> the U.S. did more to destabilize the Middle East than we could possibly have imagined at the time That was the entire point of our entry into that region. A

> the U.S. did more to destabilize the Middle East than we could possibly have imagined at the time That was the entire point of our entry into that region. America has now secured the next 50-80 years of its energy needs (in the form of oil). How? Well, when you come in and destroy a country, or destabilize it, you pretty much secure the rights to make any and all deals within it for it's resources. Before you had a hard-liner to deal with (saddam, gaddafi, etc) and now you have either a government that's always at a tipping point, or factions... Both of which will agree to sell you X amount of oil, and sell everyone else Y amount of oil, and always for US dollars only. If you don't get why that last part about US dollars is important, I'm not going to help you understand why having the world currency based on the US dollar is important (clue - energy is what the world runs on and is always buying).