Bush – Cheney and the Energy Crisis

by Keith Cooper

From Broader View Weekly, August 15, 2008

The theme of the Bush administration often seems to be “The Perfect Storm.” Many of the nation’s most pivotal situations have aligned in ways that have facilitated administration agenda items.

Neo-conservative members of the political group “Project for the New American Century” (created in 1997), such as Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz, were committed to increase military spending and justify the militarization of U.S. foreign policy.

A perfect storm materialized in September of 2001, when terrorists launched attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon complex. The resulting frenzy, rage and fear helped to springboard the policy strategy the group outlined in its Rebuilding America’s Defenses manifesto (copyright September 2000).

Bush and Cheney had an eye for the invasion of Iraq, which was on the agenda from day one of the administration’s first term. The 9/11-inspired fear and rage created the perfect storm climate that allowed Congress to be easily swayed by shaky evidence, to support a “weapons of mass destruction” case designed to unseat Saddam Hussein. U.S. citizens, manipulated by fear-mongering of the administration, were easily led to offer public support for the military action.

Bush and Cheney, with connections to – and beholden to – oil industry giants, needed a way to address the relatively low oil prices the world saw in 2001. Iraq itself provided a perfect storm that allowed increased administration control over oil supplies, and thereby the price of oil. The supply of oil beneath Iraq’s sands, if tapped, would flood the world market and drop per-barrel prices, while providing support for the reconstruction of the war-torn nation. However, the oil production promised in the lead-up to the invasion, failed to come about.

Big Oil executives seek greater access to, and leases of domestic resources to increase their control over oil supplies. Current high gasoline prices are providing the perfect storm to facilitate their wishes. Recent polls show that prices consumers are paying at the pump have generated overwhelming majority support for expanded domestic drilling for oil.

It is easy to see a pattern emerging in these “perfect storm” situations of the Bush Administration. Manipulation of public and congressional support is common to the examples given. These agenda items were made possible when the administration was able to spin the narrative to support for its policy.

One key to understanding the current economic and energy crises we face today is the administration’s energy policy crafted in the early months of its first term. At that time, an energy task force composed mainly of CEOs from energy industry corporations, met with Vice President Dick Cheney. We know that the current energy policy was the result of those meetings. Unfortunately, we know little else about those meetings. The vice president refused to make public the details of those discussions. In fact, it took years of coercion and legal pressure to produce even a list of those who were involved in the series of meetings that took place in early 2001.

We also know that Big Oil has benefited greatly from the policies of this administration. The record profits oil companies are raking in are exponentially higher than those they saw in 2000. It is plain to see that the industry is not interested in limiting those profits in the interest of bringing down fuel costs for consumers. While the key players in the industry are seeking greater access to domestic lands for drilling, they are unwilling to drill in the lands they already own leases on.

The expense of oil exploration and drilling is only part of the reason the industry is slow to tap their existing resources. Their control over the supply of domestic fuel is crucial to controlling the price the market will bear. It is against their economic interest to expand production and increase world oil supplies.

It is disingenuous for those in the administration, and for Republicans in Congress, to claim that lifting bans on offshore drilling and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will provide much needed relief to Americans squeezed by high fuel prices. Not only will this exploration yield no impact on prices for decades, even then the impact will be insignificant. This rhetoric only succeeds in confusing frustrated consumers into supporting the oil companies’ agendas.

We need to send a message to the president and Republican leaders that we aren’t buying the rhetoric any more. We need to tell them we want real solutions, not political posturing or pandering to Big Oil. We need to demand investigation of Dick Cheney’s secret energy task force and the influence energy industry executives are having on the current energy crisis.

Some critics on the left will claim that missteps by this administration have led to the economic and energy crises we are experiencing. However, it could be that factors have created their perfect storm and things are running as planned. Only revelation, candor and disclosure will allow us to sort it out.