It is obvious that there is a need for energy alternatives and a greater need to reduce our dependence on petroleum for internal combustion engines and jet fuel. However, very little has been done to resolve the problem. Regardless of all the political rhetoric being thrown into the mix, and the fact that we have vigorously supported reducing our dependence on Middle East oil, under the circumstances we have no choice but to defend our reliance on imported oil.

Common sense tells us that our economy, indeed the global economy, depends on Mid-East oil and other oil resources from around the World. Though we are the largest consumer of oil and just about everything else, and even though we could reduce our dependence on oil to some degree, it would not be enough to eliminate our dependence on Mid-East oil for the foreseeable future.

Simply put, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have the largest oil reserves on the planet. If the United States pulled out of the Middle East and ignored the threat of isolationist Islamic radicals taking over power in oil-producing countries, they would literally control our economy and the world economy, which depends on more and more oil. China's increasing need for oil will certainly exacerbates the problem. In other words, the radicals could cause global chaos by drastically reducing or cutting off our oil supply and the oil supply of any other nation they perceive as posing the threat to them. The results would be disastrous.

America and all industrialized nations depend on oil and oil bi-products for energy, transportation and many manufactured goods and materials. Any significant reduction in our oil supplies would collapse our economy. And that is why stability in the Mid-East is absolutely necessary.

It's time to stop playing foolish political games and admit that the war against terrorism, the war in Iraq and supporting Saudi Arabia is all about oil. That is why we had to remove Saddam Hussein and his regime. And that is why we must restore order to the region and keep it stabilized.

Allowing fanatic tyrants to seize control would wreak economic havoc on America and seriously damage our national security. Of course the 9/11 attacks, the terrorism designed to destroy our efforts in Iraq, to remove our presence in Saudi Arabia and to damage the Saudi kingdom is exactly what al Qaeda wants to further their efforts toward a takeover of the two countries and the two richest oil reserves.

Without safe and dependable oil resources, conflicts could easily escalate into World War III because it would be necessary to defend those resources. Unfortunately, the war has already begun.