Bush's real boogieman is 'peak oil'. We are now within the range of the maximum extraction rate of the world's remaining, non-replaceable oil supply. Beyond this peak extraction rate, there will be a steady decline of reserves, making oil ever more valuable and expensive. To further exacerbate this crisis, the demand for oil from third world nations is increasing exponentially as they industrialize, driving the price of oil up to new heights.
A real terror in Bush's "war on terror" is the end of cheap oil because it means the collapse of not only the U.S. economy, but also the world's economy as well. That is why oilmen in high places in Bush's administration orchestrated 9/11, the new Pearl Harbor. They needed to get the American people to back the invasions of Afghanistan then Iraq and eventually accept Bush's "LONG WAR" that won't end in their lifetimes (WWIII). Bush will never leave Iraq and is turning it into a base of operations to control the oil reserves in the Middle East and Central Asia, thus halting the political rise of China and India and ensuring a "new American century" of unchallenged profit and privilege.
Another real terror is that the U.S. dollar is utterly worthless. It is underwritten by a national debt that now exceeds $8 trillion resulting from Bush's wars and tax breaks as well as a trade deficit that exceeds $600 billion per year resulting from Bush's support of unfair "free" trade. Berkshire-Hathaway chief, Warren Buffett, recently noted that the rest of the world owns $3 trillion more of us than we own of them. " In my view, it will create political turmoil pretty soon."
Soon Iran
The only thing that keeps the greenback afloat is that oil is traded in U.S. dollars exclusively. But, on March 20 the Iran Bourse will formally open and allow countries to break this monopoly of the U.S. dollar. The central banks across Europe and Asia will trade part of their stockpiles of U.S. dollars for euros. There will be a global sell-off of the debt-ridden dollar. And, this worthless paper will come flooding back to the U.S. sending markets crashing and the U.S. economy into a downward spiral.
It is no surprise that step-by-step Iran has been set up for war. Bush will undo the Iran Bourse not by occupying all of Iran with his over-extended military, but instead with the "Khuzestan gambit". Under the pretext of disarming Iran's nuclear program he will bomb major military installations and weapons-sites, secure the sensitive Straits of Hormuz and cut off the Iranian military's oil supply by occupying the Khuzestan province, a sliver of land on the Iraqi border that contains 90% of Iran's prodigious oil wealth. U.S. control of the massive oil fields of both Iraq and Iran will force the oil-dependant countries such as China, Japan and India to continue to stockpile our greenbacks, insuring that the system of trading worthless dollars for valuable commodities, labor and resources will continue.
Vote this November
The determination to consolidate the oil reserves in the Caspian Basin was made more than a decade ago by Vice President Cheney's "neocon" Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and is articulated in its policy papers. If you want to stop the warring ways of George Bush and the White House "neocons" and avoid their "LONG WAR" you need to vote against all candidates that support them this November.
Dan Merica is a political cartoonist and opinion writer battling the right wing scourge now devastating our country. His work is posted on his website, www.cartoons-political.com.
