John Tierney: “there has been much debate on how the United States should proceed with Iraq. I rise to draw attention to an issue that…”

“there has been much debate on how the United States should proceed with Iraq. I rise to draw attention to an issue that is critical to this decision-making process. As we debate how and whether to take military action in Iraq, I should hope that we could all agree to take economic action against Saddam Hussein. Now, it is clear that the United States is overly dependent on foreign oil. The United States presently imports 48 percent of the 19.7 million barrels of oil it consumes each day. Of that total, approximately half a million barrels come from Iraq. Now is the opportunity to pursue a policy of making America independent of Middle Eastern oil. To do this, we have to aggressively pursue new technologies and development of renewable energy, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar and wind. A renewed effort toward policies that encourage reduced reliance on fossil fuels and more secure sources of dependable energy would mean the creation of jobs that would strengthen our economy and better serve our national interests. Now is the precise moment for the United States to shed its dependency on any Iraqi oil and work toward a future when our domestic energy policy plays a role in how we implement strategic initiatives.”