20 percent of U.S. petroleum imports. (http://www.jsource..com/US-Israel/usoil.html) The Oil WeaponEgypt's President Sadat persuaded the late Saudi King Faisal to threaten to withhold oil from the West to exploit for political advantage the growing dependence of the industrialized West on Arab oil. The tactic was effective: Soon the major American oil companies backed the Arab cause in public, and privately worked to weaken U.S. support for Israel. According to a 1974 report of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Multinational Corporations, the ARAMCO consortium-Exxon, Mobil, Texaco and SOCAL-attempted to block America's emergency airlift to Israel. During the war, the companies cooperated closely with Saudi Arabia to deny oil and fuel to the U.S. Navy. On other occasions, the major oil firms have advocated the positions of the Arab countries, particularly Saudi Arabia. The major oil companies vigorously lobbied Congress on behalf of the sale of F-15s in 1978 and AWACS aircraft in 1981. Together with Saudi foreign agents, these corporations enlisted many other American firms to lobby on the Saudis' behalf. Saudi Arabia has a powerful lobby in the United States because hundreds of America's largest corporations do billions of dollars worth of business with the Kingdom. And each of these corporations, Hoag Levins noted, had hundreds of subcontractors and vendors equally dependent on maintaining the good graces of Muslim leaders whose countries now collectively represent the single richest market in the world.(http://www.jsource..com/US-Israel/usoil.html)The Saudis often attack what they claim is the excessive influence of Israel's supporters in the United States, but investigative journalist Steve Emerson turned that claim upside down. After detailing many of the ties between Saudi Arabia and U.S. businesses, universities, lobbyists and former high-ranking government officials, he concluded: The breadth and scope of the petrod...
