Well you know, priorities...
This isn't about you friend.
People mention oil all the time, and always attach a cynical statement about it...a few things.
The U.S. Imports around 10% of it's oil in total from the Middle East, I don't even know if we get any oil from Syria. We got no free oil from Iraq after the invasion, anything we got, we paid market value for.
Oil, and it's availability is a valid interest of the US, and to all nations. With out oil, nothing happens, busses don't run, trains don't run, homes, hospitals, and street lights go dark, food does not get harvested, livestock dies, planes are grounded, the military stops working, no EMS, Police, or, fire protection, and the list goes on.
No nation can run without oil, and if you want your quality of life to tank, cut off the supply.
The U.S. had to ration gas for a short time in the early 1970's, people could only buy gas three days a week. People were assaulted while waiting in line, if you went to line up at midnight (in some locations) there were already 100 cars in line in front of you. I also seem to remember a few shootings while waiting in line.
The world would collapse without oil. None of the other alternatives are really viable, with the exception of Nuclear Reactors, and no one wants that, coal...the same, natural gas...the same.
What else is ready that could be put into place on a scale large enough to power the world?...nothing.
We new oil was essential to our survival, which is why we look like the oil police, but what do we do? So many people hate our involvement in the Middle East, but, would they tolerate blackouts, electricity for only 4 hours a day, walking across town to work, then walking home? Busses, trains, trams, and taxi's all require fuel.
This reminds me of a guy I worked with several years ago, this is not a direct correlation, but it's the same mind set.
I was a hunter, successful at it by most people's standards. Once he found out, he was livid. Always had a derogatory statement to make, always critical, always wanting to argue.
One day on his way to work he hit a deer, it really tore up his new car, funny really, after that he never had a bad word to say about hunting again. And the same would apply to people who had to walk miles to work everyday, after a few days people would stop criticizing our efforts to stabilize the middle east, and would stop careing about the human cost in lives...as long as the juice kept flowing.
The deer that he hit laid on the side of the road in agony all broken up. I followed the now happy supporter of hunting to the accident site and dispatched the animal with my CCW (he had no problem with concealed carry any longer either)
A lot of people try to stand tall and talk, and criticize, but few are up for the consequences of the issues they support.
Fish and Game took the deer for disposal.
