Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Tag: oil

  • Why 2017 Is Optimistic

    Iraq’s water is as important to the United States as control of Iraq’s oil. The Middle East is home to five percent of the world’s population and only one percent of the world’s renewable water supply.[1] In addition, the population in the Arab world is 280 million people. This population, comparable in size to the population of the United States, is on track to double by the year 2025.[2] Iraq is a critical strategic location for both al Qaeda and the United States not just because of Iraq’s oil, but because Iraq has the most extensive fresh water system in the Middle East.

    A nation without enough water is in a worse position than a nation without enough oil. Understanding the role of water in the Middle East explains why there is no exit strategy from Iraq and why many Middle East experts predict the United States will be in Iraq for decades. Even Donald Rumsfeld, with a track record of being overly optimistic about the cost and duration of the Iraq war, is now setting expectations that the war will continue until 2017.[3]

    There is a saying in the Arab world that the person who controls the well also controls the people. Knowing that Iraq’s water is a key reason our soldiers are being maimed and killed, can help you evaluate what is really going on in the Middle East. Pieces to the puzzle, like the locations of the 14 “enduring” or permanent military bases and likely duration of the American occupation, can suddenly become crystal clear when you consider the locations of the Euphrates, Tigris, Greater Zab and Lesser Zab rivers. One only need look at the Nasiriyah “enduring base” on the Euphrates in South-East Iraq to understand the strategic value of water.

    Water conflicts have been frequent in the Middle East. Israel is another country that needs a new source of fresh water to satisfy the needs of a growing population. As background, Israel and its neighbors experienced water-related fighting in 1951, 1953, 1965-66, 1967, 1969, 1982 and 2001.[4] Today, about 30 percent of Israel’s water comes from the Jordan, 40 percent from ground water, and 30 percent from treated wastewater.[5] Even if Israel does not withdraw from the Golan Heights, where the Mountain Aquifer is located, the supply of fresh water is insufficient for the area’s population.[6] Syria is unwilling and unable to help. Turkey’s Manavgat River could provide some relief. The problem with obtaining water from Turkey is, without alternative sources of water, Israel will increasing become dependent on a Muslim nation for a strategic resource.

    Iraq , with the region’s most abundant water resources, was out of the question as an Israeli source of water prior to the Iraq war. Israel for reasons that include and extend beyond water, hopes that the U.S. will be successful in pacifying Iraq. Control of Iraq’s rivers could alter the destiny of the Middle East for decades. While the Bush administration fears that Americans will not support fighting a war to control Iraq’s water, Americans deserve to know the truth. The truth is that in addition to oil, water is a real reason for the invasion of Iraq. Our soldiers, their parents, and all citizens have a right to know when the price that is required is in blood and in billions of dollars. Don’t be fooled by the occasional messages that our troops will leaving in a few years. The Pentagon is planning on occupying Iraq for decades. The Pentagon’s long-range strategic plan is likely to require an American occupation far beyond Donald Rumsfeld’s optimistic 2017 forecast.

    David J. Dionisi is a former military intelligence officer and author of American Hiroshima. American Hiroshima describes the next 9/11 attack in the United States and what can be done to prevent it. For information about the book, visit www.americanhiroshima.info.

    1. Diane Raines Ward, Water Wars: Drought, Flood, Folly and the Politics of Thirst ( New York, New York: Riverhead Books, June 2003), 188.
    2. Arab Human Development Report 2004: Towards Freedom in the Arab World, United Nations Development Programme Regional Bureau for Arab States, 2005.
    3. “Rumsfeld braces for more violence in Iraq: Says insurgency could endure ‘for any number of years,’ perhaps until 2017,” Associated Press, 26 June 2005 .
    4. Peter Gleick, The Worlds Water 2002-2003: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources ( Washington, DC: Island Press, 2002), 198-205.
    5. Ibid., 269.
    6. Yedidya Atlas, “ Israel’s Water Basics,” commentator for Arutz-7 Israel National Radio, article online on 20 September 2004. Internet address is www.freeman.org/m_online/nov99/atlas.htm. The West Bank provides 25% of Israel’s water. The water supply is stored in three main sources (i.e., Lake Kinneret, the Coastal Aquifer, and the Mountain or Yarkon-Taninim Aquifer).
    7. Marq De Villers, Water: The Fate Of Our Most Precious Resource ( New York, New York: First Mariner Books, 2001), 200. In 1997, Minister of Agriculture Refael Eitan said that Israel would be in mortal danger if it lost control of the Mountain Aquifer.

