By Noah Taft
All this finger-pointing over Iraq makes me sick. When it comes to our Middle East policy, it’s clear what America’s core weakness is: our unwavering addiction to petroleum.
Our most implacable enemies in the region are awash in petro-dollars. Iran, Iraq, and let’s not forget Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of the radical Islamic ideology that it exports to madrassas all over the world.
Now imagine if the world were more energy independent. These enemies would no longer be able to prop up their regimes with oil money, nor financially back all the radical clerics that spew the hatred that is hijacking Islam.
This is not a partisan issue.
Republicans and Democrats, Liberals and Conservatives, we all share the blame. Instead of protecting our insatiable thirst for oil, we need to be willing to sacrifice in the short term to solve a clearly malignant long term problem.
We need another Manhattan Project. This time, however, the project’s goal would be to eliminate our oil dependency.
Bottom line? We can defeat Radical Islam without firing a bullet. Simply eliminate the milk that feeds it. We all know what that milk is. It’s oil, stupid.
Let them sell sand.
