Current Events Watch

As we watch the many houses of cards built by the Bush Administration, I felt it may be time to examine all the things Bush and Company have done to destroy our rights, our country’s reputation in the world and make us more vulnerable to terrorism than ever before. When I am finished, I think I will have made the case that the Bush Administration will go down as the most corrupt and inept in the history of this country.

So, I begin, with no particular order as to time or importance.

THE GREAT RAPE BY BIG OIL

Are you upset about the price of gas? How about the record — actually obscene — profits the oil companies have made under the Bush Administration? Do you believe all the so-called explanations about why the price of oil is rising so quickly?

Don’t. In 2001, Bush formed a task force to develop a national energy policy with Vice President Dick Cheney in charge. Cheney translated developing a national energy policy into let the oil companies explain what they needed to rape the American public.

In the spring of 2002, under order from a federal judge, the U.S. Department of Energy released to the National Resources Defense Council roughly 13,500 pages relating to previously secret proceedings of the Bush administration’s energy task force. Even though the government heavily censored the documents before supplying them to NRDC, they reveal that Bush administration officials sought extensive advice from utility companies and the oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy industries, and incorporated their recommendations, often word for word, into the energy plan.

You may remember that in this year’s Sate of the Union address, Bush said, â€?For too long our nation has been dependent on foreign oil. And this dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes, and to terrorists — who could cause huge disruptions of oil shipments, and raise the price of oil, and do great harm to our economy.â€?

And yet, whom did he turn to at the very beginning of his first term in office for advice on the development of an energy policy? His close friend and largest campaign contributor Ken Lay, the disgraced (and now deceased) CEO of Enron.

Lay suggested Cheney, former Halliburton CEO, head the group. And, despite the energy the Administration put into keeping the meetings of the task force secret, we now know that the oil companies orchestrated a policy that bypassed all possibilities for energy independence and reduced oil consumption with a declaration of ambitions to establish new sources of oil.

But the price of oil is just the tip of the iceberg. The really scary part is what this decision in 2001 to seek new sources of oil rather than reducing independence meant in relation to our foreign policy.

According to Project Censored, “Documents turned over in the summer of 2003 by the Commerce Department as a result of the Sierra Club’s and Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, concerning the activities of the Cheney Energy Task Force, contain a map of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals, as well as two charts detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects, and “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts.�

“The documents, dated March 2001, also feature maps of Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates oilfields, pipelines, refineries and tanker terminals. There are supporting charts with details of the major oil and gas development projects in each country that provide information on the project’s costs, capacity, oil company and status or completion date.

“Documented plans of occupation and exploitation predating September 11 confirm heightened suspicion that U.S. policy is driven by the dictates of the energy industry. According to Judicial Watch President, Tom Fitton, ‘These documents show the importance of the Energy Task Force and why its operations should be open to the public.’�

And that, my friend, is exhibit 1 in the case for labeling the Bush Administration truly evil.