Lee Smith hasn't explained how the 'American order' he says exists in the Middle East does anything to secure "cheap oil" now or in the past. Oil recently touched $150 while no threat was posed to any of its gulf allies. Throughout history, oil prices have only ever *rallied* following US displays of force. Nor has US power helped to secure product flows to its shores as Asian buyers have long dominated OPEC exports including those from Saudi Arabia.

Realism is understanding that the US oil consumer realizes no tangible dividend from US force projection abroad. Only "Post colonial" paranoid cases and armchair imperialists like smith imagine that guns trump economics. Oil follows money, not military prestige.

Truly said. Look at China. I don't think they have a Chinese soldier anywhere outside China, except for maybe a few UN Peacekeepers. But they are cutting deals everywhere, including Iraq , Iran, and Afghanistan, while the US pisses away a fortune in those same places.