Same for me up until he said, blame him or not, it was on his [W's] watch. He handled it brilliantly.
That said, do you have a link on your "pipeline" comment so that I might get a sense of what that issue is all about?
In a nut shell; the oil rich Arabs want a pipeline into Europe. Before Putin made his latest moves in the last few years the countries standing in the way are Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The Saudis needed us to clear the way but it never really worked out for them or us the way they planned. Zero Hedge does a pretty good job reporting on the pipeline issue. This was one of the last articles. You can run a search on “Arab Pipeline” at ZH or any search engine for more info. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-10/competing-gas-pipelines-are-fueling-syrian-war-migrant-crisis