One’s initial reaction to such an atrocious beheading is to shrill out The Three Musketeers’ battle cry: “All for one and one for all.” and wipe out the Islamic threat, not just those directly responsible. It goes without saying that this is not the solution. Neither, since we are so oil hungry, can we begin a mass exodus of tens of thousands of westerners who work and live in Saudi Arabia, nor send in Marines to protect them. However, we can demand that the Saudi government increase tenfold its vigilance in protecting these residents, lest it evolve into another Palestine, and if they do not cooperate the United Nations must — as they should have long ago entered the Israel-Palestine conflict — send in peace-keeping troops on the premise that the Saudis have lost control.
Something has to be done about our reliance on OPEC to supply our needs. Since Carter, the US has made strides more or less in conservation, yet the demand for oil continues because of growth in population and competing countries, such as China, whose needs are also growing exponentially. By the mid century the world’s reserves will be depleted; the consequence in the meantime will be ever-increasing oil prices. We need a national commitment to alternative fuels. Oil based electric plants must be phased out in tandem with intensive research in cleaning up coal, transforming it into oil, and improving nuclear plants safety and modifying with fusion. Hydrogen, thermal, ocean and air alternatives must be explored. Railways should be modernized to shuttle infinitely more trailers than it does now to reduce trailer-truck long hauls, and passenger networks to reduce reliance on air travel. Lest we forget the US is still the second largest producer of oil and could improve its production by efficient recovery and further exploration — and yes, I’ll say it again — environmentally judicious drilling in ANWR.
To do this, Americans must understand that the cost of energy will be at a premium, but in the long run will make us safer-- and smarter consumers. Americans must also understand that by policing the world by air, ground troops and fleet, the consumption of fuel is astronomical, together with the armed services’ consumption in training and maneuvers. Either we begin to trim our machismo proclivity or waste our resources and continue to make us the targets of terrorism.
Copyright © 2004 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: June 19, 2004.