That's the crazy thing. Nowadays, it's not even very much (on the order of $30 billion in oil per year, much of which is refined and re-exported as gasoline, et

That's the crazy thing. Nowadays, it's not even very much (on the order of $30 billion in oil per year, much of which is refined and re-exported as gasoline, etc), but we have massive military investments in military bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Djibouti, etc. There's no way this passes the cost vs benefit sniff test. Unlike the mid-aughts, the US is very nearly a net exporter of oil and oil products: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=mttntus2&f=m https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=m...