Patriots Act
Ten years ago, Robin Eckstein was a college student in Appleton, Wisconsin, struggling to pay her bills with bartending and waitressing jobs. Her credit card debt was mounting. Out of the blue, a National Guard recruiter e-mailed her, offering a free college education in exchange for her military service. She enlisted, and reported for active duty in October 2000. Three years later, she was driving supply trucks across the Iraqi desert.
Eckstein, 33, has been out of the U.S. Army for three years now, but on this frigid Tuesday morning in late March, she finds herself pulling transport duty once more, this time driving a big, blue biodiesel-fueled bus across the state of Ohio, from Columbus to Cincinnati. She is ferrying veterans like herself: Matt Victoriano, an ex-Marine; Rafael Noboa Rivera, a former Army sergeant; and Nick Anderson, a former Army specialist. The foursome is making its way through the Midwest as part of Operation Free, a campaign to promote clean energy organized by a progressive leadership institute called the Truman National Security Project. Operation Free, now in its second year, includes dozens of vets who have logged more than 25,000 miles traveling across 23 states, stopping at union halls, factories, statehouses, and radio stations and making appearances on nightly news programs.
At each stop the veterans get off the bus and share their stories, eyewitness accounts of the ways in which America's dependence on oil affects not only which wars we fight but also our ability to wage war. In their own words, the vets say what many people have said before: America must become energy-independent, invest in renewables, and commit to a future that eradicates the threat of climate change -- not because it's the feel-good thing to do but because this nation's security may depend on it.
These vets' views have become increasingly mainstream, even among national defense experts. James Woolsey, director of central intelligence under President Clinton, is outspoken about the connection between the dollars the United States pays to satisfy its oil addiction and the ordnance lobbed at our troops. "Except for our own Civil War, this is the only war that we have fought where we are paying for both sides," Woolsey has said. "We are paying for these terrorists with our SUVs." And in late April, 33 retired generals and admirals signed an open letter to the leaders of the Senate, stating that "America's billion-dollar-a-day dependence on oil makes us vulnerable to unstable and unfriendly regimes." They called on President Obama and Congress to "enact strong, comprehensive climate and energy legislation to reduce carbon pollution and lead the world in clean energy technology."
Those haunted eyes of each of the brave veterans will stay with me for a long time. Thank you for this article,I'm so proud of each of them for continuing to serve our country as civilians.
Very inspiring to see how a view point that its time has come finds ways to present itself with overwhelming strength thru walls of lies.
I would like to comment on a subtle issue of Global Warming as being part of a larger non-sustainability train we are on. Earth as a whole eco system went thru periods of warmer and colder climate as we know. The dinosaurs lived in a very warm planet. Those cycles are OK. And maybe it would even be OK that the current warming up of the planet is manmade. The problem lies in the fact that Earth as an eco system has been crippled by environmental degradation, mainly cutting forests and polluting, and this eco system is losing the ability to self-adjust. In other words just warmer would be OK, but we are killing our planet and with it the ability to recover, to cycle. Although environmental degradation and global warming are totally connected it is the first that is the deeper root problem. Why am I making this point here and ignoring for the sake of clarification the scary population displacement mentioned? Because environmental degradation is obvious even to the most skeptic and we don't need to show probabilities (BTW, I LOVE the argument that soldiers don't wait for the 100%... ;)
Hopefully this point of obvious environmental degradation, not just global warming, can be integrated in the explanation tool box that those gutsy individuals use!
Thanks,
Giora Pasca,
American Solar Power Inc. Los Angeles.
People have been saying these things since BEFORE Earth Day, and I agree with them, but for some strange (and in MY opinion, disengenuous) reason, we MUST listen to SOLDIERS(!!!???) who, in my opinion, were not smart enough to STAY OUT of the military, but they have INSTANT, AUTOMATIC credibility???
Our military are individuals with opinions and we must trust that they bring a perspective to our oil addiction and the unnecessary death and destruction it causes much different from us folks who haven't experienced what they have. Their words will appeal to and convince a certain people who will not be reached by others. Thank goodness there are individuals willing to serve and willing to speak up about an issue they feel strongly about. I applaud them and hope people are listening.
Scott, We as soldiers don't join because we are not intelligent. We join because we love our country and everyone in it and would like to keep it as safe as possible. On September 11th I'm sure you were 1 out of millions who's heart turned to anger and hatred towards the people who attached us. I say "US" because I believe your comment is based on ignorance, more than anything. If you only knew how many soldiers including myself stand proud everyday waiting for our number to be called to go to war and fight for you and your families freedom. So again I say it is not due to lack of education as to why we joined, but honor. Also the reason you listen to Soldiers, and the military is because we have witnessed and experienced a lot more than a large portion of the United States. And from one intelligent person to another, you should know that experience is knowledge and knowledge is power. I do agree that a lot of soldiers join for the college benefit that we do offer, but please do not confuse lack of funds for stupidity. The Military is the only job in the world were the opportunities are endless. Plus if it wasn't for soldiers like us, past, present & future, you wouldn't have an opinion. So the next time you want to question our intelligence, first thank us for giving you that option.
I served in Operation Desert Storm with the US Army VII Corps in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. I remember how President GHW Bush had a 91 percent approval rating when it was over and I thought, "Let's do something serious about our dependence on oil so my son doesn't have to come back to the craphole that is the Middle East." (FYI, my family has served in the military in every American War including the Revolution.) I wrote to one of my US Senators with my suggestions (which are similar to Charles Krauthammer's). What did Bush I do with his whopping political mandate, a Democrat House, and a Democrat Senate that likely would have approved some energy independence moves? Zip. That's when I realized he was just a puppet for the oil burning crowd and their bankers. I was so mad that as a veteran I campaigned as hard as I could for Bill Clinton in '92. Combat veterans making the connection between ours (and Japan's and Europe's) dependence on Mideast oil is not new. Other than oil, the Mideast has about as much intrinsic strategic value to the USA as Myanmar and that was very obvious to me with my boots in the sand. Until the American voter is willing to let politicians visibly transfer 50 cents per gallon of gasoline from them to legitimate energy independence investments, this cycle of American military interventions in the Oil Region is unlikely to end. In the meantime, the Arabian, Iranian, and Libyan poobahs will keep finding ways to grab that extra 50 cents per gallon every so often through messier mechanisms like invading Kuwait, sponsoring 9/11, and building nuclear reactors. In Wall Street speak, the Iranians were "churning their own account" when they kept rattling the nuclear saber and driving oil to $150 per barrel. Starve out the Arabs and Persians: ride a bicycle now and then, walk off that gut, buy only as much car as you (not your ego) NEED. Meanwhile, leave me, my guns, and my pack of children alone and I will respect you as well.