The Price at the Pump Is the Price of Terror

Every time Americans fill their cars, buy groceries or book an airline ticket, they are paying an invisible terrorism tax.

The number on the gas pump may say $75 or $100, but the real bill is much larger. Higher fuel prices increase the cost of farming, manufacturing, shipping and nearly everything families purchase. They fuel inflation, keep interest rates elevated and leave households and businesses with less money to spend or invest.

Yet we are concentrating on the price of gasoline while overlooking the greater danger behind it. The energy crisis is not merely about oil, tankers or supply and demand. It reflects decades of instability fueled by Iran’s revolutionary Islamist regime and terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Gas prices are the symptom. Radical Islamism is the threat.

The conflict with Iran did not begin yesterday. It can be traced to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, when the new regime began exporting its ideology and supporting terrorism throughout the Middle East and beyond.

Gasoline in the United States recently averaged approximately $4.22 a gallon, while diesel approached or exceeded $6 in many markets. Because diesel powers trucks, farm equipment, construction machinery and ships, its price is reflected in the cost of nearly everything we buy.

The Strait of Hormuz demonstrates how a narrow strip of water can threaten the global economy. Approximately one-fifth of the world’s petroleum consumption normally passes through it. An attack on a tanker, a mine in a shipping lane or a threat to close the strait can shake markets thousands of miles away.

Insurance rates rise. Ships are rerouted. Deliveries are delayed. Inflation increases. Economic growth slows.

It is a tax imposed on the world – not by legislation, but by terror, intimidation and instability.

This is not a conflict with Islam or the world’s nearly two billion Muslims. Millions of Muslims reject terrorism and have themselves been among its victims.

The threat is radical Islamism: a political ideology that uses religious language to justify terrorism, dictatorship and conquest.

Iran’s revolutionary regime is Shiite Islamist. It has spent decades financing, training and arming Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other terrorist organizations. Hamas is Sunni Islamist, while Hezbollah and the Houthis are rooted in branches of Shiite Islam. Al-Qaida and ISIS are Sunni Islamist.

These organizations differ and sometimes fight one another, but they share a willingness to use terrorism and religiously justified violence to impose their political objectives.

Consider how much damage Iran has caused without nuclear weapons. Now imagine a nuclear-armed Iran protecting terrorist proxies under a nuclear umbrella, threatening its neighbors or triggering a regional arms race. Even the possibility of nuclear escalation could destabilize markets and send energy and transportation costs soaring.

The media often describes “militants,” “proxies,” “regional tensions” and “geopolitical instability” while avoiding the words “radical Islamism.” In an understandable effort not to stigmatize peaceful Muslims, some journalists and public officials have become reluctant to identify the extremist ideology itself.

But naming radical Islamism is not an attack on Muslims, any more than naming white supremacy is an attack on white people. When fear of offending prevents an honest discussion, the public focuses on the symptoms while overlooking the cause.

Before Sept. 11, 2001, families could accompany airline passengers to the gate. Travelers did not routinely remove their shoes, restrict liquids, submit to body scanners or arrive hours before departure.

Then 19 al-Qaida terrorists turned four American airplanes into weapons and murdered nearly 3,000 people.

The human loss was incalculable, but the financial consequences did not end when the smoke cleared. America created the Transportation Security Administration, strengthened borders, expanded intelligence operations and invested enormous sums in counterterrorism.

Since its creation, TSA has cost approximately $190 billion. But that is only part of the bill. The total cost also includes travelers’ time, airport expenses, private security, insurance, cybersecurity and countless protective measures now accepted as part of daily life.

The larger price is measured in trillions. Brown University’s Costs of War Project estimates that the United States spent or obligated more than $8 trillion on post-9/11 wars and related programs through 2021. Much of it was financed through borrowing, so future generations will continue paying the interest.

What could $8 trillion have done for Americans? If even one-eighth — $1 trillion ­— were devoted to each of several major domestic priorities, the scale is staggering. One trillion dollars alone is roughly $7,700 for every American household. Similar sums could build millions of affordable homes, thousands of schools and hospitals, reduce student debt, strengthen Social Security, modernize infrastructure or reduce the national debt.

Instead, terrorism forced America to spend extraordinary resources on wars, weapons, intelligence, airport security and defense. The attacks of Sept. 11 lasted hours.  The expenses have lasted generations.

A relatively inexpensive drone can disrupt infrastructure worth billions. A terrorist organization can divert ships supplying entire continents. This is asymmetric warfare, and the public pays the difference.

Imagine if Iran invested in its people instead of financing Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Imagine if children were taught that dignity comes from what they create, not whom they destroy.

The price displayed at the gas pump is more than an economic number. It is the visible price of a much larger danger.

After Sept. 11, the world learned that ignoring an extremist ideology does not make it disappear. It allows the danger and the price to grow. 

Jerry Rothstein is co-founder and chief operating officer of Stand With Us.