[calex59]

I would suspect that we will see unified military action taken long before oil even gets close to $200 a barrel. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the navies sailing and the bombers flying at $130.

How about we just get pissed off enough to tell the greenies enough is enough and drill for our own oil and take advantage of nuke power and also do what we can with oil shale. Seems like a better alternative than fighting some other country for what we already have right here if we would just hunt for it and ultilize it, instead of letting eviros call the every turn..

[TigerLikesRooster]

Will take several years or a decade to start production even if we start to act now.

[mkjessup]

How about we just get pissed off enough to tell the greenies enough is enough and drill for our own oil and take advantage of nuke power and also do what we can with oil shale. Seems like a better alternative than fighting some other country for what we already have right here if we would just hunt for it and utilize it, instead of letting enviros call the every turn.

That's not a bad concept although there are definite strategic advantages to using up Middle Eastern oil reserves before turning to our own. In addition, seizing those reserves means that the Islamofascists are denied the benefits of all that petro-revenue.

Contrary to what one poster suggested, this isn't really about 'stealing' anything, it is about positive, preemptive action in taking control of a strategic asset that needs to be in U.S. hands, as opposed to potential enemy hands. Nobody is suggesting that appropriate compensation would not be made to the *people* of those regions who would rightly expect a fair (not a wildly inflated) price for their oil. If (hypothetically) we were talking about vast underground reserves of weapons grade plutonium, we would have already seized that material decades ago rather than allow potential enemies to acquire it.

Vastly inflated prices for oil provide enhanced funding for terrorism. There is no difference, the principle is the same.