Arkansas Governror Mike Huckabee has said that our reliance on Saudi oil is financing both sides of the War on Terror. Granted, this is an obvious piece of election politicking, but why in the name of all that is holy haven’t the Democrats jumped on this issue? Time and time again, they have allowed Republicans to steal issues that would normally be considered in their privy. Frankly, I could care less, as long as someone is saying it. I am tired of settling for what’s available in American politics, hence my futile obsession with Dennis Kucinich.

Strong words from the Republican hopeful:

“Every time we put our credit card in the gas pump, we’re paying so that the Saudis get rich — filthy, obscenely rich, and that money then ends up going to funding madrassas,” schools “that train the terrorists,” said Huckabee. “America has allowed itself to become enslaved to Saudi oil. It’s absurd. It’s embarrassing.”

Absurd? How can a candidate talk like that? It is almost as if he is…talking from the hip? Being honest? Manufacturing a politically endearing tritism or snippet or sound byte? Who cares? I am buying into this one. Next follows his lofty initiative.

Huckabee said “I would make the United States energy independent within 10 years and tell the Saudis they can keep their oil just like they can keep their sand, that we won’t need either one of them.”

Frankly, I love it. 10 years is a pipe dream, but it is a start. Tell me a problem in the Middle East that would not be alleviated (or at least revealed for what it truly is) by the lack of our presence?

All of this is in response to a Saudi court passing down a sentence of 200 lashes for a woman who was gang raped ostensibly for appearing in public with a man who was not her husband.

Lovely.

America off oil? I truly wonder at what point a candidate will declare oil of any sort a threat to U.S. National Security. Whomever does will get a boost beyond belief.

At some point though, it becomes a question of whose interests are being hindered by this type of proposition.

Detroit (not the poor city, but the dinosaurs of the auto industry)?
Saudi Arabia itself (quite a strong lobby in D.C.)?
Industry?

Who knows? But this is a good start regardless.

By Michael Gallagher

My name is Michael Sean Gallagher. I am a Lecturer in Digital Education at the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. I am Co-Founder and Director of Panoply Digital, a consultancy dedicated to ICT and mobile for development (M4D); we have worked with USAID, GSMA, UN Habitat, Cambridge University and more on education and development projects. I was a researcher on the Near Futures Teaching project, a project that explores how teaching at The University of Edinburgh unfold over the coming decades, as technology, social trends, patterns of mobility, new methods and new media continue to shift what it means to be at university. Previously, I was the Research Associate on the NERC, ESRC, and AHRC Global Challenges Research Fund sponsored GCRF Research for Emergency Aftershock Forecasting (REAR) project. I was an Assistant Professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (한국외국어대학교) in Seoul, Korea. I have also completed a doctorate at University College London (formerly the independent Institute of Education, University of London) on mobile learning in the humanities in Korea.

4 thoughts on “Huckabee: Ensalved to Saudi Oil….maybe the kid is on to something here”
  1. am definitely leaning towards Hucklebee these days for hie honest striaght forwarded answers and plans. definitely agree with these statements…

  2. am definitely leaning towards Hucklebee these days for hie honest striaght forwarded answers and plans. definitely agree with these statements…

  3. am definitely leaning towards Hucklebee these days for hie honest striaght forwarded answers and plans. definitely agree with these statements…

  4. am definitely leaning towards Hucklebee these days for hie honest striaght forwarded answers and plans. definitely agree with these statements…

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