Crude Facts
"...The availability of liquid fuel is one of the fundamental assumptions at all levels of U.S. military activities. From the tactical level of fighting to the operational level of war, and from operations to the highest levels of strategic thinking, “burning gas” (whoops, I mean “mobility fuel”) is built into all U.S. doctrine. Energy, and in particular energy derived from liquid fuel, is at the heart and soul of the U.S. military power." Source
A recent article in the Army Times caught my eye.
"In a revised request for supplemental war funding for fiscal 2009, submitted May 2, defense officials have asked Congress to appropriate $3.69 billion for all fuels, a $2.2 billion increase over their initial request.
That, of course, looks far ahead and could still prove to be inadequate. According to Pentagon budget documents, the request would support a crude oil price of $97.19 per barrel — and also assumes that the military’s overall fuel costs will drop by 4.8 percent.
The current world price, however, has climbed to and is hovering around $120 per barrel, and many analysts think rising global demand and other factors will keep prices high.
And 2009 isn’t the only concern; the Pentagon needs more money for fuel to cover the remaining five months of this fiscal year.
This would come by way of the $108 billion war supplemental appropriation request, which has yet to be approved. The Pentagon has asked for a total of $1.9 billion for fuel, an increase of $281.4 million over its original supplemental request.
All told, that’s an additional $2.48 billion on top of the amounts included in the Pentagon’s 2008 and 2009 base budgets — and defense officials already acknowledge that the 2009 supplemental request won’t cover that entire fiscal year."
There is no way to tell the true cost of the Iraq war, especially with all these supplemental spending bills. I find it curious that those shouting the most about global warming and peak oil are mute when it comes to the use of resources to wage wars in dozens of countries throughout the world. Leaving Depleted Uranium aside, how many CO2 emissions come from tanks and warplanes? How damaging is a missile defense shield to the ozone layer? How much oil is pumped out of the ground and transported to military bases around the world for use in more tanks, warplanes, and navy carriers?
Wouldn't the easiest way to "correct" the environmental destruction caused by greenhouse gases be to eliminate the military?
Each month in Iraq, the US military consumes approximately 1.2 million barrels of crude oil (more than 50 million gallons of fuel). These numbers do not include fuel subsidies from Kuwait. You will be happy to know that through inept management, the administrative costs of overseeing the Kuwait subsidy has exceeded the value of the subsidy. Whether these numbers include fuel usage for Blackwater and Hallibutons' activities in Iraq is uncertain, but probably not. We probably compensate Halliburton for fuel at $128 dollars a gallon.
A lot of people think that the US military can tap into the Iraqi oil supply. No, that would be Israel.
The U.S. military purchases fuel on the open market, paying from $1.99 a gallon to as
much as $5.30 a gallon under contracts with private and government-owned oil
companies. The center then sets a fixed rate for troops, currently $3.51 a
gallon for diesel, $3.15 for gasoline, $3.04 for jet fuel and $13.61 for a
high-octane fuel used mostly in unmanned aerial vehicles. U.S.
MILITARY FUEL CONSUMPTION
2007: 132.5 million barrels (363,000 barrels per day)
U.S. MILITARY FUEL SPENDING
2003: $ 5.21 billion
2007: $12.61 billion
Percentage increase: 142 percent
March 19, 2003: $ 29.88*
March 19, 2008: $103.25*
Percentage increase: 245 percent
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