Connecting the Dots between Energy Depletion and the War on Terror

By Dale Allen Pfeiffer of Mountain Sentinel

In the first months after 9-11, I said the terrorist attacks were being used as an excuse to stage an oil coup and establish an oil empire. I stated this in December of 2001, in the article The Background is Oil. In a follow up article What Next? looking at oil resources around the world, I speculated on future targets of the War on Terror. Using the hypothesis of an oil coup out to seize the planets major energy deposits before the coming of peak oil, I called off all of our government's future targets weeks before Bush's famous "Axis of Evil" speech. Over the next couple of years, I discussed out the energy importance of Afghanistan, Central Asia, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, and the growing energy demands of China, India and Indonesia (see The End of the Oil Age Lulu Publishers, March 2004, ISBN: 978-1-4116-0629-6 ). Three years ago, I wrote about Iran's energy resources and discussed the inevitability of a US-led invasion of that country (Target Iran).

Now it seems that other journalists are beginning to back up what I have said with their own words. There is one vital omission, however. None of them have mentioned energy depletion. They seem to present all of this as simply greed on the part of US oil interests. Certainly, US oil interests are greedy, and they do not much care who or what they destroy to reach their ambitions. But, seen in the light of energy resources, most of the fronts in the War on Terror are truly acts of desperation. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have destabilized both countries and made it much more difficult and dangerous for any business venture in those countries, or even in the region. And attempts to depose Presidente Chavez in Venezuela have completely backfired. No, such desperate moves only make sense when we take into account the coming oil peak and the ensuing era of energy depletion.

Not to mention this central motive leaves the reader to think that the oil majors are the preeminent power in the world. Why aren't other major players in the US and elsewhere standing up to oppose these reckless endeavors? The reason is supplied by the awareness of energy depletion. The major players are aware that we are stepping into a new world of energy impoverishment. And, because of this awareness, they have given George W. Bush's mad gambit their blessing. Yet, they have done so quietly, as they do not want the general population to become aware of our true situation.

If the population realized that the glory days of our oil-based civilization were over, and that no alternative energy source can provide the quantity of energy that we require for continued socioeconomic prosperity (see How much Energy do We Consume? in The Mountain Sentinel, Vol. 1, No. 4), the economy would collapse overnight, before the major players are ready. What is worse, armed with such an awareness, the public might just rise up and demand a better accounting. They might seek to transform our society into something more egalitarian, threatening to completely unseat the major players. And we certainly cannot have that.

It is well and good that journalists are connecting the dots between oil and the War on Terror. But it is high time for them talk seriously about the main motive behind the oil empire. Until the public understands energy depletion, oil imperialism will continue to march onward. Nor will we be prepared to deal with other problems such as climate change.

I have said before that we will not pull our troops out of Iraq until the energy resources of that country are secure. The same is true for Iran, should the US-led offensive against that country prove successful. Following the seizure of Iran's energy resources, we will turn our full attention to Venezuela. And if we are successful at reclaiming the resources of that country, then we will be able to go on dominating the world in the coming age of energy depletion. The major players will be able to dictate the terms of the coming global order, and maintain their places at the top of the heap even as the heap diminishes. As for the general public in the US, they will be under the feet of those major players, along with the rest of the world, struggling to survive in the midst of the heap.