Quote:
Originally Posted by mykalberta
Very left of centre but it preaches what I have been saying for a long time.
The only way to defeat Islamic terrorism is to pass a law that says in 10 years dissallow all foreign oil imports and say put a 50 cent tax/gallon after 5 years. They should also close all embassy's in the region with the exception of Isreal, Jordan, and Egypt and move the military bases to Africa.
Then the mid-east is Europe and China's problem.
MYK
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US foreign policy-makers probably don't relish the fact that energy costs for the US (if they pursued the above policy) would be prohibitive. They already occupy a dominant position in the region, I'm not sure what the impetus would be for them to leave. A few hundred billion in war $$ might save a few trillion in energy cost-savings in the long run, with unparalleled access to the Iraqi and Saudi reserves (in addition to other Gulf States).
Abandoning the ME as a source of oil would be an economic shot in the foot for the US... obviously extracating itself from the region isn't worth it (or they'd have done it).