As our troops prepare for a probable war in Iraq, Americans can agree on one thing. We must continue to do everything possible to shore up our nation’s security, and reduce America’s vulnerability to attack.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much agreement in Washington about how best to do this. Before Congress went home for the holidays last month, they managed to expand the federal bureaucracy by creating a new Department of Homeland Security. But they failed to do anything to address one of the important issue that will keep our soldiers in harm’s way- our dependence on foreign oil.

This is unfortunate. Both the House and Senate had both approved energy legislation intended to do so, and yet our congressmen and senators just couldn’t come to an agreement on the final details.

As our troops prepare to head into battle, now seems like a good time to iron out the details.

Ever since the 1970s and the Arab oil embargo, U.S. foreign oil dependence has grown tremendously. Today we import more than half our oil. But what is most frightening is that until a few months ago, the fastest-growing source of imported oil was none other than Iraq itself. We were getting about 600,000 barrels of Iraqi oil a day, which means we were sending Saddam about $12 million in oil money every day, or more than $4 billion a year.

This makes no sense. If we are going to win the war on terrorism, we cannot be so dependent on our enemies for something as important as energy. Saddam Hussein shouldn’t have control over what we pay at the pump, or whether we can afford to heat our homes in winter. As President Bush has stated, we will not have homeland security until we have energy independence.

These days the best kind of energy is homegrown. That’s why Congress should get back to work and pass energy legislation that reduces our foreign dependence. One of the key pieces in the energy bill considered this year was a boost in the use of ethanol.

Ethanol, which is made from corn, is as homegrown as they come.

It’s added to gasoline, which extends our fuel supplies and reduces our dependence on foreign oil. By increasing the amount of ethanol in our energy supply, the Energy Bill means more investment here at home in America, and less of our hard earned money being sent to fill Saddam’s war chest in Baghdad.

Of course ethanol is a start; it isn’t a silver bullet. Oil will continue to be vital to America’s security and prosperity for the foreseeable future, until we have our own reliable sources of energy, like ethanol. While our troops are ready, willing and able to do what it takes to protect our security and our prosperity, we shouldn’t put them in harm’s way just so that we can buy oil from hostile countries like Iraq.

Zane Grant is past state commander of the Maine Department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.