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Islamic Oil Could Be Effective Weapon, Iran Says
Reuters | 4/01/02

Posted on 04/01/2002 6:15:34 PM PST by kattracks

— KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Using Islamic oil as a weapon to force Western nations to force an Israeli West Bank withdrawal could be very effective but would need the backing of all the states concerned, Iran said on Tuesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, asked if Iran would back Iraq's call to use oil as a weapon against the West to pressure Israel's hand, said, "I believe the Islamic (unclear) has enough instruments to use but it all depends on the collective decision of Islamic countries.

"If they decide to use oil as a weapon, it would be very effective," he told a news conference.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, facing a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings, has promised an "uncompromising war to uproot these savages" and crush what he calls a terror campaign directed by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Iraq called on Monday for Arab states to use oil as a weapon to punish countries supporting Israel and to stop the Jewish state's current military action against Palestinians.

Muslim countries from the Organization of Islamic Conference, whose representatives are in Malaysia to talk about terrorism, accused Israel on Monday of dragging the Middle East toward war.

Copyright 2002 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved.



TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: energylist
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To: Shermy
I agree--this would make Russia's day.
21 posted on 04/01/2002 6:55:17 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
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To: Rightwing Canuck
"Here's hoping they do. Then, you guys will come up to Alberta and go through will oil extraction from the sand pits, making us all rich! Muahahahaha!"

Absolutely, I would rather pay you $40 or more a barrel than $20 to the middle east producers. We are nuts to put up with this extortion.

22 posted on 04/01/2002 6:55:35 PM PST by RichardW
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To: goldstategop
ANWR would easily replace the billions of dollars worth of oil we import from Iraq. Guess who voted against it? Lieberman, Nadler, Boxer, Feingold, Feinstein, Schumer etc.etc. Makes no sense to me at all. They all support Israel, why do they want to send American money to Saddam?
23 posted on 04/01/2002 6:59:00 PM PST by LarryLied
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To: kattracks
These Islamic oil-producing countries are clueless. Like Hollywood movie stars, all this money has given these Arab oil sheiks a sense of exaggerated importance. After all, it is we that hold all the cards, not them.

The typical Muslim country isn't capable of manufacturing a toaster oven on their own. Pull the Western workers out of these countries and there will be nobody left to repair the Mercedes Benz's and nobody left to keep the generators going. It is Western goods and services that allow these Muslims to live in the 21st Century. If they cut off our oil, we simply cut off the flow of Western goods and they will soon enough be forced to go back to their medieval existence.

As for the oil, if we need it, we will simply come and take it. If they try to stop us, we will deal with them as a fisherman brushes off gnats.

24 posted on 04/01/2002 7:07:04 PM PST by SamAdams76
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To: *Energy_list;Black Jade
index bump and fyi
25 posted on 04/01/2002 7:09:23 PM PST by Fish out of Water
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To: kattracks;Republican Wildcat
I agree--this would make Russia's day
"The second upgraded strategy involves the use of the new 'independent' Muslim states in the CIS to establish and develop economic and political cooperation with the fundamentalists in Iran and elsewhere in the Muslim world. According to this assessment the much-advertised feud between the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis of Turkish descent in Nagorno-Karabakh may be a tactical ploy to involve Turkey, Iran and other Muslim countries in support of eventual alliance with Azerbaijan and other Central Asian Muslim states in the CIS. This strategy takes into account the growing power of the fundamentalists and the possibility of gaining control over substantial oil reserves."
26 posted on 04/01/2002 7:27:17 PM PST by Orion78
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To: SamAdams76
It is Western goods and services that allow these Muslims to live in the 21st Century

But we don't make goods anymore. Have you tried to buy anything lately that's not made in China?

27 posted on 04/01/2002 7:27:37 PM PST by Colorado Doug
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To: kattracks
Here...let me explain it in terms of economics....
You use oil as a weapon
We cut your balls off.
Really very simple.
28 posted on 04/01/2002 7:30:42 PM PST by TexanToTheCore
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To: gitmo
None, send in Ken Lay and his cronies. Next thing you know he will had screwed the muslim workers out of their 401k, screwed the stockholders and then blame Allah Anderson, the regional CPA firm.
29 posted on 04/01/2002 7:38:45 PM PST by Psycho_Runner
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To: kattracks
We'd better get digging in Alaska pretty soon!!
30 posted on 04/01/2002 7:39:23 PM PST by RoseofTexas
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To: kattracks
How many daisy cutters would it take to burn all the oil under Iran and Iraq?

