We are in the Persian Gulf because it contains 70% of the World's known oil reserves and is indispensable to the Free World's oil supply. If Saddam or the Iranian mullahs had ever gained military hegemony over the region and acquired nuclear weapons, they would be able to decree an economic Depression of Western Civilization whenever they pleased.
Before Jimmy Carter, we had troops safeguarding our vital interests in the region in the form of the Shah of Iran.
Jimmy Carter screwed the pooch and killed our proxy power in the Persian Gulf. As a result, we are still paying the strategic consequences thirty years later. If we are at war in the region now, thank Jimmy Carter.
After Jimmy Carter, we had we had troops safeguarding our vital interests in the region in the form of both Iran and Iraq killing each other on a massive scale during the Iraq-Iran War with Iran suffering 1 million fatalities and Iraq suffering half a million fatalities.
After the Iraq-Iran War was over, Saddam actually tried for such military hegemony and, for the first time, U.S. troops had to protect those vital interests as we no longer had the luxury of proxies. Thus, the Gulf War.
After the Gulf War, during the Clinton Administration, the U.S. troops were on the "holy soil" of Saudi Arabia to protect Saudi oil from Saddam which enraged Osama bin Ladin which brought about 9-11.
After the Iraq War, (the current conflict is actually the War of Insurgency that followed the Iraq War) the U.S. troop redeployed from Saudi Arabia to Iraq.
Note that, at no time since the Shah of Iran assumed power in 1941, was there ever an American power vacuum in the Persian Gulf as a long term option. Even temporary perceived power vacuums brought about nasty results in the Persian Gulf.
Leaving an American military power vacuum in the Persian Gulf is not an option unless the U.S. is willing to surrender 70% of the World's oil reserves to a nuclear-armed Iran ruled by religious nutjobs that think that nuking New York City, Washington, DC and several other American cities will win them Eternity in Paradise.
A good outcome we can hope for is to turn a secularized Iraqi population that is now sick and tired of homicidal religious nutjobs into a local ally as was the case with Iran during the days of the Shah.
The best outcome we can hope for is the destruction of the Iranian mullah regime so that we can have BOTH a secularized Iraqi population and a secularized Iranian population that are now sick and tired of homicidal religious nutjobs turned into a local allies as was the case with Iran during the days of the Shah.
would you like to see Jimmy be prez for another four years?How about Obama? (rhetorical)