Fuel for thought, Or, a thought about fuel

Please feel free to see if these stats actually bear out:

I was listening to NPR this morning to a story about gas prices and the gist of the story turned toward the fuel consumption to help our efforts in Iraq. Apparently, the military uses one and a half million gallons a day in Iraq. And the Air Force leads all branches of the military in consumption as they use 75%.

Now given the fact that I loathed my Econ 101 class back at school, I do understand the basic principle that when supplies are low, prices go high. Given that we are occupying an oil-rich area, shouldn't the Iraqi government foot the gas bill so to speak? And if they did, would not that free up supplies for consumer usage? Thus making gas prices 3.90 a gallon instead of four bucks?

I realize that there are other mitigating factors in today's high fuel prices. I have heard stories, for example, that other countries like China are consuming more. And other stories that say that oil industry refuses to open up the oil reserves. Whatever the cause, this million and a half gallon per day consumption by the military bothers me.