Boo! The new scare tactic is $9 gas if we leave Iraq!

Attywood
Thursday, August 30, 2007

Well, apparently all those "gut feelings" about an al-Qaeda attack, the confiscation of Breck and leaky ice packs at airports across America, and now the new mushroom-cloud banter regarding Iran hasn't scared the public enough into supporting a long-term troop presence in Iraq. Maybe that's because the American public finally turned off Fox News long enough to learn that Iraq doesn't really have anything to do with "Old Original al-Qaeda," (that's a Philly joke) or that Iran is a different country.

That's OK, because in the Pentagon equivalent of a V-8 commercial, our political and military leaders have smacked their collective selves on the forehead to recall the one thing that would actually frighten even the hardiest U.S. citizen.

And that would be the truly unthinkable: $9-a-gallon gasoline.

WASHINGTON -- Gasoline prices could rise to about $9 per gallon if the United States withdraws troops from Iraq prematurely, Rep. Jon Porter said he was told on a trip to Iraq that ended this week.

The Nevada Republican, who returned Tuesday from his fourth trip to Iraq, met with U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Iraqi Deputy President Tariq al-Hashimi and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh.

"To a person, they said there would be genocide, gas prices in the U.S. would rise to eight or nine dollars a gallon, al-Qaida would continue its expansion, and Iran would take over that portion of the world if we leave," Porter said Wednesday in a phone interview from Las Vegas.

The gut reaction here is to say that, well, at least they're finally being honest and admitting that the war in Iraq is all about keeping prices low at the pump here at home. But that's not really right, either.

For one thing, I believe that invading Iraq wasn't directly about lowering gas prices. I do think it was indirectly about oil, in the sense that the U.S. wanted to exert its military power in a volitile region of the world -- the region of the world that just happens to produce the most oil.

But more importantly, there's zero evidence that leaving Iraq would directly affect gas prices, certainly not more than triple them (it's now $2.75 'round my way) -- and in fact none is presented in the above article. That makes sense -- invading Iraq and removing Saddam has done nothing to help gas prices, has it? In fact, the ongoing civil war has already diminished Iraq's oil production and dampened some hopes that it could be expanded. Most experts will tell you that the one action in the region that would raise oil prices would be war with Iran, something the neocons left behind in the Bush White House still relish.

What would lower gas prices for Americans? How about taking some of the $3 trillion we've been burning though in the conflagration in Iraq, and spending a portion of that on developing new energy sources or fuel-efficient vehicles, so that we wouldn't even need to ponder trading more American lives for cheap gas.

Nah...not scary enough.

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