War For Oil! - Duke

War For Oil! - Duke University's Joseph Grieco makes the case why the war should be about oil.

Opponents of a possible war with Iraq say such oil will be used to fuel cars, especially gas-guzzling SUVs owned by Americans. But oil is also the lifeblood of modern industry. For example, 25 percent of all oil used in the United States goes to manufacturing operations, particularly in the plastics and pharmaceutical sectors.

Oil resources located in the Middle East are vital not just to the prosperity of rich countries, but for the prospects of growth in developing nations [emphasis added]. According to the IEA, future increases in demand for oil will come largely not from the world’s rich countries, but from fast-growing developing countries, especially China.

This trend highlights a link between oil access and world peace. According to the IEA, China over the next 30 years will become a "strategic buyer" in international energy markets. If those markets are periodically thrown into turmoil because of supply disruptions in the Middle East, China might decide to take control of the oil reserves thought to be under the South China Sea. That would bring it into serious conflict with such neighbors as Vietnam and Indonesia, and ultimately with the United States.

It's not about oil company profits. It's the economy, stupid - just just ours, but the one on which most of the world's poor depend.

(Via Instapundit)

Posted by Mitch at March 6, 2003 07:54 AM