In listening to this portion on Klare takes a stance on his opinion of post 9/11. He begins by mentioning the focus of the Bush administration before and after 9/11. Before 9/11 he feels as though the Bush administration was focused on procuring more energy and resources for the United States. After 9/11 the focus turned to controlling terrorism and how to prevent terrorism from happening. Klare then turns his focus to the history of American Presidents and how their actions have impacted the current time.
He first mentions the great President Franklin D. Roosevelt and how he realized that the US was running out of a supply of oil and as our supply diminished we would loose power and prosperity. So he began to seek other countries with a great deal of oil to help the US out. In 1943, he decided that Saudi Arabia was the country with an abundant amount of oil and he made a pact with Saudi that the US would protect the “Royal Family” in exchange for privileged access to their oil supply. Up through the rankings of Presidents this agreement has withstood. Klare’s main argument here is that the US never seemed to be worried about the supply of oil until it was almost gone.
Then when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, this threatened our supply of oil. The US was not the only offer to help save Kuwait. Osama Bin Laden offered to help Kuwait protect them from Saddam Hussein, which is a major shock to me. It seems weird that Bin Laden was the other offer to help out Kuwait and that we have had so many run-ins with Bin Laden. The permanent military presence of the US made Osama Bin Laden an enemy of the US. It all plays out and comes together to explain the reasons for 9/11. Klare explains 9/11 as a “natural consequence” to the US. He explains it as just a chain of events over time. I agree with Klare in this aspect and feel that over time the US paid the consequence for the price of oil. It all comes together in the end....
