Palaver from Persimmon Crossing

with Warren Faulk

Oil War of the Decade

Without getting into the right or wrong of it, it is probably too late to do much about the Iraq war. The question now is whether the reader is for or against the next oil war. If we continue this nonsensical, headlong addiction to foreign oil, there will be another war, and another. They may become known as the traditional oil wars of the decade. We may stack up a dozen or more of these until forced by loss of war or depletion of the resourse to go in another direction.

These wars may not all be in the MidEast. Africa beckons. It seems that oil deposits often come equipped with evil warlords. All a Western power has to do is identify the next bad actor to justify invasion. The MidEast is short one dictator now, but not in danger of running out of them anytime soon. And, of course, Africa is an untapped resourse. The factors that combined to set the stage for the Iraq war are everpresent in both areas.

I suppose I would be less "anti" if I believed our prioritization of "enemies" derived from some combination of actual energy needs, national defense requirements, environmental considerations and the relative badness of the dictator in the spotlight at any given time.

We really don't need the oil. We spend huge amounts pumping, transporting and defending it, but with a reasonable energy policy, little of that would be going on on behalf of the United States.

I would like to suggest we stop all alternative energy research. For reasons that I have yet to fathom, we spend some money here too. The research has been highly successful. Alternative, renewable, environmentally sound power is a fact. The technical means to facilitate a switch away from oil were secured decades ago in ethanol, wind and solar applications. Yes these can probably be made even more efficient as time goes on, but why bother? We are not going to use them anyway.

If there are still some pro alternative energy types around, maybe they would like to make one more try. Try pushing the idea of a big defense contract for about a billion gallons of alcohol based fuels using existing recipes. And a federal requirement that these fuels actually be used in government vehicles, military and otherwise.

Alternative / renewable energy is in the bank. Time to cash the check.

-- Warren Faulk
Smarr, Georgia
May, 2003

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Warren Faulk has written a book called "Still Looking For My Hinny," an online book about animal husbandry, fishing, hunting and war. Available from 1stBooks.com

Also see End Our Reliance on Oil

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