Last time I checked, oil is flammable. D@mn @$$h%!e @r@b$...

31 posted on 04/01/2002 7:43:05 PM PST by womanvet
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To: goody2shooz
"Stupid question, really dumb answer."

Especially since, without oil exports, the combined economies of the oil-producing states in the Middle East roughly amounts to...Finland's.

If you're an Arab state in the Mideast and you ain't pumpin' oil, you ain't doin' (or earnin') squat!

32 posted on 04/01/2002 7:55:47 PM PST by okie01
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To: Shermy
Good post, you are right!
33 posted on 04/01/2002 8:23:30 PM PST by 2 cents
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To: uncbob
I LIKE how YOU think... that is nasty, but it would be fun. UK has its OWN oil.. that would leave FRANCE, GERMANY, SPAIN and the Nordics to foot the bill, for defanging the Islamic viper.

Meanwhile, could we also, in exchange for shutting off Islamic access to oil, also shut down the desalination plants in Saudi Arabia.... Seems like the least we could do.

We could turn on the water, once the Sauds get serious and shut down entirely their support of Israeli and American hating Islamic radicals... or let them drink sand.

34 posted on 04/01/2002 8:34:35 PM PST by Robert_Paulson2
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To: kattracks
Here is what concerns me. OPEC doesn't necessarily need to actually shut off the oil- they just need to instill the fear that they will. Ref:
From September, 2001 Oil prices soar on supply fears (source: BBC)
and again today: Monday's world markets: Mideast tensions cause rise in oil, gold prices; TSE up, Dow down (source: Canada.com News)

I don't know whether the Arabs have the finesse to play such a game but think about the ramifications. They dole these rumors and rumblings out piece meal, to instigate a 5-10% hike in crude prices over a period of several months. To quote from the Canada.com article:

The Toronto Stock Exchange oil and gas sector rose almost two per cent as crude oil topped $27 US a barrel. There are fears that energy supplies might be disrupted if the Mideast conflict spreads. That could lead to much higher prices and affect consumers' ability to spend, which would hurt the economic recovery.

It would have the dual purpose of hurting us economically- even small changes can have long range knock on effects- and directly hurting Bush. If it hurt the economic recovery, it also would hurt the Bush administration. The left would beat that drum just as loud as they could. The media would have as many stories of Workers Laid Off Due to US Foreign Policy as they could think up.

It wouldn't even have to amount to that much, just simple harrassment of the President when he has more important things to think about. Think about the way the EU is hoping to install target tariffs on hotly contested congressional districts in order to undermine the Bush admin.

I agree that they will only suffer if they actually cut off the oil and they would be unlikely to do so, I believe. But can you imagine the panic if people really believed they would do it? We had the petrol protests over here a while back and it was quite frightening. The farmers blockaded fuel delivery to protest high petrol taxes. Tony Blair pleaded with the public not to panic, naturally ensuring that they did just that very thing. Within days there was no petrol to be had and there were serious lines at the petrol stations that did have it. Supermarket shelves were quickly emptied from panic buying and couldn't be easily restocked because the supermarket delivery trucks had no fuel. If the protest had lasted a few days longer, I'm telling you, it would have been complete chaos over here.

That's something to seriously consider IMHO, especially considering the Arabs could induce such a condition (if they were skilled enough) without even actually doing anything or firing a shot. A long drawn out economic warfare in this vein would not be a good thing.

35 posted on 04/01/2002 8:37:21 PM PST by Prodigal Son
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To: LarryLied
The oil politics as well as any politics of this bunch of loony tunes doesn't make any sense. That fact is undeniable. Unless they secretly hope for the demise of the Republic of which I'm afraid they contribute greatly.
36 posted on 04/01/2002 8:48:35 PM PST by F16Fighter
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To: kattracks
It gives us a causus belli. Let's Roll.
37 posted on 04/01/2002 9:03:16 PM PST by a_witness
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To: kattracks
Someone tell the Jihad screamer it ain't 1979. Thanks to oil fields all over the world it won't be nearly as effective and will be more devastating to the Arabs than us. We have alternate oil fields. They don't have alternate products.
38 posted on 04/01/2002 9:12:34 PM PST by JAWs
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To: Rightwing Canuck
Alberta rocks!(and the skiing is better than the Mid-East) shout from the rooftops how much oil Alberta has.Not enough Americans are aware of the fact.
39 posted on 04/01/2002 10:13:57 PM PST by singletrack
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To: kattracks
They keep oil. We keep food.

Sounds fair to me.

40 posted on 04/01/2002 10:15:14 PM PST by A CA Guy
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