War vets speak up on energy, climate security issues
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Victoriano, a Marine Corps veteran who served two tours in Iraq, says the U.S. pays foreign countries for fuel that they deliver to Karachi, Pakistan. The U.S. also pays Afghan truck drivers to haul the fuel from Karachi to U.S. bases inside Afghanistan.
But it's easy for the Taliban insurgents to intercept the fuel trucks on the two main highways into Afghanistan. The truck drivers are forced to pay the Taliban so the insurgents won't kill them and burn their trucks.
The truckers then haul the fuel to the U.S. bases where Humvees and other vehicles fuel up before going out on missions. The Taliban uses the money the truckers give them to buy roadside bombs to blow up the U.S. vehicles.
"We contribute directly to the deaths and casualties of our troops," Victoriano said. "It's a vicious circle and it's absolutely outrageous."
Victoriano was one of four military veterans who held a press conference in Rapid City on Monday as part of a cross-country bus tour to raise awareness about how energy and climate issues affect national security. The two-month tour is an effort by Operation Free, a coalition of veterans groups.
The group planned to stop in Pierre Monday afternoon and visit Sioux Falls and Vermillion on Tuesday.
Victoriano and other speakers said the United States spends $1 billion a day on foreign oil, and much of that money finds its way to groups that train and support terrorists and insurgents who attack American troops, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said the U.S. purchased $66 billion worth of oil from Saudi Arabia in 2008. "We know that since the 1980s, they've spent more than $70 million on extremist insurgents around the world."
Victoriano, who is with the Truman National Security Project, said Operation Free doesn't endorse particular legislation or political figures but focuses on education and awareness.
He said the country needs to develop alternative energy sources such as nuclear, biomass, wind, solar and clean coal.
He said the U.S. military already is working to develop alternative energy sources.
Leighann Dunn of Vermillion said she saw long lines of civilian vehicles waiting for fuel when she served with the South Dakota National Guard in Iraq in 2003-04.
"That makes me think about our future," Dunn said. "What if that happens on our land? Who gets priority then? What happens if these hostile nations turn off our supply?"
The veterans also said climate change poses a potential threat to national security and cited recent Department of Defense and CIA assessments that climate change can cause or speed up instability in a region, making for more fertile ground for terrorist groups to recruit new members.
"We're all veterans. We listen to our chain of command," Victoriano said. "If the Department of Defense and the CIA and the State Department all say climate change is a major threat to our security, we pay attention to that. They're not exactly the most liberal thinking organizations."
Patrick Bellon, a regional director for the Vet Voice Foundation, said Operation Free has gotten a good reception from other veterans groups.
Bellon, an Army veteran who served in Iraq in 2003-04, said 95 percent of veterans and others support the group's energy independence ideas but he admitted some are skeptical about climate change.
Eric Gage of Sioux Falls, who served nine years with the South Dakota Air National Guard, said the group's message in its simplest form made sense to him after he got back from overseas. "Climate change makes bad situations worse," Gage said. "Foreign oil funds terrorists."
The veterans said they don't oppose development of more domestic energy production, but they said oil companies have been reluctant to invest in more refineries and other infrastructure.
In any case, Bellon said, the U.S. can't produce enough oil to meet its needs. "At best, it is a short-term, short-sighted fix."
Dunn said a good assessment of the situation came from a city council member from Montana who heard the group's presentation. "She said she'd rather have a wind tower on the prairie than one more American die overseas."
Contact Steve Miller at 394-8415 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com.