  • Oil Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge-A Blow to Future Generations

    “People protect what they love.” (Jacques-Yves Cousteau) “Every person has the right to inherit an uncontaminated planet on which all forms of life may flourish.” Bill of Rights for Future Generations.

    More than 13 years ago, Captain Jacques Cousteau launched the Bill of Rights for Future Generations. His goal was to increase awareness for the deterioration of the environment on a global scale and the need to protect and preserve our planet for the generations to come.

    This March 17, the U.S. Congress approved the policy to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska. This act opens the refuge to oil exploration that could cause irreparable damage to the vast and pristine wilderness tundra.

    Here you have two different points of view with the most contradictory results.

    Cousteau successfully promoted in 1990 a worldwide petition to save Antarctica from mineral and oil drilling exploitation. His documentary Lilliput in Antarctica chronicled the voyage of Captain Cousteau and six children, each representing one of Earth’s continents, taking symbolically possession of the frozen continent on behalf of the future generations.

    Significant progress toward securing the protection of Antarctica was made at the XI Antarctic Treaty Special Consultative Meeting in 1991. The signatories of the Treaty, the 26 nations that claimed to have rights for mining and exploration in the sixth continent, agreed the prohibition of mining for at least 50 years. The new Protocol of Environmental Protection includes the designation of Antarctica as a natural reserve devoted to peace and science.

    President Bush supported and promoted the exploration of ANWR calling the drillings “environmentally sensitive” and “good for business”. Mr. Bush sees these actions as a solution that will help the U.S. not to depend on foreign countries for oil. Not to spoil the party, but let’s do some simple mathematics.

    The government has estimated that between 6 billion to 16 billion barrels of oil lie beneath the frozen tundra. Our gas-guzzling nation consumes 7 billion barrels a year, therefore, if the estimates of the government are accurate, the “solution” would only be good for not even 3 years. The enormous cost of spoiling the wilderness and endangering wildlife will be irreparable.

    These events bring to mind memories of a trip I made in 1993 to Punta Arenas, Chile, as the Representative of the Cousteau Society for Latin America. This is the southern most city of the American continent, sprawling in front of the chilly waters of the Strait of Magellan. My visit was part of a continental tour to collect signatures for the Bill of Rights for Future Generations campaign. Latin America contributed alone with nearly 5 million signatures and Punta Arenas was one of my last stops.

    By that year the residents of Punta Arenas had been exposed to high levels of UV radiation due to the hole in the ozone layer, which typically hovers over Antarctica and stretches across to the Chilean city. It is well known that too much UV radiation can cause skin cancer as well as destroy the phytoplankton, the beginning of the food chain. Human-made chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), used in aerosol sprays and refrigerants cause most ozone depletion. This is a high price paid by the brave inhabitants of Punta Arenas for a problem caused by the industrialized world.

    A ceremony for the delivery of signatures for Bill of Rights for Future Generations was organized in the city’s stadium by local authorities, NGO’s and schools. After the screening of several videos produced locally showing the menace faced by humans, fauna and flora due to the extreme UV radiation, a young girl on crutches and suffering with cancer of the spine came to the podium and read a little poem.

    Her voice was clear and firm and – as the representative of Jacques Cousteau, she directed to me the questions that troubled her mind and that were revealed in her poem:

    What right do you have, human adult To tell me: there used to be, but there is no more There used to be birds, lakes, rivers, and flowers That I’m neither going to know nor my brothers What right do you have in your greedy struggle for money and power Not to offer me life, …. But death!

    I was incapable to answer her that day – she died 6 months later, and I’m unable to answer the same question that our children of the 21st century are asking us now.

    *Ruben Arvizu is the Director for Latin America of NAPF and former Representative for Latin America of the Cousteau Society.

    Captain Jacques Cousteau received in 1989 the NAPF’s Distinguished Peace Leadership Award.