[Mb-civic] No Mullah Left Behind By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

[Michael Butler]

 The New York Times
February 13, 2005
OP-ED COLUMNIST
No Mullah Left Behind
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

The Wall Street Journal ran a very, very alarming article from Iran on its
front page last Tuesday. The article explained how the mullahs in Tehran -
who are now swimming in cash thanks to soaring oil prices - rather than
begging foreign investors to come into Iran, are now shunning some of them.
The article related how a Turkish mobile-phone operator, which had signed a
deal with the Iranian government to launch Iran's first privately owned
cellphone network, had the contract frozen by the mullahs in the Iranian
Parliament because they were worried it might help the Turks and their
foreign partners spy on Iran.

The Journal quoted Ali Ansari, an Iran specialist at the University of St.
Andrews in Scotland, as saying that for 10 years analysts had been writing
about Iran's need for economic reform. "In actual fact, the scenario is
worse now," said Mr. Ansari. "They have all this money with the high oil
price, and they don't need to do anything about reforming the economy."
Indeed, The Journal added, the conservative mullahs are feeling even more
emboldened to argue that with high oil prices, Iran doesn't need Western
investment capital and should feel "free to pursue its nuclear power program
without interference."

This is a perfect example of the Bush energy policy at work, and the Bush
energy policy is: "No Mullah Left Behind."

By adamantly refusing to do anything to improve energy conservation in
America, or to phase in a $1-a-gallon gasoline tax on American drivers, or
to demand increased mileage from Detroit's automakers, or to develop a crash
program for renewable sources of energy, the Bush team is - as others have
noted - financing both sides of the war on terrorism. We are financing the
U.S. armed forces with our tax dollars, and, through our profligate use of
energy, we are generating huge windfall profits for Saudi Arabia, Iran and
Sudan, where the cash is used to insulate the regimes from any pressure to
open up their economies, liberate their women or modernize their schools,
and where it ends up instead financing madrassas, mosques and militants
fundamentally opposed to the progressive, pluralistic agenda America is
trying to promote. Now how smart is that?

The neocon strategy may have been necessary to trigger reform in Iraq and
the wider Arab world, but it will not be sufficient unless it is followed up
by what I call a "geo-green" strategy.

As a geo-green, I believe that combining environmentalism and geopolitics is
the most moral and realistic strategy the U.S. could pursue today. Imagine
if President Bush used his bully pulpit and political capital to focus the
nation on sharply lowering energy consumption and embracing a gasoline tax.

What would that buy? It would buy reform in some of the worst regimes in the
world, from Tehran to Moscow. It would reduce the chances that the U.S. and
China are going to have a global struggle over oil - which is where we are
heading. It would help us to strengthen the dollar and reduce the current
account deficit by importing less crude. It would reduce climate change more
than anything in Kyoto. It would significantly improve America's standing in
the world by making us good global citizens. It would shrink the budget
deficit. It would reduce our dependence on the Saudis so we could tell them
the truth. (Addicts never tell the truth to their pushers.) And it would
pull China away from its drift into supporting some of the worst governments
in the world, like Sudan's, because it needs their oil. Most important,
making energy independence our generation's moon shot could help inspire
more young people to go into science and engineering, which we desperately
need.

Sadly, the Bush team won't even consider this. It prefers cruise missiles to
cruise controls. We need a grass-roots movement. Where are college kids
these days? I would like to see every campus in America demand that its
board of trustees disinvest from every U.S. auto company until they improve
their mileage standards. Every college town needs to declare itself a
"Hummer-free zone." You want to drive a gas-guzzling Humvee? Go to Iraq, not
our campus. And an idea from my wife, Ann: free parking anywhere in America
for anyone driving a hybrid car.

But no, President Bush has a better project: borrowing another trillion
dollars, which will make us that much more dependent on countries like China
and Saudi Arabia that hold our debt - so that you might, if you do
everything right and live long enough, get a few more bucks out of your
Social Security account.

The president's priorities are totally nuts.

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