Seattle appearance

Michael Ruppert Explains 'Peak Oil' and 9/11

by Rodger Herbst

Michael C Ruppert will be in Seattle on January 15 to speak on his latest book, Crossing the Rubicon: the Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil.

The book, which delves into the darkest secrets of the US economic system, finds "Peak Oil" as the economic stimulus triggering an internal US imperative for the attacks of September 11 2001. Ruppert approaches the investigation from the perspective of a homicide, meticulously establishing the motive, means, and opportunity of the perpetrators of the crime. He assigns his readers the task of jury, urging them to examine the evidence presented in 600 plus pages of text and 40 pages of footnotes, to decide for themselves the verdict. The book has earned a five star rating at Amazon.com.

Ruppert appears to be on firm ground with respect to the issue of Peak Oil, able to "throw more than 500 footnoted citations at you from unimpeachable sources." His manner of delivery however, has earned him a number of enemies within the government reform community. A backlash has developed which attempts to paint him as an operative attempting to inflate oil prices by circulating the "scam story" of oil scarcity.

Ruppert's basic thesis is compatible with the views of some heavy hitters. For example, Michael T Klare, director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College in Amherst Massachusetts, and author of Resource Wars: the New Landscape of Global Conflict, states in a recent article in the Nation, "cultural and political analyses obscure a fundamental reality: that this war [on terror], like most of the wars that preceded it, is firmly rooted in geopolitical competition."(www.thenation.com/ doc.mhtml?i=20011105&s=klare)

David Goodstein, a physicist and vice-provost at the California Institute of Technology has written the book Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil. Newsweek noted on Feb 17 2004: "Goodstein's book is not a happy read, but an important one. In layman's terms, he explains the science behind his prediction and why other fossil fuels might not do the trick when the wells run dry."(www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4287300/)

Althought Ruppert provides ample evidence of the reality of Peak Oil, the outcome of his analysis does not depend on that reality. The Association for the study of Peak Oil and Gas notes: "Vice- President Dick Cheney made a speech at the London Institute of Petroleum Autumn lunch in 1999 when he was Chairman of Halliburton. A key passage from his speech was: 'That means by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day.' It suggested that he at that time was fully aware of the issue of peak oil."(www.peakoil.net)

The fact that members of the administration believe the reality of Peak Oil is all that is needed to validate Ruppert's assessment of "Motive."

On August 31, 2004, Ruppert spoke on his new book at San Francisco's prestigious Commonwealth Club, which has hosted appearances by such people as Dennis Kucinich, Madeleine Albright, Hans Blix and King Abudullah II.

Ruppert has a solid reputation of getting in the government's face. The June 22, 1992 issue of People magazine noted his drug-war investigations and his support from then-presidential-candidate Ross Perot.

Marc Levin, Emmy award winning Director of PBS's The Secret Government, and The Last Party and Producer of Bill Moyers' 1998 series on addiction, stated: "Mike Ruppert is a one-man crusade trying to expose America's bogus war on drugs."

Dick Gregory noted: "This is the man who cost CIA Director Deutch his guaranteed appointment as Secretary of Defense after confronting him [in 1996] at Locke High School with hard facts about CIA dealing drugs." The episode was broadcast on national television.

Ruppert's newsletter, From the Wilderness, now has 16,000 subscribers in 40 countries including 40 members of the US Congress, the intelligence committees of both houses, and professors at 30 universities around the world.

Ruppert will appear at Kane Hall, UW on Saturday January 15, 7-10 pm. The event is presented by the Citizen's Truth Alliance, and co-sponsored by Seattle Thunder www.seattlethunder.net and 9-11 Visibility Project (www.septembereleventh.org).