Irish Drama Essay

In the book â€Å"Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences on America’s Growing Dependence on Imported Petroleum† by Michael T. Klare, he focuses on the growing attention that the natural resource of oil has had and for sometime has been the main focus of just how American foreign policy has been molded to gain, either by force or peace, oil. Klare offers an important look at U. S. national security policy in very turbulent regions of the world where most oil is black gold. The author argues that U. S. foreign and military policy has been increasingly driven by the need to ensure reliable access to foreign oil, especially in the Middle East, and that American foreign oil dependence continues to grow, U. S. forces in increasingly find themselves fighting to defend oil producing regions and supply routes. Klare points out his thesis by documenting the substantial and growing U. S. dependence on foreign oil and the problems it has creat4ed, Klare describes the increasing involvement of the United States in the Middle East since World War II and with the particularly close ties with Saudi Arabia as well as the negative consequences of this involvement has on American security. The authors writes in detail the latest phase of the story by analyzing the energy strategy adopted by the Bush administration in 2001 and how this has only reinforced U. S. dependency on foreign oil with this being especially true in the Persian Golf. Klare goes on to describe the administrations polices toward that region. In chapter five the author discusses the possible prospects for diversifying foreign oil supplies and concluding that this approach offers little hope of reducing U. S. reliance on the Gulf even though it would increase the chances of conflicts in other region. In one description Klare discusses how the U. S. oil dependence may increasingly turn towards conflict with Russia and China. The author summary of what the cost of oil dependency in the final chapter and briefly gives an alternative strategy which would detach our pursuits of energy from security commitments to foreign governments by reducing oil consumption and in the development of alternative energy sources. Michael Klare gives a good argument and shows just what the national security consequences of U. S. foreign oil dependence or consequences that have been overlooked. The theme throughout the book is that American leaders have gone to great lengths to secure oil and has made this a matter of national security to be able to safeguard it through the use of military force. The author well documents his writings with a great number of notes and uses primary sources. The most shocking is the current policies Bush has in place towards the Gulf and how Bush has a very detailed strategy for the American domination of the Persian Gulf for gaining great amounts of oil. This strategy has three goals; the first is the stability of Saudi Arabia, the second was removal of Saddam Hussein and to replace him with a stable government that could give more output for oil and finally pushing Iran for a more stable leadership change. As the lust for oil increases an increase of military response will be seen as a necessary and just cause for wars. Reference: Klare, M. T. (2004). Blood and oil: The dangers and consequences of America’s growing dependency on imported petroleum. New York: Henry Holt.