I came across an old news story at the Guardian this morning about a suppressed 2004 Pentagon report that predicts in the next 20 years, or 18 years since this report is two years old, climate change will provoke widespread rioting and the use of nuclear threats to defend dwindling food and energy supplies. Other highlights:

• The UK going “Siberian,” meaning covered in ice
• Several European cities lost to rising seas
• Climate change is a much bigger threat to global stability than terrorism

Part of the article voices the frustration of scientists who felt their warnings had been ignored by the Bush administration.

Bob Watson, chief scientist for the World Bank, is quoted in the article saying, “Can Bush ignore the Pentagon? It’s going be hard to blow off this sort of document. Its hugely embarrassing. After all, Bush’s single highest priority is national defence. The Pentagon is no wacko, liberal group, generally speaking it is conservative. If climate change is a threat to national security and the economy, then he has to act. There are two groups the Bush Administration tend to listen to, the oil lobby and the Pentagon.”

Well, considering this administration’s lack of action on climate change, we know for sure which of those two sources he favors.