Operation Free – Veterans fight climate change
U.S. Army photo by SGT. Gustavo Olgiati (source: Flickr Creative Commons)
Their mission: to ‘Secure America with Clean Energy’. U.S. military veterans and national security groups are organized for political action to get America off foreign oil and on to clean energy. Operation Free are not the first members – or ex-members – of the U.S. military to make the link between the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and national security, or between climate change and security for that matter. Prominent military figures who have argued along these lines include former U.S. Navy Admiral Dennis McGinn of the Center for Naval Analysis (CAN) and former General Charles F. Wald.
“These threats really stem out of two different rationales,” he said. “The first is that our reliance on fossil fuels, especially imported oil, directly funds our enemies in the war on terrorism.[…]“The second rationale is that climate change and the natural disasters it will cause is only going to open up holes for terrorists to gain power. The United States is the one who will be called upon to address these challenges.”
-Jon Gensler, Operation Free (source: The Herald Dispatch)
Part of the Truman National Security Project, Operation Free has been attacked and implausibly branded ‘traitors’ and ‘radical leftists’ by a Pennsylvania state senator who obviously doesn’t know what a leftist or a radical is. For a glimpse into how and why Operation Free are campaigning – in their own words – check out this report from NBC Nightly News:
Vets link climate change, security
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
By Graham Land
Additional resources:
Grist.org – Veterans push for climate bill with new ‘Operation Free’ coalition
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Avoid hyperbole, oversimplification when climate and security meet
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Tags: climate change, foreign oil, Military, national security, Operation Free, U.S., veterans
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