OIL DEPENDENCE IS America’s Achilles’ heel in the battle against terrorism–a fact that has not escaped the terrorists. Osama bin Laden and others have declared the oil supply a top target, and subsequent plots demonstrate that the desire to disrupt world energy markets is more than mere rhetoric. This significant weakness should factor heavily in current political debates about alternatives to oil.

When bin Laden dramatically addressed the United States in a video released on the eve of the 2004 elections, he boasted of his “bleed-until-bankruptcy” plan for defeating America. His focus on the economy is a primary reason that the terrorist leader reversed his original pledge to keep oil off limits as a military target. In his 1996 declaration of war against America, bin Laden said that oil was not part of the battle because it was “a large economical power essential for the soon to be established Islamic state,” but in a December 2004 audiotape he reversed this promise. Declaring Western countries’ purchase of oil at then-market prices “the greatest theft in history,” he stated: “Focus your operations on it [oil production], especially in Iraq and the Gulf area, since this [lack of oil] will cause them to die off [on their own].”