"This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world. States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
- U.S. President G. W. Bush
01.29.2002
- by DAVID E. ROSENBAUM and DAVID E. SANGER
New York Times
04.10.2002
WASHINGTON, April 10 - The Bush administration said today that Saddam Hussein's decision to cut off oil exports for at least a month, or until Israel pulls out of the West Bank, makes it urgent for the Senate to allow drilling for oil in the Alaska wildlife refuge. In spite of that warning there was no evidence that Iraq's move ended the deadlock in the Senate over the issue.
Even as the White House was declaring that Iraq's cut-off could further raise gasoline and heating oil prices here, oil futures declined after Saudi Arabia and other major producers indicated they would make up the difference.
"The president knows that A.N.W.R. represents 46 years' worth of imports of oil from Saddam Hussein's Iraq," Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said today, using an aggressive estimate of the reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "And the president thinks that Saddam Hussein's threat, the promise to cut off oil, is another reason why our nation needs a comprehensive energy plan that is independent of such threats."
The White House announcement was the most aggressive effort yet to use the turmoil in the Middle East - and Mr. Bush's insistence that he remains focused on toppling Saddam Hussein - to press for what has become a symbolically vital part of its national energy plan. So far, though, Sen. Frank Murkowski, the Republican who is running for governor of Alaska, concedes that he lacks the 60 votes needed to overcome the opponents of drilling in the wildlife refuge, and force a vote on the issue.
At the same time that the White House has argued that Middle East turmoil makes more drilling vital, the White House has vigorously opposed an effort to raise the federal standards for the fuel efficiency of automobiles sold in the United States, a change that would have saved more oil than A.N.W.R. could produce, assuming the oil reserves are recoverable. The White House insists there is no contradiction in the policy, arguing that the improved mileage standards would lead auto companies to produce more small cars, and endanger American motorists.
Lawmakers from both parties agree that the United States should become less dependent on imported oil, but partisan and regional differences and ferocious lobbying have left Congress paralyzed.
Most Republicans believe the solution lies in more oil production, particularly exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve on Alaska's north coast.
Most Democrats hold that the solution is conservation, particularly stiffer fuel efficiency standards for automobiles and trucks.
Both sides are locked into their positions so tightly that compromise appears to be out of the question.
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