs. Did you know? Two thirds of U.S. oil consumption is due to the transportation sector. Only about 3% of U.S. electricity is generated from oil. Press clippings Giving Hybrids A Real Jolt Businessweek, April 11, 2005 Hybrid-Car Tinkerers Scoff at No-Plug-In Rule New York Times, April 2, 2005 An Unlikely Meeting Of the Minds Washington Post, March 31, 2005 Freedom in Security National Review, March 29, 2005 Unlikely Allies Fight U.S. Oil Dependence Wall Street Journal, March 28, 2005 Click here for more articles. THE SET AMERICA FREE COALITION brings together prominent individuals and non-profit organizations concerned about the security and economic implications of America’s growing dependence on foreign oil. The coalition, organized by the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), promotes a blueprint which spells out practical ways in which real progress toward energy security can be made over the next several years. Find us on the web at http://www.setamericafree.org |