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Using oil as a weapon: Part II
"Days of Future Past" Oil has been used as a weapon before, and as seen in yesterday’s entry, it continues to be used as a weapon today. If used against the United States in its most extreme form as it was in 1973, it could be a more effective weapon than any bomb or any terrorist attack possibly could, because it would rapidly cripple and destabilize our economy. We can try to put blame our problems on the people who control the great oil reserves and markets, and think of them as our enemies, but we really have no one to blame but ourselves. The United States has allowed itself to get into a situation where we are at the mercy of the men who have their hands on the oil spigot, with little chance to extricate ourselves from this position in the near future. If this country makes a monumental effort, makes all the right choices along with an enormous monetary commitment, the best estimate is that we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil by only about twenty to thirty percent over the next ten years. But how could we have allowed this to happen when the warning bells first started ringing as early as 1967, and then started sounding loudly and urgently in 1973? While the American public deserves some of the blame, a great deal of the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of our leaders who for decades ignored and failed to see the consequences of the road we were taking, failed to make hard leadership decisions, and in general, failed to lead. The lessons of history seemed to have been forgotten soon after the crisis had passed. The war which prompted the Arab oil embargo began on October 6th, 1973, the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, when Egypt and Syria launched a joint attack against Israel in retaliation for the losses and humiliation they had suffered at the hands of the Israeli Army during the Six Day War in 1967. On October 13th, 1973, the United States launched Operation Nickel Grass, an airlift of badly needed equipment and supplies to Israel. The oil crisis began on October 17th, 1973, when OPEC announced that they had cut production and would no longer ship oil to countries that had supported Israel in its war with Syria and Israel. On October 19th, Saudi Arabia, Libya, and other Arab states joined in on the embargo against the U.S. The countries of Western Europe, and Japan were also affected, but other than the Netherlands which had allowed the U.S. airlift planes to refuel there, they weren’t cutoff completely. Once the embargo began, oil imported into the U.S. from Arab countries dropped from 1.2 million barrels per day to just 19,000 barrels per day. The U.S government added to the problem when it implemented price controls that differentiated between “old oil”, which had been purchased prior to the embargo, and new oil which would be sold at the higher price OPEC had set. This exacerbated the problems of supply by creating an artificial scarcity, as the lower priced old oil was removed from the market. In order to keep up with the drastically reduced supply, gas rationing was implemented, and the crisis entered its most debilitating stage. In many states, people with license plates ending with odd numbers or vanity plates were only allowed to buy gas on odd numbered days, and people with even numbered plates could only purchase gas on even numbered days. In months with 31 days, the 31st was a free-for-all day, if you could find it, you could buy it. In some states, gas stations used a flag system to ration their supply of gas. A green flag meant that anyone could purchase gas, yellow meant sale of gas was restricted to vehicles used for commercial purposes, and red meant that the gas pumps were closed. In retrospect, the Nixon White House’s policy of conservation and reduction of demand was the right way to go, and many of the actions it took during the crisis, if continued and tightened could have made a difference today. But others were really more symbolic than substantive. To help reduce consumption, the 55 mph speed limit was imposed on interstates. Year-round daylight savings time was implemented, but withdrawn a year later because of complaints that school children were forced to leave for school before daylight. The Don’t be Fuelish ad campaign was launched in the television and newspaper media to increase public awareness. U.S. automakers were mandated to downsize cars, and to design cars that conformed to Federal gas consumption standards of 27.5 miles per gallon. Everyone got more gas conscious, with even NASCAR and Indy getting in on the act. NASCAR reduced race distances by 10%, and cancelled the 1974 edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona. At the Indianapolis 500, the qualifying round was reduced to two days instead of four, and some practice days were eliminated. Alternative and renewable forms of energy suddenly became the topic of discussion, and mass transit achieved a new level of interest as well. On the conservation side, the government created the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 1975, and Energy conservation became a cabinet-level priority when the Department of Energy was created in 1977. But Americans have historically paid attention to one thing, and one thing only, and that is cost. Our capitalistic arrogance is only put to the test when we feel something costs more than it should, and once the supply of gas was restored, we learned to live with the higher prices. Little by little, many of the policies of conservation were relaxed or abandoned, and the U.S. which makes up 4% of the world’s population, currently uses 25% percent of the world’s oil. Now that gas is suddenly hitting a national average of over $4 per gallon, we react with an arrogant combination of surprise and disgust. Unless we reduce our dependence on foreign oil as quickly as possible, we will maintain our extreme vulnerability to the use of oil as weapon. Let’s hope that OPEC’s American style greed keeps that from ever happening before we get our house in order, but it’s going to take a lot more, than just a quick spring cleaning. William S. James, Guilty as charged |
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I agree oil is used as a weapon; but more financially against US citizens. Everything consumed in the USA is attached to the price of petroleum for it is the driving force of the economy that is being raped by US Representative and Senators who have investments in oil. since the US currency is no longer backed by gold, thanks to good ole boy Nixon ~ the genious, and the political network poured their investments in oil stock; pork barrel financed oil exploration and development using tax payers money; and currently cloaking war financing through a corporation. Never in US history has the economy gone down-hill as fast as it has during an active military campaign as this current administration and NOT being engaged in a World War.
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