The exact same people are pretty much also supporting Ukraine, but, the idea here is to defang the U.S. military
Climate Change & War: How U.S. Military Emissions Factor into Costs of War & Shape Military Policy
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, as we continue our look at the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the costs of war with Neta Crawford, professor of international relations at Oxford University and co-director of the Costs of War Project at Brown University. She’s also author of the new book, The Pentagon, Climate Change, and War: Charting the Rise and Fall of U.S. Military Emissions.
Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Professor Crawford. It’s great to have you with us. Thank you for doing Part 2 of this interview, as we — in Part 1, we really looked at the new report you came out, on this 20th anniversary of the Iraq War. But you go broad in this book, and over more than a century of U.S. military spending and buildup, and what that means for the environment, The Pentagon, Climate Change, and War. Why don’t you take us on a brief trip through history?
NETA CRAWFORD: Well, war used to be fought, basically, with arms and legs and draft animals and wind power and oars and so on. But in the early 19th century, with the invention of the steam engine, war became more industrialized. Of course, steam power was either wood- or coal-powered. And this is the beginning of the military industrialization process, which launches a lot of emissions, from, at first, coal, through the 19th century. And in the early 20th century, what happens is many militaries shift to using petroleum. And then, of course, that increases the capacity for mechanization and speed.
And the thing that’s really interesting that I found in the book was that the military innovations became civilian innovations, and then this drove up civilian use of fossil fuels. And that’s the process that I’m tracing, sort of the gradual increase in the use of fossil fuels for the military driving up civilian uses.
So, one, whining about the Iraq War, and two, nutbags whining about the U.S. military. Sure, they have problems with other militaries, but, it’s mostly about hatred of the U.S.
And, of course, there’s also the thing that happens beginning in the 19th century but through to the present, where if you want to project power, as the United States did in the 19th and the 20th and the 21st century, what you need are places for refueling. And in the 19th century, this meant getting bases in Japan and in Hawaii and in the middle of the Pacific, so that the United States could expand and trade and make war in those regions, and then, as well, getting bases all over the world for refueling. In the 19th century, the British were the leaders in maritime power. In the 20th century, the U.S. became the great maritime power. Of course, it needed to have refueling capacity everywhere. And so the need for fuel drove U.S. overseas installations and bases, and it stayed that way to the present. So, that’s part of the story I tell.
Make war? The U.S. was attacked first, but, you know that these climate cultists hate the U.S., and aren’t saying anything negative about China.
But what also surprised me was how they’re not, in another sense, that they keep the same doctrine, the same activities, despite the reduced need for, for instance, protecting access to oil. As oil imports go down, as the Persian Gulf is less important to the United States in terms of a source of oil, the U.S. military could rethink its military posture and be as nimble as they are with technology, but they really haven’t. There has been a swerve or a pivot to Asia, but we still have thousands of troops there, and at least one aircraft carrier dedicated to Central Command, and all the surface ships that go along with that, when the risk is — of losing access to that oil is lower. And, in fact, we’re not using it as much. And even if we could burn it, we shouldn’t burn it. We need to reduce.
The idea of our military, any military, is to be positioned best to defend the nation. These people are nuts. Factoring the climate scam into operations hurts the mission.
“I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it.
I would rather that you just said “thank you” and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand the post. Either way, I don’t give a DAMN what you think you’re entitled to!”
Read: Climate Cult Wants To Calculate Emissions Into Military Operations »
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