Mideast Oil and U.S. Troops in Saudi Arabia
The dilemma President Bush, Congress, the United Nations and all of America, if not the world, finds itself in, seems to be a choice of which is the lesser evil. No one wants to see war break out. And thoughtful people do not want to see Hussein with hostages or chemical, germ, nuclear and missile systems that threaten and dominate an important portion of the globe, one which contains half the world’s oil.
The neat and simple dismissal “Our soldiers are only there for cheap oil” may in fact have some critically important considerations. What I have yet to read is an analysis of the cost of oil on human lives worldwide, where mobility of products and people, dependent upon low-cost energy, has developed a complex, interdependent society supporting 5 billion people. Even small changes in the cost of the world’s basic transportation element can have major domino-effect consequences. How many people in the world will die at $30 a barrel, at $40, at $60?
AARON L. KOLOM, Los Angeles
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