The national security threat posed by unrestricted greenhouse gas emissions is great (see “NYT: Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security” and “Veterans Day, 2029“). The threat is so clearcut that even the Bush Administration’s top intelligence experts were raising the alarm (see “The moving Fingar writes“). Yet, Senator James “the last flat-earther” Inhofe (R-OIL) is now attacking the generals pointing out the national security threat, as Think Progress reports in this repost.
In testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, retired Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn articulated a national security argument for passing clean energy legislation. “Continued over reliance on fossil fuels, or small, incremental steps, simply will not create the kind of future security and prosperity that the American people and our great Nation deserve,” McGinn warned.
In an interview with the New York Times Magazine, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), the ranking member of the Senate environment committee, argued that McGinn and other generals who are advocating for clean energy reform (like Wesley Clark, Stephen Cheney, Brent Scowcroft, etc) are simply doing so because they crave “the limelight”:
NYT: Senator Boxer is chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee,on which you are the ranking Republican. She and her fellow Democrats have lately suggested that global warming could be a threat to national security by destabilizing developing countries.
INHOFE: That’s the most ludicrous thing. They looked around and they found, I think, five generals to testify before the committee. Well, that’s 5 generals out of 4,000 retired generals that say that. There are a lot of generals who don’t like to be out of the limelight. They’d like to get back in.
Despite Inhofe’s desire to trash the motivations of military generals who have a different view than he does about the impending climate crisis, the national security implications of climate change cannot be so easily dismissed. For at least the past two years, “military and intelligence experts have been issuing studies warning that climate change could put American military personnel and national security at risk. Increasingly violent storms, pandemics, drought and large-scale refugee problems, they say, will destabilize regions and encourage terrorism. And American dependence on foreign energy sources will only exacerbate the threats and increase the likelihood of military action.”
It’s not just military generals who are making this argument. Inhofe’s former colleague, John Warner (who Inhofe acknowledged has had “a long and distinguished career in the military”), also understands the security implications of global warming:
WARNER: Leading military, intelligence, and security experts have publically spoken out that if left unchecked, global warming could increase instability and lead to conflict in already fragile regions of the world. If we ignore these facts, we do so at the peril of our national security and increase the risk to those in uniform who serve our nation. It is for this reason that I firmly believe the U.S. must take a leadership role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Of course, Inhofe probably believes Warner is craving the limelight too. Apparently, everyone needs to take lessons from Inhofe about how to unassumingly fly below the radar.
JR: Let’s also remember limelight-hating Inhofe’s explanation for why he’s going to Copenhagen — so that when Sen. Kerry says “Yes. We’re going to pass a global warming bill” then “I will be able to stand up and say, ‘No, it’s over. Get a life. You lost. I won!’ ”
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Thanks for the Sunday morning humor. Inhofe has pretty much earned the lifetime Dumbest Senator and Dumbest Member of Congress awards, along with making the Most Corrupt lists. From what I can tell, other countries, especially Australia and even Denmark, have legislators who could provide him with a little competition.
I think it’s time for an international competition. Could Inhofe be the dumbest member of a legislative body in the world? Show us what you’ve got, Copenhagen attendees!
He’s also a member of the Christianist cult The Family, Sen. Inhofe.
To really move public opinion I think Obama must appear with Military Joint Chiefs and captains of industry – every time he speaks of climate change and clean energy. There should be an active military general there every time…he should be taking military leaders with him to Copenhagen.
All to many seem to think this is about “comfort” and “lifestyle” – this is at root about our security and whether we like it or not, and while it may seem hard to be more militaristic to some, the military is going to play an ever more increasing role as the world is destabilized by climate change.
Time to put the military people up front on this, everyday. The crazies will never be satisfied but most fence sitting moderately conservative folks will be swayed….and that will make a big difference politically….giving much more room to push forward.
I have said this before but it warrants another time. The present US military budget is $600+ billion dollars. Full implementation of Lester Brown’s Plan B 4.0 is estimated at $187 billion. The military should fund the full “first year” cost’s, to show good faith, out of the military budget, which would still leave $400+ billion, about 5 times the next highest which is China. This action would not impact the national debt as the money has already been allocated. As a concession from other world governments they would agree to fund the following year’s “Plan B”, ~ 12% of their military budgets. I content that two years of this action would defuse international hostilities, including terrorism, to such a degree that future funding could easily be made with savings on all military expenditures and still have some change left over. A win, win for all, especially the earth and poor.
Laughing out loud at the headline. I didn’t know Inhofe was a comedian.
To Inhofe, attacking generals as attention-needy: “Have you no shame, sir? Have you no shame?”
Perhaps the newly formed AGW geography deserves his name – the Inhofe Desert Wastelands, the Inhofe Oceanic Inundation, an Inhofe glacier moraine…. Maybe any newly defined geological object from climate destabilization should be called an Inhofe object.
Inhofe attacking generals as craving limelight? That is just chock-full of irony…
This is beyond the pale. Inhoffe has impugned the character of respected retired military brass. Sens. Boxer, Merkley, Whitehouse and others on the Environment Committee should publicly demand an apology from Inhoffe.
Next thing Inhofe will call Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, JFK, and Martin Luther King gay communists who wanted to destroy America.