Jihad Against Oil

From IBD:

Posted 3/2/2006
Energy Dependence: Al-Qaida and Democrats in Congress have a curious objective in common — sabotaging the supplies of oil available to America.

The Saudi Arabian branch of al-Qaida this week provided religious justification for its attempt last Friday to car-bomb the huge oil-processing complex in the eastern Saudi town of Abqaiq. "Targeting oil interests is legitimate economic jihad," said a 63-page document posted on a militant Islamic Web site. "Oil is the basis of modern industry and the backbone of industries in infidel countries."

The missive was apparently written some time ago by Abdul Aziz bin Rasheed al-Anzy, a key al-Qaida propagandist now in Saudi custody. It sheds light on how terrorists plan to target oil interests.

"Pipelines may be the front line in a long-term war of attrition on oil and its interests," it says. "Pipelines are an easy target militarily. Their protection is virtually impossible because of their length." The al-Anzy document adds that "God's wisdom has decreed that the oil wealth be concentrated in the Arabian peninsula and Iraq."

Of course, through God's wisdom there's also a substantial quantity of oil in North America. But Democrats have decreed that it stay in the ground, and have spent decades making sure it does. Meantime, feasible and competitively priced sources of alternative energy remain many years away.

We've known for decades of the supply potential in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — as much as 12 billion barrels of oil, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, with even the Clinton Energy Department verifying the environmental safety of drilling.

Despite fierce opposition that killed ANWR last year, Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is trying again to pass legislation to drill there. He's also joined with New Mexico colleague Jeff Bingaman on a bill to open up part of the Outer Continental Shelf in the eastern Gulf of Mexico for natural gas exploration.

Enviro-leftists who oppose drilling in the Gulf should know that none other than Fidel Castro is taking advantage of the Outer Shelf. Cuba has gleaned $1.7 billion from oil and gas drilling as close as 60 miles from the Florida coast since 2004, according to Rep. John Peterson of Pennsylvania, and "is drilling closer to sovereign American property than we are."

It's staggering to think that Islamo-fascist terrorists, and even a communist dictator, understand the economics of oil better than Democrats who continue to ignore oil as a security threat.

Two Americans remain among the hostages abducted by Nigerian militants targeting oil interests there, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has threatened to cut off oil to the U.S. and who knows what Iran has up its sleeve.

Imagine a scenario in which al-Qaida disables one or more major Saudi pipelines, Iran retaliates for a strike on its nuclear facilities, Chavez follows through on his threat, and political disruptions in Nigeria make its oil unavailable. The economic repercussions could far outweigh those of 9-11.

America remains vulnerable to an economic jihad, and for that we can thank the Democrats' years-long jihad on oil.