Yes, I know I'm harping on this, but most people in the corporate media are downplaying the main reason why gas prices are so high while stirring up anger over high gas prices. The independent media, including you and me, need to counter this propaganda.

Many people in the peace movement have neglected to connect the dots between the Iraq War, its resulting reduction in Iraqi oil production, its destabilization of the Middle East, and rising prices at the pump. That critique doesn't apply to all peace groups, though. The West Virginia Citizens Action Group is calling for a "separation of oil and state."

"I think really people are smarter than the politicians let on. I think people really know that the unrest in the mideast is really causing a large part of the gas problem in this country," Gary Zuckett of Citizen Action Group said.

Leaders of Citizen Action Group point to a recent study that tracks how gas prices have risen dramatically since the start of the war.

Be sure to watch the video included with the WSAZ news story where the grassroots activist makes some excellent points.

The problems caused by the war on Iraq are hardly limited to present and potential petroleum supply disruptions. Sen. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) brought up another way that the Iraq War is increasing gas prices: devaluing the dollar. (The Hill's Blog Briefing Room 7/1/08)

"We cannot economically afford to keep borrowing two to three billion dollars a week from China," McCaskill said on MSNBC. "That's why gas prices are so high. People are speculating in commodities because nobody wants to go near our dollar. We cannot–it is unsustainable to continue to prop up, in the middle of a civil war, an Iraqi government that will not step up and do what they need to do."