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Military Veterans Seek Inhofe Apology over Global Warming Remark
Retired U.S military leaders and war veterans are calling on Sen. James Inhofe to apologize for an offensive remark he made accusing them of supporting global warming action only to get publicity.
In an interview published in the Nov. 29 New York Times Magazine, Inhofe said that calling climate change a threat to national security "is the most ludicrous thing."
"Five generals out of 4,000 retired generals ... 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," the Oklahoma Republican said.
Operation Free, a coalition of leading veterans' and national security organizations, launched a petition in response.
"Enough is enough. Swiftboating our military veterans, and questioning their patriotism, for crass political gain should not be tolerated. ... Senator Inhofe, you need to apologize," the group said.
Saying "it's just those five generals" pressing for climate change laws "is sadly misguided," Jon Powers, an Iraq war veteran and member of the Operation Free coalition, told reporters Tuesday.
Leaders and institutions "across the spectrum" are increasingly standing behind "the fact" that climate change represents a grave national security threat, Powers said. This is "not about politics, but about our security," he added.
A recent body of defense establishment research supports this, as U.S. armed forces and intelligence agencies have increasingly sounded an urgent alarm about warming.
The assessments draw similar conclusions. They warn that climate-induced crises — drought, famine, rising seas and ensuing mass migration — could destabilize some of the planet's most explosive regions. If and when that happens, the U.S. military could be pulled in to keep the peace, taxing its overstretched forces and putting military lives in danger.
A report authored by 11 3-star and 4-star generals and admirals in 2007 under the Pentagon-funded CNA Corporation concluded that "climate change can act as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world" — and that this "presents significant national security challenges for the United States."
"The U.S. may be drawn more frequently into these situations, either alone or with allies, to help provide stability before conditions worsen and are exploited by extremists," the report said.
This year alone, the world saw 30 million people migrate from where they normally live "to get away from effects of climate change," retired Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy told reporters. The most serious dangers appear to be some years off, but the "cost of doing nothing will be far higher" than confronting the problem now, she added.
In 2008, the first-ever "National Intelligence Assessment" of climate change from the National Intelligence Council said the next two decades are key.
"We judge global climate change will have wide-ranging implications for U.S. national security interests over the next 20 years," Thomas Fingar, then chairman of the National Intelligence Council, testified to Congress on the classified document.
For military advocates, mitigating the impacts of global warming means taking down two security threats with one stone.
Attacking global warming requires embracing energy efficiency improvements and reduced fossil fuel consumption. Those measures protect against increased foreign oil dependency, they contend.
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Comments
Where did Inhofe question their patriotism?
Submitted by Joe smith (not verified) on December 2, 2009 - 2:10pm.
Your article lacks all credibility when you state things like that when no such thing happened.
Try reading before reacting
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 2, 2009 - 2:42pm.
If you actually read the article you'll see the phrase that the senator used. The link to the original interview is right there. If you keep reading, you'll also come across quotes from military veterans who felt the senator was insulting their integrity. This isn't about the writer of the article. The writer is relaying what was said.
Lets hear what is so “ludicrous”.
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on December 2, 2009 - 3:39pm.
I guess the senator would be talking about someone like me. I gave the following power-point presentation at the Veterans for Peace National Convention in Seattle, Washington, in August 2006: A WORLD OF HURT OR HOPE – The National Security Implications of Global Warming/ Abrupt Climate Change. After reviewing this presentation the senator should address what he disagrees. Lets hear what is so “ludicrous”.
The war against warming
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on December 6, 2009 - 3:38pm.
The war against warming
Nature Reports Climate Change
Published online: 19 November 2009 | doi:10.1038/climate.2009.120
Shortly before Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti came to Washington DC on 29 October to discuss the links between climate change and geopolitical instability, the stage was being set on both sides of the Atlantic.
http://www.nature.com/climate/2009/0912/full/climate.2009.120.html
Shifting Climate, Moving People: Immigration and Climate Justice
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on December 15, 2009 - 8:38pm.
Shifting Climate, Moving People: Immigration and Climate Justice
by Michelle Chen
December 15, 2009 by RaceWire
The impasse in Copenhagen underscores just how interconnected, and perhaps collectively doomed, we all are in the face of global climate change.
Pentagon, CIA Eye New Threat: Climate Change
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on December 16, 2009 - 4:47pm.
Pentagon, CIA Eye New Threat: Climate Change
by TOM GJELTEN
December 14, 2009
Global warming is now officially considered a threat to U.S. national security.
For the first time, Pentagon planners in 2010 will include climate change among the security threats identified in the Quadrennial Defense Review, the Congress-mandated report that updates Pentagon priorities every four years.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121352495&ft=1&f=1004
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Open Forum: Climate change is a threat to global security
By Julian Evans, the British consul general in San Francisco
Today there is an increasing awareness in the U.K. and U.S. militaries of a new and growing threat to global security; a threat that doesn't come from a region or a group but rather from a more abstract concept -- climate change.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/opinionshop/detail?entry_id=53527#ix...
U.S. war veterans call for climate deal
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on December 17, 2009 - 8:54pm.
U.S. war veterans call for climate deal
Published: Dec. 17, 2009 at 4:30 PM
By STEFAN NICOLA, UPI Europe Correspondent
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. military veterans in Copenhagen have called for a comprehensive climate-protection agreement to avert severe threats to global security arising from global warming.
"Global security is critical to American security," said Jonathan Powers, a former Army captain who served in Iraq from May 2003 to July 2004. "We are here to support an international agreement on climate change for global security reasons. … We want to secure America with clean energy."
