There’s an article in the Canadian Jewish News right now discussing former Central Intelligence Agency director James Woolsey’s remarks at a recent fundraiser in Canada.
Woolsey, who headed the CIA from 1993-95 during the Clinton administration, is co-chair of the Washington-based Committee on the Present Danger, along with George Schultz, former president Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state.
The committee seeks to fight global terrorism and spread democracy.
He warned that the war on Islamic terrorism will be a very long one, probably lasting decades, because it is rooted in a centuries-old religion that is not going to be abandoned like the secular totalitarian movements of the 20th century, fascism and communism.
There is also little difference in the ultimate aim of the extremist elements in Islam’s two main branches, Shi’a and Sunni, to defeat the West and establish religious domination.
But he characterized the Saudi Arabia-based Wahabi movement, which is closely linked ideologically to Al Qaida, as “one of the most fanatical in world history. Its fatwas call for the genocide of Shiites, Jews, homosexuals and apostates.â€
And its reach is staggering. “With just over one per cent of the Muslims in the world, Saudi Arabia dominates 90 per cent of the Muslim institutions in the world,†he said.
The United States is paying Saudi Arabia $170-$180 billion a year for oil, he noted.
There are plenty of touchy feely ACLU lawyers and doe eyed liberals who would have you believe that Islam is a religion of peace and that Saudi Arabia is our friend. In fact, Saudi Arabia is probably the worst threat that western nations face today. And we’re sending them at least $170,000,000,000.00 dollars a year.
Every time an American fills up his gas tank, he is helping to send an eight-year-old boy to an Islamic religious school in the West Bank or Pakistan where he will learn to grow up to be a suicide bomber, said Woolsey.
Assuming the former head of the CIA and his buddy the former Secretary of State know what they’re talking about, this is a problem that needs to be addressed.
The trouble I’m having with this issue is that while I am against anything that begins with the words “government mandated”, I think this is actually an issue of national security. We’re funding our enemy at the rate of about 3.2 billion a week. Imagine if we had sent Hitler a weekly check for 3.2 billion dollars. Do you think world war 2 would have had a different outcome?
Clearly something needs to be done. We know we can’t count on the government to do anything of substance. The multinational oil industry is going to oppose anything that hurts profits, and they have a lot of money to help shape public opinion.
The question is, what can we do to get the Middle Eastern oil monkey off our collective backs? I don’t know if I have a great answer, but I do have some ideas.
First, we need to start making use of the oil fields in Alaska. We are a society who can perform heart surgery through a small incision in the leg. I find it hard to believe the we’d have to destroy the Alaskan tundra in order to get at the oil under the ground.
Second, implement huge tax breaks for companies who develop affordable fuel efficient vehicles. Make it worth their while to get things done. Then extend those huge tax breaks to Americans who buy these fuel efficient cars and trucks. Give Americans a “efficiency rebate” at tax time. You can’t mandate fuel efficiency, and the government shouldn’t even bother to try. But they are in a position to help pave the way, and they should aggressively pursue it.
Third, we need an X-Prize for a fuel efficient engine. How about a 500 million dollar prize for the first team to mass produce an affordable family sedan that gets 100 miles per gallon. Better yet, how about a one billion dollar prize for the first team to mass produce an engine that runs on tap water. People love a challenge. We didn’t go to the Moon because it was the closest place to pick up the Sunday paper and a box of donuts. We got there because we were in a competition with the Russians. I say it’s time to spark up that competitive drive and stop sending boatloads of cash to people who want to destroy us.
