Daniel Pipes writes in Frontpage:
Investigative writer Gerald Posner reveals something most extraordinary in Secrets of the Kingdom: The Inside Story of the Saudi-U.S. Connection, his book to be published by Random House later this month: that the Saudi government may have rigged its oil and gas infrastructure with a self-destruct system that would keep it out of commission for decades. If true, this could undermine the world economy at any time.
Posner starts by recalling various hints that Americans dropped back in the 1970s, that the high price and limited production of oil might lead to a U.S. invasion of Saudi Arabia and a seizure of its oil fields. For example, in 1975, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger murkily threatened the Saudis with a double-negative: “I am not saying that there’s no circumstances where we would not use force” against them.
In response, Posner shows, the Saudi leadership began to think of ways to prevent such an occurrence. They could not do so the usual way, by building up their military, for that would be futile against the much stronger U.S. forces. So the monarchy – one of the most creative and underestimated political forces in modern history – set out instead to use indirection and deterrence. Rather than mount defenses of its oil installations, it did just the opposite, inserting a clandestine network of explosives designed to render the vast oil and gas infrastructure inoperable – and not just temporarily but for a long period.
That is the finding that Posner, author of ten books (including Case Closed, the definitive account of the John F. Kennedy assassination) details in a chapter titled “Scorched Earth,” based on intelligence intercepts he gained access to. The Saudi planning began in earnest, he reports, after the Kuwait war of 1990-91, when the Iraqis left behind an inferno of oil-field fires … which, to everyone’s amazement, was extinguished within months, not years. In response, the Saudis thought of ways to assure their oil would stay off the market. They began:
"exploring the possibility of a single-button self-destruct system, protected with a series of built-in fail-safes. It was evidently their way to ensure that if someone else grabbed the world’s largest oil reserves and forced them to flee the country they had founded, the House of Saud could at least make certain that what they left behind was worthless."...
Read it all.
Time to open up Every source of fuel we have. And 10 years past time for some places, which could have been producing by now.
Morning all!
Today’s Extras on Jihad’s 5th Column:
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=18009
http://sandbox.blog-city.com/read/1249357.htm
http://www.therant.us/staff/fsalvato/war_on_terror/letting_the_radical_islamist_cat_out_of_the_bag.htm
A serious attack on Border Control:
http://www.nationalreview.com/dunphy/dunphy200505100807.asp
Gary:
Whether you believe in the global warming theory or not (I have doubts), it's also time we exercised more prudence about the consumption of energy whatever the source and also about the amount of "garbage" we produce.
Where do I go to press the button? And exactly where do the members of the House of Saud think they will be fleeing? To the West, which they just deprived of oil?
The west can take counter counter measures if they plan to scorch the earth,we can freeze their
cash
The Alberta oil sands are presently the largest concentration of capital investment in the world - something in the order of $100 billion in investment is planned over the next 10 years. I believe the oil sands contain reserves (proven) second only to Saudi Arabia and potential resources that are greater. Canada is already the U.S. largest foreign supplier of oil. If this destruction should occur the biggest losers will likely be Europe, China, Japan, etc. (plus many less developed cpountries). I would sure hate to get China that pissed at me. And where would the Wahabis run and hide? I wonder if they've rigged their desalinization plants - wouldn't they be a nice target.
"...inserting a clandestine network of explosives designed to render the vast oil and gas infrastructure inoperable..."
Bummer. Looks as if they might beat us to it.
Time to open up Every source of fuel we have. And 10 years past time for some places, which could have been producing by now.
Posted by: Gary at May 11, 2005 08:11 AM
Absolutely, Gary. All we need is for the regulators and lawmakers to step back and remove all their obstacles to creative genius of capitalism. The problem would be solved in no time, and the Muslims could sit back and consider the unintended consequences of such an act. It wouldn't be WE who are left in the dark!
Where do I go to press the button?
Posted by: 3812Michelle at May 11, 2005 09:25 AM
Michelle, when you find out, tell the rest of us! That's EXACTLY the kick in the a** we need to cure what ails us!
I wonder if they've rigged their desalinization plants - wouldn't they be a nice target.
Posted by: johnb at May 11, 2005 11:50 AM
Oh, johnb, that is wild! I hadn't thought of that! We could do that while we were getting our own energy sources up and operating, and then we could see them water at--say--$57.00/barrel?
Waterdragon~ i am with you on global warming, undecided. Especially when it was warmer in the early 1500s (the height of the Dutch eco-empire, with the likes of the Fuggers), than it is today.
However we Have come a long way in creating cleaner emissions scrubbers, and a lot of industries are using them. It is reported the air is cleaner now than it was 20 years ago...
And now we are told that will just help make things Warmer. I thought reducing emmissions of greenhouse gases was supposed to reduce that possibility?
