Al Jazeera’s Avi Lewis told Gingrich, “In the past, you’ve called for the bombing of Iran’s oil refineries.” Gingrich clarified, “I called for sabotage, not bombing. … Fundamental difference.” Gingrich explained that the U.S. should use “covert operations” against Iran’s refineries because they “have only one refinery that produces gasoline in the entire country.” (According to the Energy Information Administration, Iran has nine refineries operated by the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company.)
It jogged something in my memory, and then I realized where he must have received this little bit of policy wisdom. Tom Clancy's farcical "novel" Red Storm Rising! A war between the Soviet Union and NATO breaks out because a group of Muslim terrorists in the southern oil producing regions destroys the one big refinery. See, the Reds were going to invade Iran and the Persian Gulf, but first had to neutralize NATO. Kind of like the Germans had to neutralize France before turning their attention to the Russians back in 1914 (I kid you not, that was the plot and strategic thinking of Clancy's book; the Russians decide to go to war with NATO so they can go to war with Iran and Iraq, because a refinery is destroyed by terrorists).
So, Newt wants the US to become like a group of Muslim terrorists in an ill-informed, badly written old book; messes up on some kind-of-important facts (there's a big difference between 1 and 9 refineries, Newt. . .) and somehow sees the destruction of Iranian refining capacity - upon whom would the Iranians place blame for such acts, certainly not Muslim terrorists - as leading to the end of the current Iranian regime.
I ask again, as I am quite sure I will be doing for years to come, why does anyone care what this guy has to say? His facts are wrong, the things he says exist on the border of crazy and stupid, and he has zero authority and power.
