Letter: Steep increase in troops per gallon

Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2005 | 9:58 a.m.

George Bush made history recently when he almost told the truth about why we are in Iraq. It's to "protect" the oil fields from the terrorists. That is very nearly what the British Empire said when it first took over the region and formed the state of Iraq. Empires are always "protecting" valuable stuff from bad guys.

It's about the oil, stupid! Had Bush told the truth in the beginning, many Americans would have gone along with the war without all the stuff about WMD and terrorists. We get so upset when our gas prices go up. The demand was going up and Iraq had oil. Saddam was of no use to us anymore, so we had to take him out to get the supply. American companies would privatize Iraq's treasures, of course, but that's only right because we'd be giving them democracy.

The problem with the cheap gas is that there are hidden costs, such as the large tax burden imposed by waging a war and conducting an occupation. That must be added into the cost per gallon. Then there is the cost in human life. Instead of miles per gallon we might be talking in terms of troops per gallon. We could talk in terms of Iraqis per gallon, I suppose, but we do not count them.

JERRY BITTS