RM> Ultimately a democracy might put someone less bloodthirsty into
 RM> power but, as you say, that's not what Bush is advocating.

MG~One must wonder what Bush is advocating.  It seems the best scenario, at leas
  ~from what would appear to be his point of view, is a puppet regime which offe
  ~the lutre of democracy to the people of Iraq while ensuring that democracy wi
  ~not in anyway prevent the USA from access to oil reserves.

Bush needs stability in the region more than anything. For a Long
time the US, and most of us, have gotten by without Iraqi oil but
as the anti-US sentiments continue to grow in the region there
may be some panic setting in and although most of thee US's
friends remain their friends, too many enemies could effect
those relationships as well. Let's be honest.. It's mainly oil
that drives any US interest in that part of the world and these
people can sell their oil to almost anyone.

 RM> Probably the best plan would be to take the defence budget
 RM> and put it into finding a cheap replacement for Oil...   B)

MG~That would not occur to Bush, being an oil "man" from Texas...

There is that...   B)

MG~ RM> I understand they can do almost anything with Soya and
  ~ RM> Canola (Rape Seed) oil these days...

  (Add to that Hemp oil as suggested elsewhere.)

MG~A lot of conservatives in another echo have poopoo'd the idea that solar powe
  ~is viable, and that hydrogen fuel cells are not viable, and yet I saw somethi
  ~on TV just two weeks ago which leads me to believe that this poopoo'ing is mo
  ~protectionism for oil than it is actual good sense.

Hydrogen fuel cells are wonderful things but they are expensive and
require Hydrocarbons to function and the easiest place to get
hydrocarbons from is gas and oil so they are not a replacement
for conventional fuel although they virtually eliminates pollution.

There is also no doubt that oil drives the economies of many
countries and companies and any fast reduction in the need for
it would result is very strong opposition. The US's Texan, and
our Albertan, oilmen are a powerful and vocal lobby group but are
the least of the real problems. Cutting the purchase of oil from
the mid-east pretty much puts their primary national resource
back to being sand, and this could blow up with a Very loud bang.

Also, as mentioned elsewhere, other than completely self-sustaining
energy resources like Hydro-electric, GeoThermal, Tide, Solar and
Wind, most of which are practical only in very limited areas and/or
very expensive to set up, the other renewable sources for oil all
require HUGE tracts of fertile land to produce very much fuel and
I doubt many countries have a lot of fertile land just sitting around.
Most would have to choose between growing fuel and growing food.

That's not to say nothing could be done about it if there was
enough motivation. After all, in China 90% of the vegetables
there are grown in tiny plots and on rooftops right in the cities.
When there's a will there's a way...  And high costs are often
very good at creating a 'will'..  Today Gasoline here is just
about up to 90~ a Litre - call it $4.50 Cdn per Imperial Gallon
or about $2.35 US per US gallon.   We are not amused...

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 * SLMR 2.1a * I'd rather be anatomically than politically correct! *
 * PDQWK 2.52 #17


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