Posted: 09/08/2004
War In Iraq Not About Oil
NCPA: There is No Short-Term Answer for Energy Independence
September 8, 2004 – 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.
“If oil was our top concern war in the Middle East would be the last thing we would want to do,” said NCPA Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett. “The reality is the best thing that we could do for our oil supply, would be to sell out Israel and retreat from the region. It’s important to remember that terrorists aren’t after us because we import their oil. We are at war because the terrorists see us as infidels who need to die.”
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.”