Iraqi Oil

[kandrathe]

Let's defocus from oil. Oil is but one Strategically important import. Here's an old except from GlobalSecurity.Org WebSite that outlines other dependancies that are of National Security Interest.

  Just how dependent is the United States on foreign-supplied minerals?  The United States depends on imports of about one-hundred minerals, sixty-seven of which are used in the manufacture of defense-related equipment.  The remainder are used by the private sector in medicine, scientific research, space exploration, and household service products. There are no substitutes for some half-dozen of these one hundred minerals.

Four of these imports are generally recognized as critical strategic minerals:  manganese, essential to iron and steel production; cobalt, a superalloy  used in the production of F/14/15/16 jet engines; chromium, used in the metallurgical, chemical, and refractory industries; and platinum metal group (PMGs) minerals, used in the electronic, telecommunication, and aerospace industries.  Of these "Big Four", the United States is ninety percent dependent on imports (see table 1). Particularly ironic for the U.S. is the geographic location of these minerals.  South Africa and the (former) Soviet Union are the world's major suppliers of these minerals.  The United States and the (former) Soviet Union have been adversaries since World War II, and U.S.-South African relations have been deteriorating in recent years.

A relatively cheap, abundant source of energy is neccesary for world peace and global stability. Unfortunatly, the middle east is sitting on 1/3 of the worlds current energy supply. But, I'm confident that if any of the other strategically important import sources were threatened, the US would act to insure their availability. Would you expect them (or any nation) to act otherwise?