Historians--if the profession survives along with the rest of our species--will someday call this the era of the Oil Wars, much in the manner of the Opium Wars, Thirty Years War and the Hundred Years War, The Great Game, etc. If Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Scalia, Thomas, et al, do invade Iraq and seize a shameful (and perhaps Pyrrhic) victory, they will have simply added to a toll of conflicts beginning in the 1920s with the "creation" of the Gulf Oil States (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, the Emirates) with full-blown hostilities in 1948, followed in 1956 (Suez), 1967, 1973, 1970s-80s Lebanese/Syrian/Israeli conflicts, the Iran-Iraq war, 1991, the 1978-2001 Afghan Wars (It wasn't just the Soviets; remember the Unocal-led oil company cartel that schemed with the Taliban to construct a north-south pipeline through western Afghanistan?). Nor are oil battles confined to the Middle East and South Asia: the Mexican PEMEX scandals, the Nigerian atrocities, Ecuador's continuing miseries, not to mention all the environmental destruction and pollution worldwide... --Bill Witt BTW, if you missed "Doonesbury" in Sunday's paper, be sure to look it up. -- -----Original Message----- From: Iowa Discussion, Alerts and Announcements [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Mathews Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 12:12 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Oil addiction This is from Democrats.com (see below for who Democrats.com are). I don't agree that war in Iraq is inevitable, but the writer accurately describes our addiction to oil. Tom Mathews Seirra Club, Iowa Chapter Transportation Issue Chair ---------------------------------- __Car Wars Ian Roberts writes, "War in Iraq is inevitable. That there would be war was decided by North American planners in the mid-1920s. That it would be in Iraq was decided much more recently. The architects of this war were not military planners but town planners. War is inevitable not because of weapons of mass destruction, as claimed by the political right, nor because of western imperialism, as claimed by the left. The cause of this war, and probably the one that will follow, is car dependence. The US has paved itself into a corner. Its physical and economic infrastructure is so highly car dependent that the US is pathologically addicted to oil. Without billions of barrels of precious black sludge being pumped into the veins of its economy every year, the nation would experience painful and damaging withdrawal... Those who oppose war in Iraq must work together to prevent the conflicts that will follow if we fail to tackle car dependency." http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4586147,00.htm ___DEMOCRATS.COM____The Aggressive Progressives__________________ Democrats.com is the largest independent community of Democrats. We publish the only Democratic daily news service - and it's free! Our members make it possible through generous contributions. Please help by clicking below! http://democrats.com/donate - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]