Powers is part of Operation FREE, a coalition of U.S. war veterans who believe it is paramount that America becomes energy independent and acts against climate change.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2009/12/17/US-war-veterans-call-for-...
Inhofe in Copenhagen: Hear No Evil, See No Evil, But Speak Lots.
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on December 18, 2009 - 8:49pm.
Inhofe in Copenhagen: Hear No Evil, See No Evil, But Speak Lots of It
Heather Taylor-Miesle
Director of the NRDC Action Fund
Posted: December 18, 2009 02:28 PM
Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma flew to Denmark to attend the climate talks for three hours. Why did this notorious climate-denier even bother to make the trip? So he could proclaim to the international community that the U.S. Congress would never pass climate legislation. Oh, and that global warming does not exist.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/heather-taylormiesle/inhofe-in-copenhagen-...
Admiral urges unity during climate speech
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on December 18, 2009 - 9:43pm.
Admiral urges unity during climate speech
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, December 19, 2009
The U.S. Navy’s top oceanographer spoke before an international global warming summit in Copenhagen on Wednesday and called climate change a “common enemy” that should bring nations together, according to a Navy news release.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66768
A growing national security threat from climate change...
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on December 24, 2009 - 3:58pm.
Alaska coast erosion threat to oil, wildlife
Yereth Rosen
Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:22pm EST
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A portion of Alaska's North Slope coastline is eroding at a rate of up to 45 feet a year, posing a threat to oil operations and wildlife in the area, according to a new report issued by scientists at the University of Colorado.
Warmer ocean water has thawed the base of frozen bluffs and destroyed natural ice barriers protecting the coast, causing large earth chunks to fall each summer, the scientists said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BL07B20091222?feedType=RSS&feedNa...
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LOOKING BACK: Permafrost thaw threatens Russia oil and gas complex
Nov 20, 2009
MOSCOW (AFP) - Thawing permafrost caused by global warming is costing Russian energy firms billions of dollars annually in damage control and shrinking Russia's territory, Greenpeace warned in a new study Friday.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iesjZnrOaRl4RApFHjQoh...
EDUCATIONAL VIEWING...
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on December 24, 2009 - 8:34pm.
EDUCATIONAL VIEWING: Siberia feels the heet of global warming
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EDUCATIONAL VIEWING: Arctic erosion: No end in sight
National Security Threat: GREENLAND, Fjords & Ice Dams
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on December 26, 2009 - 4:20pm.
National Security Threat: GREENLAND, Fjords & Ice Dams
“…The fjords of Greenland, because they are occasionally dammed up, offer additional and even more dramatic examples of the possibilities for freshwater floods.”
C.I.A. Is Sharing Data With Climate Scientists
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on January 4, 2010 - 9:43pm.
C.I.A. Is Sharing Data With Climate Scientists
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
New York Times
Published: January 4, 2010
The nation’s top scientists and spies are collaborating on an effort to use the federal government’s intelligence assets — including spy satellites and other classified sensors — to assess the hidden complexities of environmental change. They seek insights from natural phenomena like clouds and glaciers, deserts and tropical forests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/science/earth/05satellite.html
...NATO and Military Strategists Target Global Warring
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on January 5, 2010 - 10:03pm.
A Climate Stressed World; NATO and Military Strategists Target Global Warring
Jerry Cope
Posted: January 5, 2010 05:41 PM
The science of climate change is unequivocal, and the world's military leaders and strategists are preparing for the certain conflicts that will arise as the environment changes due to human activity. The speed of climate change and the rate at which feedback mechanisms approach or exceed tipping points are of growing international military concern, especially in countries facing critical resource depletion now or in the near future.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jerry-cope/a-climate-stressed-world_b_4090...
Global Warming Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on January 6, 2010 - 8:20pm.
Global Warming Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
By James R. Lee
Washington Post
Sunday, January 4, 2009
The Cold War shaped world politics for half a century. But global warming may shape the patterns of global conflict for much longer than that -- and help spark clashes that will be, in every sense of the word, hot wars.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/02/AR200901...
Is Pentagon’s Haiti Mission a Model for a New Security Role?
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on January 14, 2010 - 9:44pm.
Is Pentagon’s Haiti Mission a Model for a New Security Role?
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
New York Times
January 14, 2010, 3:33 PM
In tonnage, the United States Navy says its battle fleet is larger than those of the world’s next 13 biggest navies combined. One of the largest vessels, the Carl Vinson, is seen below in Navy footage in its first deployment in nearly five years — to the earthquake zone in Haiti instead of a war zone.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/pentagons-haiti-mission-a-m...
Climate Terror: Global Warming, Failed States, and the Rise of T
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on January 19, 2010 - 9:37pm.
Climate Terror: Global Warming, Failed States, and the Rise of Terrorism
Colin J. Fleming
Posted: January 18, 2010 10:55 PM
It's hard for even the most optimistic to be hopeful. Copenhagen, understood by many as the world's last chance to stop global warming was, in the words of Sweden's Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, a "great failure." What the world needed was a legally binding commitment to bring the level of carbon dioxide down to 350 parts per million - a number NASA climatologist James Hansen determined to be the minimum to support human civilization. What the world got was a toothless, non-binding agreement which recognizes the seriousness of climate change, but does nothing to address it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/colin-j-fleming/climate-terror-global-war_...
Military considers global warming threat
Submitted by John Seebeth (not verified) on January 20, 2010 - 3:50pm.
Military considers global warming threat
By Ty Tagami
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 19, 2010
The hand-wringing over global warming is often done by scientists and preservationists, but on Tuesday several high-ranking current and former military men visited Atlanta and talked about the possible consequences for U.S. security.
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/military-considers-global-warming-2...
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