Oil Warrior: Former CIA chief James Woolsey says if you want to beat Bin Laden, buy a Prius

Good article Now if the American people in the midwest can see this maybe there wont be as much funk about the prius being an un-american car.

So a new bumber sticker could be " Taliban Fighter"

 

"Bin Laden hates this car"!

That's great! I personally don't have bumperstickers on my car, but if I did it would read something like that.

Other follow-ups might include:

OPEC hates this car
Patriotic Prius
I pass on gas
Over 400 miles/tank

 

Woolsey is right.

I wish more Americans would see the light.

Gasoline doesn't come from the Shell station 3 blocks away. It comes crude oil which comes from unsavory places like Libya, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, where most of the people hate us and want our country destroyed.

Buying gasoline pumps petro-dollars into countries that are not our friends, to put it mildly.

And if the typical American can't see this, why is it our politicians, who should know better, can't see it? The best thing for our country would be tough new fuel economy standards for all vehicles, including SUV's and pickup trucks.

Harry

 

I've read somewhere that terrorists get most of their funding not from oil revenues but from drugs and other criminal activities. (If someone knows a link please post.)

While I think it's great that Mr. Woolsey advocates independence from foreign oil, I'm not so sure about the veracity of his bumper sticker.

 

While I agree with both sides of the argument, the main reason for Americans to buy a Prius is: to keep $ in OUR pockets.

That should be our national interest.

Keeping wealth @ home is the best way to project our super power agendas.

 

I believe most of our United States oil imports are from Canada, I could be wrong. Narco-dollars and Petro- dollars from the black market are funding large parts of the war in the middle east.

I saw Woolsey's appearance on a 60 Minutes broadcast a year or so ago. The bumper sticker was visible on his Prius as he drove off.

I also bought the Prius to save money at the pump, and selfishly save time in the carpool lane. I commute 3,000 miles per month in So Cal on the freeways. Three days a week I carpool with my wife.

Bada-Bing

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KD6HDX @ May 30 2007, 11:21 AM) [snapback]452086[/snapback]</div>

The U.S. gets much of its oil from the western hemisphere, but oil is a global commodity, so prices and problems elsewhere directly affect fuel prices here.

Tom

 

We still buy 17% of our imported oil from Saudi Arabia. Given Mexico's declining capacity it'll be interesting to see how we make up that shortfall. Venezuela, perhaps. Africa maybe. SA seems to be incapable or unwilling to expand their production significantly so we probably won't get it from them.

 

THESE are the top ten countries that the U.S. imports oil from:

1. Canada
2. Mexico
3. Saudi Arabia
4. Venezuela
5. Nigeria
6. Angola
7. Iraq
8. Algeria
9. United Kingdom
10. Brazil

Source: Energyrefuge.com

 

Found it:

http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrel...unisnar911.html

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zenMachine @ May 30 2007, 04:02 PM) [snapback]452264[/snapback]</div>

while it may be a multibillion dollar business...it ain't oil money.
& it can't buy nukes.

I'm going to say the effects of drug money funding terrorism is minimal.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MickeyA @ May 30 2007, 03:09 PM) [snapback]452272[/snapback]</div>

The point is that Woolsey's claim that gas guzzlers help fund terrorists is hard to defend.
I want to see some real data first.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MickeyA @ May 30 2007, 04:09 PM) [snapback]452272[/snapback]</div>

I've got to disagree. One excellent source on the topic is found here http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/reviews...n=9780300089028

The funding (for the Taliban at least) came/comes from a combination of drug money, mafia-like control over trade and commerce in the regions they occupy and indirectly, from oil through countries sympathetic to their cause.

BTW, this book was written by a Pakistani journalist working with The Economist magazine who lived with and studied the Taliban first hand for years. It was published just prior to 9/11. I first read it just after 9/11 and it completely reversed my thinking on how the world works.

 

The True Price of Terrorism

Media sources have often stated that the September 11th attacks cost the Al-Qaida terrorists a mere $250,000 to $500,000. In reality, however, the few hundred thousand dollars used for flight training, reconnaissance, transportation, and box cutters represent only a small portion of the funds spent by Al-Qaida on terrorist activities. The attacks would not have been possible without the prior development of the group's global infrastructure, which cost perhaps billions of dollars to set up and maintain. Vast sums of money have been spent on recruitment, training camps, conventional and unconventional weapons, intelligence gathering, various forms of Islamist propaganda, and other activities.

The Many Sources of Income

The sources that feed these organizations are much more varied than one might assume. The Saudi government has admitted to spending more than $87 billion over the last decade in an effort to spread Wahhabism. This money has been spent on the creation of Mosques, schools, and other institutions that have constituted the breeding grounds for the foot soldiers of the global Islamic terrorist movement. Political considerations, and oil, have prevented Washington from holding the Saudis accountable for their role in promoting terrorism.

However, the Saudis are far from the only source of terrorism funding. Funding for terrorist organizations comes mainly from national governments, including but not limited to Iran, Saudi Arabia, and a number of other Arab states; charitable organizations like the Arab League and the International Islamic Relief Organization; "legitimate" business fronts, such as travel agencies and cell phone distributors; the exploitation of the unregulated commodities market and other financial markets; and various forms of international trade that convert cash into diamonds and gold. Terrorists also generate money from criminal activities such as extortion, prostitution rings, video pirating, and drug trafficking.

Furthermore, terrorist organizations have created links with the Russian Mafia, Colombian drug cartel, and a number of other international criminal organizations. These links of politics, money, geography, and arms create a mutually beneficial relationship that allows both the terrorists and the criminal organizations to prosper. Drug trafficking, an estimated $2 trillion market per year, has become the best weapon for terrorists....

http://www.meforum.org/article/572


This is scary:

http://www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpeak/conprods.htm

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zenMachine @ May 30 2007, 07:51 AM) [snapback]452065[/snapback]</div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KD6HDX @ May 30 2007, 08:21 AM) [snapback]452086[/snapback]</div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mick @ May 30 2007, 02:26 PM) [snapback]452329[/snapback]</div>

Mr Woolsey's interview seems to be narrowly focused on Al Qa'ida and Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden's money came from his family, who own the Saudi Binladen Group. As the largest engineering and construction firm in Saudi Arabia, nearly all of their money comes from oil.

The Taliban wasn't mentioned. While Al Qa'ida's field operatives/cells will use any means at hand (drugs, fraud, identity theft, etc.) to obtain funds in the field, the funding of the network behind them is primarily from oil. The bumper sticker "Osama Bin Laden hates this car" seems totally appropriate.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mad Hatter @ Jul 26 2007, 01:21 PM) [snapback]485577[/snapback]</div>

1) The US buys oil. (Doesn't matter who from as others have said it is a global commodity)
2) Saudi Arabia sell oil.
3) Saudi Arabia spends millions per year funding fundamentalist schools that teach hatred of America and western ideas
4) Terrorist recruit from these schools (what percentage of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi's?)

Oil supports terrorist, plan and simple.

The Saudis and other oil producing states also send money directly to organizations like the former PLO, Hamas, and Hezbolah.