JINSA Report #566 Misdirected Outrage

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April 28, 2006

JINSA Report #566

Misdirected Outrage

Saudi Arabia has pledged $92 million to Hamas and Iran has pledged $50
million. Other Gulf States, worried that Iran will become the
Palestinians' main backer, are quietly investigating sending money to
the Hamas government; our friend Qatar has put up $20 million. For years
Saudi Arabia has been funding the export of radical Wahabi ideology to
Egypt, Pakistan and the U.S. (where they fund more than 80% of mosques
and Islamic schools). Iran is the world's leading sponsor of terror –
Hizballah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Shi'ite terror groups in
Iraq and close relations with Syria. AP reports that Iran has taken
possession – for cash, of course – of North Korean missiles that can
carry nuclear warheads and reach Europe.

Who's money are they spending? Yours.

The price of gas is high and consumers are angry. But when our elected
representatives stage press conferences near gas stations and call for
investigations of oil company collusion over prices they are pandering
and their outrage is deliberately misplaced and cynical. We don't like
gas prices and we're not crazy about oil company profits, but
$0.09/gallon in the hands of Exxon (or the $0.18/gallon in taxes US
government rakes in) doesn't foster international jihad or threaten the
world with nuclear annihilation. The real money is going to the bad guys.

The crucial fact about oil is that worldwide demand is up 33% over a
year ago and supplies have not increased. The first crucial fact about
the U.S. is that we spend billions of dollars and the precious blood of
our soldiers to defend the oil producers and lines of supply because we
need oil, but the rest of the world spends nothing to defend the oil it
needs. The asymmetry is political, economic and military. The second
crucial fact about the U.S. is that Congress and the Administration have
been abysmal in explaining this to the American public and promoting the
accelerated use of alternative forms of energy as a matter of national
security policy. Somewhere in our collective consciousness, though,
Americans know it. In a recent NBC-WSJ poll, Congress's approval rating
was a dismal 22% and the President was hovering around 36%.

Nuclear power, domestic exploration and drilling, clean coal, natural
gas, hydrogen, biofuels, wind, solar and hydropower are alternatives to
imported oil. With proper leadership and market incentives, the 7%
increase in Exxon-Mobil's profits over last year can be used to explore,
improve and exploit all of them. Taxing away "windfall" profits will put
more money in the government's hands, but the government isn't in the
business of finding and exploiting energy resources. Energy companies
are – and it is in our national security interest to have them do it and
make them do it.

In the same NBC-WSJ poll, 77% of respondents said they were worried
about oil prices and the economy. They would do better to worry about
oil prices as they affect our security and our way of life, because at
the moment, we are funding the people who hate us. Our government –
Executive and Legislative, Republican, Democratic and the lone Socialist
– is failing to take steps to stop it.

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