On the bedside table:
Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back
In case you're still wondering why we are in Iraq:
Updated 6/30/08: US Advised Iraqi Ministry on Oil Deal
Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back
Below is a snippet from a discussion about energy policy plucked from yesterday's PBS NewsHour:
JEFFREY BROWN (PBS Anchor):
For a final question, a kind of philosophical question, (about) the role of government in affecting our energy
future?
DOUG HOLTZ-EAKIN (top McCain policy adviser): Senator McCain believes deeply that this is an important challenge
that faces America, but the American people have always been the source of greatness that overcomes challenges. He
believes that an effective government will put in place those policies that unite corporate planners and
environmentalists, bring venture capitalists together with those who want to use coal, and find the technologies and
the innovations that will allow America to free itself of the threat that oil places us in a national security
basis, an economic basis, an environmental basis. He's going to put in place incentives for the private sector, turn
it loose, and America can have reforms that make us cleaner, reforms that lead to prosperity, and rid ourselves of
the threats that we face at this moment. <END>
Ugh... what exactly is the new vision here? It sounds like the same tired old story to me-- just leave it up to the
market and the private sector, they're a bunch good folks who have our best interests at heart. But hey, no worries,
now that they're on the verge of "acquiring" the rights to all of Iraq's oil, and are poised to finally get at those
elusive offshore and Alaskan fields (see Disaster Capitalism) they have plenty of incentive to develop alternatives to
fossil fuels- right?