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The Oil FactorINTRO:Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Mark Hertsgaard in San Francisco, and this is Link TV's investigative news program, presenting documentaries from filmmakers and reporters around the world, telling stories usually missed by American television. This week our spotlight is on oil and U.S. foreign policy. For the United States, oil is a matter of life and death. Without oil, our economy would crash, our suburbs would become uninhabitable, modern life itself would shudder to a halt. As Hurricane Katrina showed, even minor supply disruptions can bring back the gas lines and price spikes of the 1970s. So it's no surprise that oil has long been central to U.S. foreign policy. The Bush administration, however, denies that oil was a factor in its decision to overthrow Saddam Hussein. The documentary you're about to see challenges that assertion. And it goes further, suggesting that oil was also at the heart of US policy in Afghanistan, both initially, with Washington's support for the Taliban, and later, with the Bush administration's 2001 invasion of the country. We'll be back afterwards with an update. For now, from the French filmmakers Gerard Ungerman and Audry Brohy, here is, "The Oil Factor," on Link TV, your connection to the world. OUTRO:Welcome back. You're watching "Spotlight" on Link TV. I'm Mark Hertsgaard. Reasonable people can disagree about whether oil was the driving force behind the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. What cannot be denied is that global oil supplies are under great stress and getting worse. As China and other newly industrializing nations seek more oil and the US continues its gas-guzzling ways, demand is outpacing supply, raising the danger of shortages, price hikes, recession and war. It used to be that only environmentalists warned about the world running out of oil. Not anymore. Matthew Simmons is an industry insider, a banker with thirty years experience advising the oil industry's major players, including briefings of president Bush and vice president Cheney. In his book Twilight in the Desert, Simmons argues that the world is at or near "peak oil"-that is, the point of the earth's all time maximum production. Simmons warns that unless alternative energy sources are brought on line very, very soon, we face unparalleled catastrophe. All of which casts a harsh light on the energy debate in Washington, where lawmakers fulminate against $3 a gallon gas and pledge to end U.S. dependence on foreign oil. If Simmons and other peak oil prophets are right, $3 a gallon gas will soon sound cheap, and the real imperative is to end our dependence on oil altogether. If you want to find out more about these issues, check out the resources listed at the end of this program. You can also find those resources at our website, www.linktv.org. Following those listings you'll see a clip from next week's program. Until then, this is Mark Hertsgaard in San Francisco for "Spotlight." Thanks for joining us.
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