Day 263

Mom – Day 263

I believe Zach is out again on another mission but I am not sure. We haven’t really received any news from him other than a few words the other day that was written on Facebook.

So I am by no means an expert in politics, history or any of the sorts, so I would like to understand the following information. – Maybe I am missing some of the puzzle –
So lets talk oil first. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the top 5 countries that exports crude oil to the US (which accounts for 71%) are the following countries: Canada, Mexico, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela (Iraq is number 7 and Kuwait is number 12 on the list of the top 15 countries that export to the US). Now Nigeria and Saudi Arabia are on the US Dept of State, Travel Warning List; and I would have thought Venezuela would have been on it as well. During the time of the Persian Gulf War (or the 1st Gulf war), the US helped Kuwait and Saudi Arabia when Iraq troops invaded Kuwait (I know, I know we had a direct interest there – oil, nat’l security, blah, blah, blah). This was a short war and ended in February of ’91. The part that really gets me, and I must not be seeing the picture because it makes no sense to me, is the following: here is Saudi Arabia (US Standard Oil of California explored for oil there with permission of then King Ibn Saud) who is somewhat our friend (not foe) and in the ‘90’s they were pouring tons of money into Pakistan to educate their children. Pakistan being so vulnerable because of their poverty and their lack of an adequate educational system was prime real estate for Saudi Arabia to spread their “oil money” to create these schools. Oh, did I mention that these schools often had teachers that never went to school and a majority of them did not care about math, science, or history! Yes, these schools are the madrassas that educated most of our Taliban. Let’s not forget that 15 out of the 19 hijackers from the 9/11 attacks were Saudis. I question some of our friends, are they worth calling our friends? It is very dangerous to be dependent on any country for resources (or money). – I needed to vent this out because my son is out there and I wonder who our friends are??? –

I love you Zach – Be Safe
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo