I find it ironic that on this day of global action for climate change, those who say government can never subsidize clean energy have determined that the United States must send troops and military equipment to defend Saudi oilfields. Has the cost of defending Middle Eastern oilfields ever been reflected in the price of oil?
There was one Presidential candidate who claimed he would make Middle Eastern nations pay the US to defend their oil. His name: Donald Trump.
For example, here is Trump explaining at a military forum that a guy named Obama was stupid to leave Iraq without taking the oil:
LAUER: How were we going to take the oil? How were we going to do that?
TRUMP: Just we would leave a certain group behind and you would take various sections where they have the oil. They have — people don’t know this about Iraq, but they have among the largest oil reserves in the world, in the entire world.
And we’re the only ones, we go in, we spend $3 trillion, we lose thousands and thousands of lives, and then, Matt, what happens is, we get nothing. You know, it used to be to the victor belong the spoils. Now, there was no victor there, believe me. There was no victor. But I always said: Take the oil
Transcript of Military Forum
Here is Trump before CPAC in 2013:
With Iraq, we spent $1.5 trillion -- 1.5 trillion-- we lose lives, great, great, young, wonderful people, we lose so much. What do we have? Nothing. We have nothing. When I heard that we were first going into Iraq, some very smart people told me, well, we're actually going for the oil. And I said, all right, I get that. I get that.
Iraq $1.5 trillion wonderful people smart people
There's nothing else. I get it. But we didn't take the oil. And then when I said, well, we spent 1.5 trillion; we should take -- you know, I don't know if you know they have the second-largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia, so 1.5 trillion is nothing. One point five trillion-- we should take it and pay ourselves back. [Applause] What are we doing? What are we doing? What are we thinking? And this is whether it's Obama or Bush or whoever.
CPAC Transcript
And there are similar interviews from 2011 with the Wall Street Journal and below with ABC:
Stephanopoulos: So, we steal an oil field?
Trump: Excuse me. You’re not stealing. Excuse me. You’re not stealing anything. You’re taking — we’re reimbursing ourselves — at least, at a minimum, and I say more. We’re taking back $1.5 trillion to reimburse ourselves.
Trump Calls for Modern Day Colonialism
Well I’m sure you have heard stories in recent days that the Saudis are getting ready for the Aramco IPO. Aramco is said to be the world's most profitable company, and the hoped for $2 trillion projected valuation will easily make it the largest oil company. Unfortunately, those nasty “drone attacks lay bare the vulnerabilities of Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure network at a time when Aramco... is ramping up efforts to sell shares to the public for the first time.” Investors on Edge as Attacks Highlight Aramco IPO Risks
The Saudi government is now the sole shareholder of Aramco, and it wants to sell its shares to the public. Make no mistake, even if you are not a buyer, as the largest oil company in the world, shares of Aramco will end up in mutual funds and index funds that comprise typical IRA investments, and public and private pension funds across the US will own its shares indirectly, if not directly.
With drones hovering and tensions mounting, might the Saudis get a lousy price when they sell their oil company to the public? Relax. Don’t worry. Enter the US Military. Who can better assure investors that they have nothing to fear? On the day of the IPO, will Wall Street be buying because Aramco has a security force provided free of charge, courtesy of the US taxpayer? After all, US taxpayers have kept oil prices low by spending trillions on defense of the Middle East for years.
Candidate Trump wouldn’t let that happen. This is the guy called Obama stupid for failing to take Iraq’s oil. This is the guy who wouldn’t even build a wall on the southern border without making Mexico pay for it. This is the guy who wants Europe to pay for NATO-- even though our NATO allies don’t want to "treat women as slaves and to kill gays," not to mention chop journalists to bits. Certainly there must be a slight surcharge for those additional nasty habits of the Saudis, right? Saudi Arabia has always benefited from the implicit protection of the US military. Now, we are sending troops and equipment there as well. (That has never bothered any Saudi terror groups, has it?) Do the Saudis get to keep that benefit, which will be reflected in the higher price they charge everyone for shares in Aramco, and the higher profits they earn from having someone else pay to protect their oil?
Now I want to hear Trump tell us how Saudi Arabia is going to pay for our protection.