One of the most widely circulated statistics about U.S. military dependence on foreign oil is that the Pentagon only consumes 1.5 percent of the 20 million barrels the nation expends each day. But that share may be grossly underestimated, contends Air Force Lt. Col. Michael J. Hornitschek. In a paper published by the Air War College, he argued that the 1.5 percent only includes the actual petroleum that is pumped into military combat systems, but that figure does not reflect additional oil consumption by defense contractors, commercial shippers and other civilian organizations that support the Defense Department. “Fueling national defense goes beyond just the direct use of petroleum by armed forces and into a much deeper supply chain dependency.”
“If their predictions are correct, we can expect improvised explosive devices on U.S. highways and city streets in the near future, a lot like the daily reports coming out of Baghdad.”
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