Any American who has been paying attention over the past 20 years realizes that the real key to America’s national security is energy independence.

In short, we’re funding both sides in a global Islamic insurgency characterized by violent terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda.  This is happening because we are dependent on foreign sources of energy. Most of OPEC—even our so-called “allies”—is hostile toward us in some way, shape or form.

The nations that produce and export much of the world’s oil are populated by wealthy sheikhs and mullahs who support Jihad in various ways, including by funding charities that in turn fund jihadist organizations. One way or another, virtually all of the money comes from oil and gas revenues.

That’s why it is so vital that America work to end our dependence on foreign oil and gas by developing domestic sources of energy. We need to stop funding our enemies.

Unfortunately, not everyone sees it that way.

One of them is the fanatical leftist actor Matt Damon.

Damon has put his name on a movie that is due out in December called Promised Land.

Promised Land is nothing more than a propaganda film dedicated to attacking key components of efforts by the US domestic energy industry to develop sources of natural gas over here. Reportedly it is littered with unsubstantiated claims about environmental damage and such.

But here’s the interesting part, which you may have already seen.

Who do you suppose is funding this film aimed at discouraging some especially successful domestic energy programs in the USA?

OPEC member the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the wealthy monarchy in the Persian Gulf. That’s right, the company behind the film is a UAE-government owned media firm.

The Heritage Foundation published a report on the UAE regime’s underwriting of this anti-American movie late in September.

It turns out that Image Media Abu Dhabi, the state-owned firm which financed Promised Land, is chaired by “His Excellency” Mohamed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, who also reports to a member of the  Supreme Petroleum Council of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The partnership between Image Media and hard-left film outfit Participant Media which has produced Promised Land also produced the Damon money-loser Contagion and the smash hit The Help – both of which contained messages deeply critical of American society – among other less-well-known films.

While the Heritage Foundation’s report is certainly very well done, it doesn’t tell the whole story about just how hostile Matt Damon’s UAE bagmen are to America.

Many folks may not remember it now, but the UAE royals were so close to Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden that the US had to call off a cruise missile strike on a Bin Laden compound in February 1999 due to the presence of members of the UAE royal family.

That’s right. Matt Damon’s pals pal around with Al Qaeda.

This isn’t some urban legend.

It comes straight from the man that President  Clinton appointed to be director of the CIA: George Tenet.

Tenet made this revelation in sworn testimony before the 9-11 Commission. It can be found in the 9-11 Commission Report, where Tenet details an occasion in which the Clinton administration had solid intelligence of Osama Bin Laden’s whereabouts…

FIELDING: Well, yesterday we talked about the three events in ’98 and ’99 where there were occasions that it looked like there might be an opportunity which then, in each instance, was deemed not to be operational. And the one that I find the most intriguing and the one that’s been labeled as perhaps the lost opportunity more than any was the February ’99 hunting camp — I guess it’s been described — the desert camp.

And yesterday in the staff statement that was read, we’re told about that and we were told that the intelligence seemed pretty strong and that the preparations were made and then the strike was called off. And the lead CIA agent in the field felt that it was very reliable intelligence.

I guess, was there anything unique about the intelligence or the circumstances that necessitated that decision?

FIELDING: And who made that decision?

TENET: I don’t have a recollection of the uniqueness of the intelligence in question at the time. I can go back and provide that for you. In fact, I’d like to go back and try and package up all the data at my disposal when we were thinking about these issues.

I believe this was a collective decision. I also believe this target went away because the camp was ultimately dismantled. So in reading through your staff inquiry — your staff notes on this, I can’t recall who made the call, but I know we were all in the same place about it, Mr. Fielding.

FIELDING: I would appreciate that on behalf of the commission, if you could do that because it seemed that this — when the intelligence was so good and that by the time the camp was dismantled, days and days had passed. So I would appreciate that.

TENET: It’s also a question, I believe, as to whether bin Laden was inside or outside the camp…

FIELDING: Of course.

TENET: … the complicating issue in this whole thing and whether he was there or not. So there’s a second complicating factor here.

The third complicating factor here is you might have wiped out half the royal family in the UAE in the process, which I’m sure entered into everybody’s calculation in all this.

The camp in question was a falconing camp. Falconing is big in the UAE. And the same people who are big in the falconing scene there seem to be involved in Image Media Abu Dhabi.

Does Matt Damon even recognize this? Does he care?