[Saddam had Iran totally at bay until the Bush handjobs f’d evrthing up.]
“” “” Why would we allow Saddam to unify the Gulf oilfields under his rule? “” “”
Because he couldn’t. Iran wasn’t a single entity in the region at odds with Saddam. It was pretty much Iraq against everyone else and it made a sort of status quo. All ruined by Bush in favor of Gulf Arabs. And since the latter always were and would be a marginal power it was factually in favor of Iran.
In fact Iran is quite valuable in maintaining a certain status quo of today. They are the most interested in keeping the Sunni extremism at bay. With Iran down you’d see another ISIS and more powerful very soon.
Kuwait was one thing but the post 9/11 invasion quite another...in my opinion.
There is no way anyone can justify 18 years of sacrificing American blood and treasure in the Middle East. The fallout of this includes millions of refugees that causes it’s own serious long term problems.
Still, you don’t seem to acknowledge the real reason for our interest in oil-rich ME, namely, the preservation of the petrodollar.
It’s not simply they sit on top of vast amounts of black gold, but it is absolutely imperative all that crude be sold for US Dollars.
Unless I missed it, I don’t think you mentioned that part.