McCain: Energy, warming are twin threats

WASHINGTON – Republican presidential hopeful John McCain is calling the United States’ foreign-oil reliance and global warming twin threats the country must aggressively confront.

“National security depends on energy security,” the Arizona senator says in a speech he is to give Monday in which he suggests the country can’t achieve either if it remains dependent on oil-rich Middle Eastern nations linked to terrorists.


“Al-Qaida must revel in the irony that America is effectively helping to fund both sides of the war they caused. As we sacrifice blood and treasure, some of our gas dollars flow to the fanatics who build the bombs, hatch the plots, and carry out attacks on our soldiers and citizens,” McCain says. “The transfer of American wealth to the Middle East helps sustain the conditions on which terrorists prey.”

He also terms global warming “a serious and urgent economic, environmental and national security challenge” and adds that “the problem isn’t a Hollywood invention,” according to excerpts of planned remarks his campaign made available Sunday.

AP