Dear Wealth Daily Reader,

Next month my first book, “Profit from the Peak,” will be released to bookstores nationwide.

I’ve been told by my publisher at Wiley that major bookstores across America are buying big blocks of the book, a sign that either there are a lot of insomniacs out there looking for a remedy... or that interest in Peak Oil and its investments is surging.

12,000 copies of "Profit from the Peak" have been pre-ordered. They tell me that they typically see around 2,500 pre-orders for investment books.

There’s no doubt that books about oil and energy are popular these days.

But there is one book in particular that is a must-read (besides mine).

Earlier this week, The American Conservative published a story that had me choking on my morning coffee.

The article revealed the gargantuan amount of energy being used by our armed forces to continue our failed adventure in Iraq.

Robert Bryce, who wrote the story, tells us that after invading one of the most oil-rich countries on earth, the mighty U.S. military is running on empty.

Seriously, I couldn’t make this up if I tried.

Check this out...

How 1 Gallon of Fuel=42 U.S. Tax Dollars

The U.S. is using more than 5,000 tanker trucks to haul JP-8 gas – a blended jet fuel that’s used to run both vehicles and aircraft – into Iraq.

Last year alone, says Bryce, the American forces in Iraq burned through more than 1.1 billion gallons of fuel.

"In November 2006," says Bryce, "a study produced by the U.S. Military Academy estimated that delivering one gallon of fuel to U.S. soldiers in Iraq cost American taxpayers $42 – and that doesn’t include the costs of the fuel itself."

Bottom line: In the war that Paul Wolfowitz and his neocon brethren famously and arrogantly predicted would “pay for itself,” the U.S. is spending $923 million per week on fuel-related logistics.

Read that again--Americans are spending nearly $1 billion PER WEEK to keep our military machine well-fueled in Iraq.

Do that math. That’s $52 billion per year. And if John McCain is willing to stay in Iraq for 100 years (as he said he would), the oil bill to Americans will be, ahem, $5.2 trillion.

Why is this so important, wonders Bryce?

Simple.

"While the U.S. military chases its own fuel tail in Iraq, a country that sits atop 115 billion barrels of oil--about 9.5 percent of the world’s total--the global energy industry is racing forward with new alliances and deals, many of which would have been unthinkable before the invasion."

According to Bryce’s analysis, the global balance of power is shifting dramatically (as it does from time to time) in ways that indicate the declining effectiveness of militarism in controlling global energy trends.

In the Age of Peak Oil, These Are Interesting Developments Indeed

Robert Bryce just released his new book, "Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence."

I reiterate that the end of cheap oil represents the greatest investment opportunity of this century.

Best regards,

Brian Hicks