My Mullah Can Beat Up Your Mullah

Thomas Friedman has an article in the NY Times this week about the US helping fund restrictive regimes in the Middle East by refusing to do anything about our dependence on foreign oil. How much trouble has the US gotten itself into because we needed to "protect our interests" (read: protect our oil) in this region of the world? Now I realize we have other interests in this region (Israel, fighting the Soviets during the cold war in Egypt, Iran-Iraq, Afghanistan), but certainly oil has been a large factor. I mean, how much has the US concerned itself with Africa over the years? How much US money flows into Africa yearly? I don't know if we can remove our dependence on foreign oil within a generation, but I believe it is worth the attempt.

As further evidence supporting my point. These guys are our allies.