We do not need to be over there.
We do not need oil from the Middle East.
Our allies need oil from the Middle East.
But maybe its time for our allies to step up and worry about security in the Middle East.
We need to pull back and manage our local problems.
BUMP!
Re: 3 - we currently do need oil from the Middle East.
I believe we do and have needed that oil going back many decades.
That said, we do need to wean ourselves from Middle East oil. My guess is that it will take about 10-20 years. But we should start now.
We need oil from the ME unless and until we resume extraction and production of our own petroleum products.
Drill, baby, drill.
Drilling for oil would cost no lives and yet debilitate that regime more than a vast dump of Napalm. Hopefully, alll the while, Greg Thunberg would cry .
Well then, accept the collapse of the (not “Global” but “Western countries and allies and some others”) economy when it sweeps us down with it.
Also accept the probability of a nuclear war in the ME and it could spread from there. You and I might not live to see it. But I bet your & my kid(s) will.
One problem with various countries having different roles in NATO (etc.) is that many literally have no resources to combat a threat such as this. That includes a number of NATO / Euro countries who have been or will soon be making their 2% of GDP NATO commitment. And, BTW, there is enormous good sense in NOT having them, especially the economically powerful over the years, all be well armed in all aspects. We already know what happens in Europe when various players or combinations of such get too big for their britches. If anyone thinks that has really changed, they are fools. And now, nukes are not all that hard...
Anyway, back to the “roles”, even many NATO countries with tech ability to build weapons for most any purpose instead build stuff mainly for... their roles, and don’t have comprehensive capabilities. The Germans (not at 2% but nonetheless have a large defense budget in absolute terms because they have a big economy) have certainly built some very nice big high tech frigates, but, none of theirs have serious air defense capability. In the Red Sea they’re sitting ducks, and of little use.