Iraq and Greenhouse Gases

Now what would Iraq have to do with global warming? Good question. Very few of our leaders have been willing to say that the war in Iraq is about oil. But recently a major exception was Alan Greenspan now retired from the Federal Reserve Bank. In his new book of memoirs, The Age of Turbulence, he flatly states that the “Iraq war is largely about oil.” He said that it might be politically incorrect to say it but it nevertheless was true.

A primary goal of U.S. foreign policy has been for decades the control of Middle Eastern oil. The invasion of Iraq and the unseating of Saddam Hussein finally gave Washington the opportunity to plant its feet firmly in the oil deposits of Iraq and with the intention of remaining there permanently. After all, we are the largest user of a non-renewable source of energy, i.e. oil and therefore the largest producer of “greenhouse” gas emissions. Thus we make overwhelmingly the largest contribution to global warming.

So in order to support our need for oil as a source of energy we chose military force to seize that energy and control its use indefinitely.

Now we all are aware of the negative impact of that war in terms of death, permanent disability and destruction. But what is the impact of the war on global warming? Believe it or not, the war in and of itself is producing huge amounts of greenhouse emissions. How is this so? Aircraft, motorized vehicles and naval vessels, to name just a few, all necessary to military operations use 3 million gallons of oil per day. This is, according to one estimate,16 times more than that used in WW II.

Now let’s look at the cost. The latest figure is over $600 billion for the war but does not include medical supervision of the wounded and mental health patients. We are not paying for the war through increased taxes but rather by borrowing to pay and running up a huge debt for the future. It is further estimated that the war will cost this country over $2 trillion. On the other hand, this administration has appropriated only $1.5 billion to deal with the problem of global warming. This is totally inadequate to develop replaceable fuels. As long as this war continues there is no way that funds will be available to replace petroleum as a source of energy.