Agence France Presse (1-9-03)
Filling up gas guzzlers promotes terror: new US ad campaign

Filling up your gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle (SUV) does more than simply damage the environment -- it also encourages terrorism, a provocative new US ad campaign claimed Wednesday.

A group lobbying against the soaring numbers of overly powerful passenger vehicles on US roads launched the campaign in a bid to make consumers aware of the link between petrol consumption and US foreign policy.

"We're asking American consumers to connect the dots and think about the effect that their gas-guzzling SUVs are having on our foreign policy," said Arianna Huffington, a columnist who founded the Detroit Project group. "We want to point out how our driving habits are fueling oil money to Saudi Arabia -- which funnels some of that wealth to support charities and religious zealots with ties to terrorist activity," co-founder Lawrence Bender said.

Stressing that the campaign was not aimed at "demonizing people who drive SUVs," he alleged that some of the funds provided by US motorists also went to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's investment in weapons of mass destruction.

The campaign launched in Los Angeles and New York features two provocative 30-second television commercials making a link between rampant petrol consumption in the United States and terrorist activity.

One of the ads, which begin airing Sunday in four major US cities, ends with the slogan: "Oil money supports some terrible things. What kind of mileage does your SUV get."

The Detroit Project said there were 20 million SUV's on US roads that guzzled petrol to the extent they only manage nine to 15 miles per gallon (3.8 to 6.3 kilometers per litre).

"This adds up to millions of barrels of imported oil each day," said another group official, Hollywood talent agent Ari Emanuel who represents stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz.

They urged motorists to downsize to more fuel-efficient vehicles, pressuring major auto-makers to produce more economical cars and urging President George W. Bush to pass a proposed bill on fuel efficiency later this year.