Oil Oil Everywhere

I was reading some commentary by an individual expressing his belief that both Barack Obama and John McCain were being xenophobic and disingenuous about America's "addiction" to foreign oil and the hostile regimes that supply it.

http://voices.kansascity.com/node/1526

While the story was correct in the assertion that a large chunk of U.S. imports come from nations that are allies or considered friendly to us, the fact of the matter is, our increasing demand for oil, as well as the demand coming from growing economies globally, most notably India and China, do in fact continue to sponsor terrorist operations and hostile nation states. The author depicts Saudi Arabia as an ally, which I suppose is superficially true, but segments of their own government are considered to be sympathetic to listed terrorist organizations and some are active with material support...materials they can afford to procure due to their own vast oil fortunes.

The author fails to note as well that the danger from oil comes from how the price of oil is dictated by the stability or instability of the Middle East, Africa and South America. The speculation and overall production from nations such as Nigeria, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia eventually determine how much the rest of the globe pays for everything from gasoline to food. So while our actual supplies may not come from Iran itself, how much we pay at the pump can be partly determined by that country.

Maybe the candidates should stop asserting that it is just a "foreign" oil problem, but our addiction to oil itself. However, make no mistake that this gluttonous consumption of oil not only fuels our economy, but many of America's biggest detractors and outright enemies as well. Energy independence is not about sticking it to the rest of the world, but a necessary step to avoiding such messy conflicts as Iraq, a region we surely would not desire to constantly meddle with if oil wasn't the most significant commodity on the planet.