Originally Posted by Mutt

It's always been about oil like everybody else is posting. BUT making the Americans out to be the bad guys read your history, it's colonialism and it was a show run by the British Empire which sowed all the seeds for what the Americans now deal with. Don't forget the Dutch, Shell Oil - when the Brits were no longer capable of handling things in the Middle East, America inherited all the problems and that includes the headache that is Israel. Maybe people would be happy to have Russia and China in control of the Middle East - that should work out real well.

The Middle East would be the same bloodbath it's been for thousands of years whether the US was involved or not. Take out Israel and it would be the same. Take away all the oil and it would still be the same bloodbath, the rest of the world just wouldn't care.