May 14, 2010
Corn, ethanol and the war on terrorism
Published in the Southeast Farm Press
American farmers are producing enough corn to meet food needs, livestock feed needs and to provide a start for the country’s effort to develop a sustainable energy source to offset the high cost of dependency on foreign oil.
“While filling your vehicle with gas, you look into the side-view mirror and what do you see? You see a supporter of worldwide terrorism.” That quote is from James Woolsey, former director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency.
Robert Zubrin is a protégé of Woolsey and at a recent combined meeting of the North Carolina corn, soybean and small grain grower associations, he detailed an opportunity for Southeast grain growers to make a difference in the war on terrorism and to help right the troubled economic ship of the United States.
Zubrin has authored several books on energy and space exploration. He is also president of Pioneer Astronautics, an aerospace research and development company in Lakewood, Colo. He holds a PhD in nuclear engineering from the University of Washington and served for a number of years as a staff engineer at Lockheed Martin Astronautics.
Zubrin says energy issues in the U.S. include a national security issue, an economic welfare issue, an environmental issue and the overall, ultimate issue of what happens when oil runs out.
“Grain farmers in the U.S. can play a significant, and positive, role in helping our country overcome each of these issues,” Zubrin says. Among the Southeastern states, North Carolina is the only one ranked in the top 20 in corn production. However, collectively the Carolina’s, Virginia, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia are projected to produce 120 million-130 million bushels of corn in 2010.
The most pressing of these issues, he says, is the impact the price of fuel has on our national security.
“In 1972, the U.S. paid $4 billion for all oil imports. At that time, many thought paying $4 billion, which equaled 4 percent of our total defense budget for that year was far too much.
“By 1999, we paid $40 billion, or 15 percent of our national defense budget, for imported oil. A new generation of economists warned of dire consequences if we continued to spend so much money on imported oil.
“Within a decade (2007) we paid $300 billion, which was almost 70 percent of the defense budget. We doubled that in 2008, which was over 100 percent of our total defense budget.
“Not only are we funding both sides in our war on terror, now we are funding the enemy with more money than we are funding to fight them,” Zubrin says.
By the standards of any economist or militarist $600 billion means power. The big question is, “who are we empowering with our $600 million and what are they going to do with it,” Zubrin asks.
In 2008, he says, Saudi Arabia received $400 billion of our $600 billion dollars in oil imports. The Saudi’s also control OPEC, which produces over 40 percent of the oil produced in the World.
Not only do the Saudis have the most oil — four times more than any other single OPEC member, but they also have the cheapest oil. Zubrin contends it costs the Saudis 50 cents a barrel to take oil from the ground. Supply and price allows them to control OPEC.
“We see the opulence of Saudi sheiks and for certain they have the most narcissistic lifestyle of any culture in the history of our planet,” Zubrin says. “However, building desert oasis playgrounds and billion dollar resorts is just a small part of how the Saudis spend our oil money,” he adds.
A large part of the money goes to support their religion—Wahhabism. Zubrin says Wahhabism is the worst variant of Islamism. It is extreme and calls for extermination of other religious sects, according to Zubrin.
For more than two centuries, Wahhabism has been Saudi Arabia's dominant faith. It is an austere form of Islam that insists on a literal interpretation of the Koran. Strict Wahhabis believe that all those who don't practice their form of Islam are heathens and enemies.
Critics say that Wahhabism's rigidity has led it to misinterpret and distort Islam, pointing to extremists such as Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Wahhabism's explosive growth began in the 1970s when Saudi charities started funding Wahhabi schools (madrassas) and mosques from Islamabad to Culver City, Calif.
Over the past decade alone, Wahhabi funded terrorists have killed thousands of people worldwide — from virtually every religion in the world. As horrible as that is, Zubrin says the economic stranglehold the Saudis have on the rest of the world is far worse.
“Despite a rapidly growing world population and skyrocketing demand for oil, the Saudi’s continue to cut oil production...
