[R-G] Got Faith?

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Thursday, June 03, 2004

Got Faith?

Some -- both on the right and the left -- thought that the invasion 
of Iraq is "about oil." What is happening now is indeed many oil 
wars, but each driven by its own national and international logic, 
not of the sort that some hawks and doves in the United States 
expected. After all, Washington isn't the only player whose action 
can impact the oil market. Anthony H. Cordesman, a senior fellow at 
the Center for Strategic and International Studies, writes:

Al Qaeda carried out its most successful attack since 9/11 last 
weekend, and much of that success was a result of the American 
reaction. It was the second time in a month that the terrorists 
struck at a soft target in Saudi Arabia's petroleum industry. 
Twenty-two people -- Saudis, an American and other foreigners -- lost 
their lives, and this is truly tragic. But in the grand scheme of 
things, it was a small-scale attack, and should not have been treated 
as more. The terrorists did not strike at the Saudi petroleum 
industry; not a barrel of export capacity was lost.

The real target was the willingness of foreigners to stay in the 
country -- a direct blow at the economic underpinnings of Saudi 
Arabia and its ability to attract the investment it needs for reform. 
Al Qaeda was simultaneously attacking the Saudi regime and its 
efforts to modernize the country and rebuild ties to the United 
States.

Unfortunately, the official American reaction was to panic -- just as 
it was in early May when five Western contractors were killed. The 
United States did not call for new Saudi security efforts, offer aid 
in counterterrorism, or try to fight back. Instead, the American 
Embassy in Riyadh decided to forget about American investment and 
trade by calling for all Americans to leave the country.

This comes at a time of record high oil prices, in a country whose 
oil production is critical to the American and global economies and 
to every American business, and in a region with 60 percent of the 
world's proven oil reserves. All Persian Gulf countries have their 
own Islamist extremist cells. If Saudi Arabia proves vulnerable, they 
are next. Is it any wonder oil prices soared further this week -- if 
the Americans are going to cut and run whenever things get messy, why 
should oil traders have any faith in the continued supply? ("Al 
Qaeda's Small Victories Add Up," New York Times, June 3, 2004)

If it is "faith in the continued supply" of oil that matters more 
than oil reserves themselves, Washington is in trouble -- it has no 
way of restoring the faith easily and quickly.

<http://montages.blogspot.com/2004/06/got-faith.html>
-- 
Yoshie

* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/>
* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/>
* Calendars of Events in Columbus: 
<http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, 
<http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/>
* Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
* Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>