Quote:
Originally Posted by sck5
nobody ever said the world was a bed of roses. But when we need so much oil its them that has US by the balls and not the other way around. Why on earth wouldnt you want to end THAT?
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You're not going to end that. The world runs on oil, the same as plants run on photosynthesis. It's not a value judgment, it just is. The fact of the matter is that the Persian Gulf is a strategic US interest due to nothing more than those economic facts and that the US is the only nation capable of keeping those sea lanes open. So a good measure of the world economy is just as dependent on the US Navy and the rest of our military in the Middle East as is Europe on the US Army and the rest of our military in preventing Soviet incursions into Europe.
We do not live in a vacuum. If the free flow of oil does not take place, the lights start to go out not only in northern Europe but northern Vermont as well. What other nation is able to project power of such a magnitude, half a world away, on short notice? The Brits are incapable of even repeating the events of the Falkland War today, and they are one of our better armed allies. For better or worse, we're going to need essentially the same size military we have for the foreseeable future. In fact, we need a substantially larger military than we now have, given our obligations. Not uncoincidentally, our military is the one service of the federal government that serves us all equally.