Bin Laden Urges Followers to Attack the Oil Fields of the Middle East

Osama bin Laden has revised his battle strategy that can hurt both the “Near Enemy,” the “corrupt governments of the Middle East,” and the “Great Unbelief,” the United States. He has exhorted his followers to attack the oil fields, knowing that in doing so he could attain his stated objectives using one strategy.

Did you know that currently

humanity is fueled by 1000 1 gigawatt coal-fired power plants, 400 1 gigawatt oil-fired plants, 250 gas-fired plants, 350 nuclear power stations, 500 gigawatts of hydropower, 750 million fossil fueled vehicles, 130 exajoules for heating and cooling, 50 exajoules from the burning of traditional biomass.

Doing the math, in order to double the world's energy supplies over the next 50 years, the world will need to build, among other things, the equivalent of 2750 new 1 gigawatt natural gas-fired power stations, 1000 new coal-fired 1 gigawatt power plants with carbon capture, 1.5 million windmills deployed over a bit less than 300,000 square miles, 2150 new nuclear plants, 1500 new 1 gigawatt hydropower stations, not to mention new solar and biofuel technologies.

Bin Laden claims that $50-a-barrel-oil is priced too cheaply and that the U.S. and other Western countries “are stealing oil from Muslims,” an incentive for resentment and an attempt to blackmail and extort the United States and other countries that currently rely on carbon-based petroleum products as the primary source of fuel.

France uses nuclear energy to generate 80% of its power and Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and Japan are getting more than 30% of their energy needs met by nuclear power.

Ironically, although the United States is the world’s largest commercial supplier of nuclear power it trails behind other countries in the total percentage of power generated. The figure in the U.S. was 20% in 2003, second only to coal generation. Because coal-generated plants are subject to fines under clean-air initiatives, the nuclear energy industry is again beginning to prosper.

Faced with these marketplace realities, the commercial nuclear industry is pursuing another alternative. The industry is pursuing, and is now beginning to receive, taxpayer dollars to subsidize the difference in the cost of nuclear and fossil-fueled generated electricity. Some of the largest and most successful energy companies are lined up at the public trough for what the industry calls an "investment stimulus."

First, in 2001, the nuclear industry succeeded in getting the Bush Administration "to support the expansion of nuclear power in the United States."10 Next, in early 2002, the Secretary of Energy unveiled the Department's "Nuclear Power 2010 Program," "a joint government/industry cost-shared effort to identify sites for new nuclear power plants, develop advanced nuclear plant technologies, and demonstrate new regulatory processes leading to a private sector decision by 2005 to order new nuclear power plants for deployment in the United States in the 2010 timeframe."11

Nuclear power use was waning in the face of safety concerns. Accidents such as the Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine and Three-Mile-Island near Middleton, Pennsylvania, convinced the public that nuclear energy was not appropriate for the United States.

World competition for oil is at an all time high. Demand for oil is at an all-time high as countries continue to industrialize. China is an example of a country that is ramping up competition in order to feed its successful and every developing industrial complex.

Nuclear power plants are not impervious to terrorist attacks. Fears that terrorists could use airplanes or other methods of attack have caused federal regulators to again review and improve security at the nation’s 103 commercial nuclear power plants.

Spokesmen for both the commission and two Western U.S. nuclear facilities had said Sept. 11 that domestic plants were built to withstand the impact of a Boeing 747. But officials said Friday that is simply untrue.

The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, the nuclear complex closest to Los Angeles, "is not designed for plane crashes," said Ray Golden, spokesman for Southern California Edison, which operates the plant.

"We're not on any of the flight paths, so that was not considered a credible threat," Golden said Friday.

Since the attacks in New York and Washington, concern about nuclear plant safety has mounted among nuclear critics and some elected officials.

In New England, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) on Thursday wrote NRC Chairman Richard A. Meserve with concerns about anti-terrorist protections.

Dean called for reassessing security at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant on the Connecticut River near Brattleboro, which, he reported, was cited for security lapses in 1998 and again early this year. Even though he has been told these deficiencies have been corrected, Dean wrote, "I would like the confidence that an overall review of Vermont Yankee security and security culture has been undertaken."

Although fossil fuels, coal, petroleum, natural gas, make up the bulk of electrical generation in the United StatesCoal, petroleum, gas, nuclear energy, the United States also produces electricity using alternative methods through wind turbines, geothermal, hydroelectric, wind farms, and small-scale solar energy plants. Although tidal/wave energy has been studied, currently there are no tidal wave energy farms in the U.S.

Biomass generating is viable alternative.

There are four primary classes of biomass power systems: direct-fired, co-fired, gasification, and modular systems. Most of today’s biomass power plants are direct-fired systems that are similar to most fossil-fuel fired plants. The biomass fuel is burned in a boiler to produce high-pressure steam. This steam is introduced into a steam turbine, where it flows over a series of aerodynamic turbine blades, causing the turbine to rotate. The turbine is connected to an electric generator, so as the steam flow causes the turbine to rotate, the electric generator turns and electricity is produced.

Generation of electricity is not the only use of energy that is under threat. The majority of the world’s automobiles currently use gasoline. Hybrid cars are being developed that run on both gasoline and electricity. There are some experimental automobiles that are able to run on other fuels such as natural gas, hydrogen, and even solar power.

The world would come to a standstill if bin Laden is successful. The bin Laden’s of the world understand that the only way to successfully attack the United States is through our economy. Using alternative fuels will be the only way the United States can save its economy from blackmailers and extortionists like Osama bin Laden that are determined to control and mete out oil on the basis of the rules of Islam.