SUV'S SUPPORT TERROR?

For a while, we have seen a federally funded ad campaign linking drugs to
terrorism.

"I helped blow up a building," the strung-out children proclaim.

"I killed a cop," exclaims a young, middle-class student.

The initial concept came from the observation that Afghanistan was the
world's largest producer of heroin.

However, the ads aren't about heroin -- they are about SUV's.

They ignore the fact that the Taliban had successfully, before the "regime
change," eliminated poppy plantations in the country. Most American heroin
comes from Mexico.

In Oregon, our marijuana comes from California, Washington, British
Columbia or our own farms. Canadian terrorists?

However our cocaine does come from large international gangs.

Now however, columnist Arianna Huffington has started a campaign, called
the Detroit Project to link terrorism to an apparently more realistic
Source: our low-mileage SUVs.

"Why not turn the tables and adopt the same tactics the administration was
using in the drug war to point out the much more credible link between
driving SUVs and our national security?"Huffington asks.

She enlisted the help of Scott Burns, who co-created the "Got Milk?"
campaign, to make some commercials that mirror the federal government's
drug spots. They are a good parody.

The assertion is that our oil consumption supports countries who support
terrorists.

This statement is true in the same roundabout way that drugs support
terror. Bin Laden's family would probably not be so wealthy without Saudi
Arabia's oil wealth, and some Arab states financially support terrorists.

Our oil, however, comes from many places. Much is produced domestically,
mainly in Texas and Alaska. Some comes from Mexico and Venezuela, the North
Sea of the Atlantic near England and the Gulf of Mexico.

One overriding theme of the post-Sept. 11 era is the desire to simplify our
outlook on life. We want to be able to point at things like drugs, oil,
Arabs or George Bush and label them "good" or "evil."

Unfortunately, the world, especially the realm of global politics and
conflict, is complicated.

The overriding theme of all this is simple -- don't believe everything you
see on TV.