Vets group raises awareness on energy 'drug'

Date: 4/6/2010

April 7, 2010.

By Mike Briotta

PRIME Editor



SPRINGFIELD -- The ideas of battling climate change and combating terrorists abroad may seem like two very divergent concepts, but a national veterans' group spoke in Springfield last Thursday about how these two topics are actually intertwined.

Operation Free is a coalition of United States military veterans whose message is that our dependence on foreign oil actually funds our enemies abroad; that there is a clear nexus between climate change and national security.

Operation Free rolled up to City Hall steps in a blue, 45-foot bus, which the group is using to tour the nation. In case anyone was wondering about the apparent irony of a bus tour for a group that advocates battling climate change and foreign oil dependence, the group said that its bus runs on biodiesel fuel. Operation Free will travel to 27 states, speaking at more than 125 events in total.

"The war on terror is only the second in American history where we have funded both sides, the first being the Civil War," Brendan Flynn, a former Coast Guard serviceman, asserted.

He was paraphrasing a statement by James Woolsey, former CIA director. It is the position of Operation Free that the lion's share of federal tax money spent by the U.S. to fuel vehicles in foreign combat operations is actually being funneled back to Middle Eastern world leaders who are funding terrorism.

"That has to stop," Flynn said. "We now get 60 percent of our oil from overseas, versus 30 percent a few years ago. We're twice as dependent on foreign oil now as we were then."

Flynn continued, "Do your own research. There's more information available on our Web site, www.operationfree.net. Tell your friends, your family and your neighbors. Contact your federal legislators. We're not advocating a specific policy, but there has to be a national solution. Ask Sen. Brown to take a leadership role on this; it has to be a bipartisan issue."

The veterans' group is urging legislators to support an energy bill currently being worked on by U.S. Senators John Kerry, Lindsay Graham and Joe Lieberman. Operation Free is sponsored by the Truman National Security Project, a Washington, D.C., think-tank. The current road trip of Operation Free includes presentations at Veterans of Foreign Wars halls, colleges and other venues.

A former scout-sniper in the Marines and 2003 Iraq war veteran, Matt Victoriano summed up the position of Operation Free on how U.S. consumption of foreign oil skews the global economy to favor terrorist groups that this country is currently at war against.

"Saudi Arabia has state-owned oil companies led by princes," he explained. "They are funneling billions of dollars to extremist and terrorist groups, specifically the Taliban in Pakistan."

He later added, "Much has been made of drug money being used to fund terrorism, but the 'drug' that we use the most in this nation is oil. It's urgent right now to take action. Every moment we wait, more American soldiers will be at risk overseas."

Local representatives from Western Massachusetts Electric Compnay (WMECO) and Bay State Mecical Center were also on hand last Thursday to discuss recent improvements that each of those businesses has made to become more energy-efficient.

The hospital is making use of natural sunlight, when possible, and utilizing "grey water" runoff from building rooftops to provide water for its landscaped property.

WMECO recently opened a solar-power generating facility in Pittsfield and is also using windmills at the Berkshire Ski Area to help move away from foreign-oil dependence.

A lieutenant from the Springfield Police Department said that his organization recently installed motion-sensor switches for its lighting system, thus reducing the department's consumption of electricity.

The local roundtable discussion was attended by a variety of public officials and concerned citizens, including Richard Tyrell, chairman of Springfield's Veterans Activities Committee, and Bob Cahillane, a former director of veterans' services in the area.

A former commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, who did not attend the local meeting, but supports Operation Free, is Gen. Anthony Zinni. "We will pay for this one way or another," Zinni said in a press release.

"We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today ... or we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives," he said.