Gary:
You've got your dates mixed up. The early 16th century was in the middle of the "Little Ice Age" that lasted from about the mid 14th century to the 19th century. The "Medieval Warm Period" occured several hundred years before and was one of the reasons the Vikings could build colonies in Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland. Of the three, only Iceland survived and Greenland disappeared during the cooling period named the Little Ice Age.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465022723/103-3845354-3450231?v=glance
Johnb~ Rats! I broke the Hockey Stick in the wrong place! :P
Time for a refresher course... *heads for*:
http://www.greeningearthsociety.org/wca/2004/wca_15d.html
In the meantime, how do we know the Saudis aren't the only ones who did this?
As long as the Saudis are cuddly with Bush they don't have to worry about a thing.
Wouldn't be too hard roast the Saudi fat cats before they can even get to the 'button'...
I'm writing this while listening to Spencer on the radio! Looks like JW becomes a movement! People start listening!!! Great!
Hey?? What would be wrong with the free world conserving and developing their own oil reserves and sources of energy while at the same time doing everything to ensure all the oil is pumped out of the Sands of Saud?
It is important to protect ourselves from another boycott or supply crisis and therefore we should push on increasing supply (Republican strategy) and also reduce demand/support alternatives (Democrat strategy). But even if we are totally independent, there is another important goal in the war on terror.
This is also an economic war. The enemy knows this very well and we must increase our efforts to fight economically. Therefore, above and beyond protecting our economy and being militarily self sufficient in energy we should strive to drive down the world wide price of oil to punish the Islamists.
If oil was cheap and alternatives plenty, nobody would give much of a damn about the pleasing the Islamists. The political landscape would be very much altered in our favor if the price of oil was low.
So, do yourself and the free world a favor and get serious. Buy a hybrid, ride a bus, share a ride to work, fill your tires (better mileage with more air) and check out iags.org for some good reading on the energy part of this war.
Here is a good article from Mother Jones about the US military plans to secure the oil production facilities in the Gulf: Thirty Year Itch.
I agree with the author on all the major points raised in the article except one: he thinks it's a bad thing, but it looks pretty good to me.
Who rigged the explosives? Seems strange that the Saudis have to employ foreign butt-wipers and are above any physical labor, but can wire the oilfields to explode without the foreign nationals noticing.
"...see them water..."
SELL. I meant SELL them water...
It wouldn't make much of a difference what the Saudis do, because oil resources on their transient sovereign territory are in deep wells, that yield 100 times more than Texas resources, per well-head. While it would be advantageous to retain their extraction and refining capacities, these can be replaced. However, depopulation measures - including mass killing - would be required for security purposes.
Unfortunately, the dhimmi White House has chosen to deliver a nuclear jihad fait accompli to America's mortal enemies while conducting jihad subsidy in the name of nation-building. Once again, the problem with the House of Saud and other jihad entities is: their lives. The counter-terror war cannot be won until a US government elects to liquidate the entire Islamofascist movement, on a global scale. Our security requires their deaths.
I don't want to rain on everybody's glee parade here, but this is a very ominous development. I have absolutely NO love for the damned Saudis, just so you know. The fact of the matter is the economy is now been integrated and globalized. Even if we become self-sufficient energy wise (oil sands in Alberta for instance), those that DO rely on Saudi oil exports will face economic collapse. China is vulnerable here and knows it. The Chinese you see, guarantee that the U.S. dollar (and not the bloody euro) remains the world's sole reserve currency because it is China that finances much of the U.S. debt that Bush is racking up at a phenomenal rate. A collapse of China, Japan and the EU due to lack of ME oil to run their countries would bring about a type of global financial Armaggedon. That would cause incredible stress here because of the volume of trade that the West does with the EU and SE Asia. And yes, I do believe 100% that the Saudis will use this so-called 'nuclear' option if America follows through with a direct military intervention. The American gov't probably knew that the Saudis would pull this kind of crazy shit, hence the invasion of Iraq after 9/11 as opposed to a direct attack on SA. Placing indirect pressure on SA, Iran, Syria, and the Turks w/o causing a global meltdown was ALWAYS the plan, not WMD as Bush claimed. We threw away long-term security for short term geopolitical gain however, and now it looks like the LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES is biting us in the ass in a big way. "When you see all these signs, look up, for your redemption draweth nigh!" (Lk 21)
I smell disinfo here. That the Saudis would rig their own wells to self destruct, is like saying that they would rig Mecca with demo charges, or cut off the hands that feed them.
Someone is feeding Gerald Posner large doses of B.S. and if if they rigged them to self destruct, it won't take decades to rebuild them, just send in some Texas oil crews.
Besides Aramco (Saudi oil company) labor, engineering and even middle management is all dhimmi labor (well paid dhimmmis) from the Darul Kufr, these dhimmi's might be well paid, but they would be the ones that rigged the wells, and they are the ones that can resurrect them in very short order.
I even smell George W. Bush and the Exxon Mobile crowd behind this piece of disinfo.
It is a way to keep down the demand and noise to take out Bushs family frienda and business parteners, the Saudis.