My bad - I did not think to look at the date of the book I was reading the other day.
What was the date, 1938? lol
The central point is there are several other reasons than U.S. oil interests that has the U.S. politically and economically involved in the ME. Oil would (and will) still be a major factor, because even if the U.S. itself has no oil interests in the ME, we have several significant allies who do. Then there is, as many often complain about, our alliance with Israel. The end analysis shows that while oil interests are a major factor, lack of oil interests most likely would not have significantly changed the historical events that led to OBL targeting the U.S.
In a sense, you are correct. The US has vital economic interest in the world markets, and will have to be interested as long as it continues to sell off it's domestic assets. Those who complain about our support of Israel, are the same ones who have complained about Israel since it was formed, and this will never change, for what should be obvious reasons. I overheard someone talking about this incessant complaining of our support for Israel the other day, and the response proved a great point. If you were traveling abroad and lost you passport and ID completely, had nothing... where would you rather be? Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan or Israel? You might actually stand a chance at getting fair treatment by the government of Israel, the others? We may never hear from you again.
And from 9/11 on, the events of history were in Bush's hands, who has been more interested in his place in history than the health of the country. (War presidents are invariably more referenced in history than peacetime presidents.)
This is where you lose me. We can't say that 9/11 would have happened if we had been independent of Saudi Oil and Bush Sr. hadn't been challenged to protect the Saudi Kingdom from Saddam with US Military forces. It may not have happened on 9/11/01... it would have eventually happened. This is a fanatical religious movement that has gained popularity in that part of the world, and is currently still being taught daily to school kids in Saudi Arabia!
They are literally taught from an early age, to hunt down and kill the infidel and jew, until the trees and rocks they hide behind, cry out... there is a jew or infidel hiding behind me, come kill it! This is what they teach in the schools!
Now........ We can sit here, like we did in 1937...38....39...40... and let this thing continue to grow and flourish across that region of the world and eventually spread into Europe and take it over too. We've done that before, and paid a pretty heavy price in terms of American lives. OR... we can combat it now, we can defeat it before it takes over half of the world, and we have to pull a magic nuclear bunny out of the hat to win it. That is kind of how I see it, we really don't have a choice, we have to fight it or be defeated by it eventually. The longer we prolong the fight and pretend there is some alternative, the tougher the ultimate job of defeating it becomes. This thinking was best described by Churchill as 'feeding the alligator' and the example fits well here. As long as we stand on the principles of human equality and respect for human rights, and oppose terror, oppression, and hate, we are on the right side and I am completely in support of such a fight.
