2.23.2004

Bush suppresses Pentagon findings that climate change will lead to "global chaos":
The Bush Administration long maintained that global warming was pure fiction. But a leaked Pentagon document says that climate change "should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern"--and that it poses a far more serious threat to world stability than terrorism. According to a report in The Observer, "the potential ramifications of rapid climate change would create global chaos. 'This is depressing stuff,' [Pentagon advisor Andrew Randall, who commissioned the report] said. 'It is a national security threat that is unique because there is no enemy to point your guns at and we have no control over the threat... The consequences for some nations of the climate change are unbelievable. It seems obvious that cutting the use of fossil fuels would be worthwhile.'" The report warns that major European cities will sink under rising seas as the UK is plunged into a "Siberian" climate within 15 years--and that nuclear conflict, droughts, famine, and rioting will break out across the globe. This is huge. Why has the Bush administration actively suppressed this report? The president has already been accused by 20 Nobel scientists of distorting and politicizing scientific findings for the benefit of corporations. So maybe it's simply that Bush is protecting his petroleum pals from news that might kill profits. Or perhaps he knows his "wartime president" ruse relies on making national defense the highest priority. Whatever the reason, the report implies that ousting Bush from office--a noble and hopefully attainable goal--probably won't matter: the environmental damage is likely irreversible.

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