Today's quote for discussion comes from our own Brandon Friedman's book, The War I Always Wanted, which I highly recommend, and not just because I think he should be rich and famous.
Buy The War I Always Wanted at Amazon.
"The argument that oil's not worth fighting for... or that you shouldn't go to war for cheap oil - that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." A U.S. Air Force vet was making the case in the heart of Cairo's old section...
"Oil's pretty goddamn important if you ask me," he continued. "Our whole fucking economy is based on it. Our whole way of life is designed around easy access to oil... You know," he said, "if only a few countries had fresh water and they didn't want to share it, or they wanted to jack up the prices, don't you think we'd have a real gripe with 'em? Don't you think it would be worth fighting for?"
I said, "Yeah, but, I mean, water's water. You can live without oil."
"Yeah, you can live without oil, but then how the fuck are you going to get home from here? What are you gonna do for a living in a non-oil-based economy when you get there? No cars, no planes... you gonna be a farmer? And plow a field? Oil is the single most important resource we have. And it belongs to everyone. Just because it is under a few select countries, it doesn't make it their oil. It's the world's oil."