WATCHING WASHINGTON OIL AND BULLETS

With Patrick Crow The growing military relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. contains the seeds of yet another energy crisis and foreign policy failure. That warning came last week from Henry Schuler, director of energy and national security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington. He spoke at a meeting sponsored by the U.S. Council for Energy Awareness and the Industrial Energy Users Forum.

Oct. 21, 1991

3 min read

The growing military relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. contains the seeds of yet another energy crisis and foreign policy failure.

That warning came last week from Henry Schuler, director of energy and national security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington.

He spoke at a meeting sponsored by the U.S. Council for Energy Awareness and the Industrial Energy Users Forum.

Schuler observed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait last year and subsequent ejection by United Nations forces has prompted closer U.S.-Saudi relations and more U.S. military support for the desert kingdom.

But he argued no amount of U.S. military hardware can ensure oil supplies from a Middle East monarchy (OGJ, Oct. 7, Newsletter).

MIDDLE EAST PARALLELS

"We have attempted to develop similar oil and military relationships with three other countries in that region over the last 40 years, and each time the approach has failed."

Schuler noted the U.S. and other countries provided Iraq military aid in the 1950s to help counter a perceived Soviet threat and protect oil shipments, yet the Iraqi monarchy was overthrown in 1958.

The U.S. also maintained an air force base in Libya in the 1960s, partly to help protect that country and its oil supplies from Egyptian aggression, but a 1969 revolution dethroned the king.

And the U.S. provided Iran extensive military support in the 1960s and 1970s, only to see the shah overthrown.

Schuler said the parallels between Libya in 1969 and Saudi Arabia today are especially "chilling."

He said in each of the three cases, U.S. efforts to help protect the regimes from external aggression only worsened internal tensions that led to the downfall of each monarchy.

"The successor regimes of all three countries have proved so hostile to U.S. interests that we now ban oil imports from them," he added.

"Our vulnerability to oil shocks now is greater than ever before, yet we are repeating a policy that aligns us with an inherently unstable regime in the hopes that it can guarantee oil supplies at a reasonable price for years to come.

"To avoid repeating history, we must adopt a comprehensive energy strategy and do it quickly." Schuler said the U.S. should develop a wide range of domestic energy resources, even though it may require politicians to make some difficult decisions.

U.S. ENERGY POLICY

Sen. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), energy committee chairman, welcomed Schuler's advice. He has been pressing for the Senate to consider his omnibus energy policy bill.

Without criticizing the Saudis, Johnston noted their enormous reserves and surplus production capacity will enable them to control the world oil market-making the U.S. and other countries dependent on their good will.

He said the Saudis want to keep crude oil reasonably priced, but that will only "reel America in, hooked on foreign oil."