Well, if a country is harboring those responsible for 9/11 and they get in the way of our mission to bring those terrorists to justice, I'm not sure we need to sacrifice the stability of the US economy to make sure that country is set back on the right path after we complete our mission. But even cleaning up afterward would have been better than in midstream almost completely changing the focus of our armed forces. Really, I don't think enough consideration was given to simply going after the target. Focused military attacks on Al-Qaeda don't have to result in the destruction of Afghanistan, but it seems those in charge are interested in long term tinkering in the hope that we can change the mindset of foreign nations. I'm not sold that forced regime change and long term military presence is the way to win hearts and minds. One thing that concerns me is the idea of offshore drilling around Florida, when Florida's beaches are one of Earth's treasures and a worldwide destination for vacationers (foreign money into the US). For the amount of oil we would get, I'm not sure it is worth it, especially considering that the price of gas would drop very little. Drilling in Alaska is a little different, though environmental concerns shouldn't be totally ignored. Spending money on oil leaves us with something we need. Spending money on Iraq leaves us with... well, not much good and worthwhile. Anyway, I'd hope the overall cost of energy consumption, a permenant necessity, eclipses the cost of the Iraq war, a temporary military action extremely tangential to US national defense. Sadly, at merely four times the cost, foreign energy costs aren't really eclipsing the rebuilding of Iraq. It wouldn't hurt for the US to produce more, I agree with you on that. We really need to start pushing alternatives, as well. I heard a former NASA engineer on the radio a day or two ago talking about putting large solar panels on sattelites and beaming that energy down to Earth. Totally renewable energy. Huge might be an overstatement. The emergence of China and India, the decline of the US dollar, and the war in Iraq probably all play significantly larger roles in the cost of oil. I'm not defending extremists in the environmental movement, but I think it is to the benefit of the US, the world, and our grandchildren to not completely ignore enviromental impact.
seems to me that it would be better to stay out of Afghanistan and just used targeted missile strikes from time to time. the prospects of making it a stable nation without taliban seem nearly impossible without dumping the same amt of cash that went into iraq.
The price of oil wouldn't drop at all. However offshore drilling does not create huge ecological problems for adjacent beaches. All the notorious huge oil spill disasters have come from tanker wrecks, not offshore platform spills. Texas and Louisiana have huge offshore oil industries that have been around for 75 years and the Louisiana and Texas beaches are not polluted by oil. Moreover the even more sensitive Louisiana marshes are not polluted either. The big objection to offshore drilling off Florida beaches is that the rigs mar their view. And they do, to a certain extent. But Texas and Louisiana have discovered that the rigs are also reefs and are an asset to recreational fishing.
Right, and I'm not sure that it is worth compromising the beauty of Florida's beaches, making them a less attractive vacationing destination. Man, you know some sh*t. :insane: :thumb:
When oil gets scarce enough, we will drill beside Old Faithful if we need to. We will drill the north slope as long as we don't drill though a live caribou. We will drill off Florida and California. A day will come when those rigs are gorgeous.
Is that day today? I don't think so. I like the idea of the microbes that excrete crude oil and putting more resources into finding alternatives.
I find your vocabulary amusing. Such a liberal word, naivete. How do you even say that? :cuss: You're a French loving lib! I guess you're pro rigs off the shores of Florida's beaches. I wonder what impact that will have on tourism dollars and I wonder what benefit we would feel at the pump and in other sectors of the economy. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if your environmental policies were similar to your policies dealing with Islam... Just nuke it!
Your tourists are either young college students who don't give a damn what the scenery is beyond the water's edge, or octeganarian jews from New York who can't see far enough to know what's offshore. You forgot "steel playin'"!!
