Says President Bush on Saturday: (via Washington Post)
You can imagine a world in which these extremists and radicals got control of energy resources… And then you can imagine them saying, ‘We’re going to pull a bunch of oil off the market to run your price of oil up unless you do the following. And the following would be along the lines of, well, ‘Retreat and let us continue to expand our dark vision.’ [They] would use energy as economic blackmail.
[Extremists would be] able to pull millions of barrels of oil off the market, driving the price up to $300 or $400 a barrel.
If he’s talking about Iraq then why have our prices not gone up that high over the past 3 years since at some point most, if not all, of Iraqi oil production has been offline and inaccessible due to sectarian and “terrorist” strife. Though they are finally making progress, they still have 1 million barrels to go before they hit pre-war peaks.
So who and what, pray tell, could he be talking about then?
Hmmm… extremists and radicals.
Who has Mr. Bush labeled with such a name other than Iraq…
Ah Ha from September 5th.
This Shia strain of Islamic radicalism is just as dangerous, and just as hostile to America, and just as determined to establish its brand of hegemony across the broader Middle East. And the Shia extremists have achieved something that al Qaeda has so far failed to do: In 1979, they took control of a major power, the nation of Iran, subjugating its proud people to a regime of tyranny, and using that nation’s resources to fund the spread of terror and pursue their radical agenda.
(emphasis mine)
So again, is Mr. Bush talking about Iraq or Iran yesterday? Or perhaps both?
BTW, Iran is holding wargames over the next few days… specifically around the Straits of Hormuz, a.k.a the Great Persian Oil Bottleneck. (Their propaganda machine is also in full flight). Iran itself holds 9% of proven Oil reserves in the world and huge Gas reserves as well, most of that oil and gas goes to American competitors in Russia, India, and China. Their current production is around 3-4 million bpd.
And then of course there’s that radical leftist dude down in Venezuela, yesterday he said:
If they try to destabilize PDVSA, if the empire and its lackeys in Venezuela attempt another coup, ignore the outcome of the elections or cause election or oil-related upheaval, we won’t send another drop of oil to the United States
Presidential Elections are happening December 7th (a month Tuesday) in Venezuela.
Venezuela is the US’s 4th largest provider of energy.
So who was Bush talking about again? It seems not only like he simply can’t be talking about Iraq… and other people are acting as if he’s talking about *them*.