Originally Posted by
rickair7777
You're correct. We (not just us, but the world in general) need energy independence but until we get there it is our problem.
So government overthrows, wars, and tribal conflicts are all ok so we can enjoy sub-$3 gallon gas? Many countries around the world are 1st world with no presence in the ME - and more importantly, no wasted military lives in stupid un-winnable battles - and they put up with gas at $6-8 /gallon.
Israel is an important regional ally mid-term (see above). After that? Who knows.
We shouldn't be supporting any side that invokes religion as a God-given right for a piece of land. That's just stupid. The earth is 4+ billion years old, and that land existed far before any sky fairy stories.
I don't "support" them, but having them as allies gives us some leverage over their behavior and helps promotes global stability. As far as anyone knows, there's no better readily-available solution.
15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were SAs. The remaining 4 were Egyptians and Lebanese. Some ally SA was. What did they do post 9/11? Other than provide their bases. SA is a heavily pro-Sunni nation, and the biggest, that keeps Iran (pro-Shia) in check. It's all political BS.
The global order always has more tolerance for misbehavior within your own borders. Iraq invaded Kuwait, lost the war, and then failed to comply with the terms of surrender (inspections). AFG gave haven to AQ in 2011. So there does seem to be a trend.
Also, oil is a global commodity, any fluctuations affect everybody for the most part (that could change if we isolated ourselves from the global market...we seem to have enough domestic production now).
It's the war economic machine. The US has historically for at least the past 50 years been in a conflict/war of some type every 10 years. There's too much money in too many places that demands it.