We invade and conquer a country with the worlds second largest reserves of oil only to pay the highest prices of all…

posted by Bill Arnett @ 3:01 PM Permalink

…or "Go to war its a gas, gas, gas!" The Pentagon says it will need another $1.2 billion in fuel cost over the next few months. Details come from an article from the Huffington Post.

This would be comical if it weren't for the fact that we lost many lives and destroyed so very many others when we recklessly invaded Iraq for its oil, tore apart the Middle East, asking "allies, such as Kuwait, to aid that effort by providing fuel for our misbegotten and horrible war.

Excerpt:

Consumers at the gas pump aren't the only ones suffering sticker shock. Military units in Iraq and elsewhere will see another hike in fuel costs next week, the second increase this budget year because of soaring oil prices.

On July 1, the cost for refined fuel used by troops will jump from $127.68 a barrel to $170.94 _ an astounding 34 percent increase in just six months and more than double what the Pentagon was paying three years ago.

While prices charged to warfighting units have fluctuated in recent years, they have not faced such a steep spike in so few months. The cost of jet fuel, for example, jumped from $2.31 a gallon in October, the start of the 2008 budget year, to $3.04 in December. As of next month, units will start paying $4.07 a gallon.

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Brian Maka said Friday that the latest price hike is needed to cover an anticipated $1.2 billion rise in fuel costs in the next three months. While a $400 million a month increase in fuel costs won't affect ongoing military operations, it will require a "reprioritization of daily support activities," he said in an e-mailed statement.[…]

Sen. Susan Collins, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said the price increase makes the case that Iraq should start paying some of the military's fuel costs because of its hefty oil reserves.

Collins, R-Maine, and Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Evan Bayh of Indiana have proposed legislation that would require President Bush to negotiate with Baghdad on fuel subsidies for troops fighting in Iraq. The measure is included in a 2009 defense policy bill the Senate is expected to debate next month.

"The Iraqis continue to subsidize the fuel for their own citizens, but our troops, which are fighting side by side them, continue to pay top dollar," she said in a telephone interview on Friday.

Just think about this for a second and how hideously repugnant it is that while "liberating Iraq" so we can steal their oil we are paying ridiculously high prices for the fuel we're using. F'ing ingrates or people who just can't stand being invaded? You call it.

Sen. Susan Collins, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said the price increase makes the case that Iraq should start paying some of the military's fuel costs because of its hefty oil reserves.

Geez, ya think?

And doesn't that leave open the question, "What if we had a war and everybody ran out of gas?"

Labels: blowback, bush as chimp, bush hypocrisy, bush war doctrine, Congress, economics, gasoline, GOP, Iraq war, irony