In reply to:


The US has been chin-deep in the Middle East since at least the formation of Israel in the mid-to-late 40s. We've been eyeball deep since '90.



Yeah, but before 1990, you weren't armed to the back teeth and didn't have lots of miltary personnel stationed there - they were all in Germany ready for WWIII, and the US interests were being protected by a proxy army of CIA agents who were doing covert arms deals and black ops and training the locals to fight for Uncle Sams interests where it suited US interests at the time.

Before 1990/Kuwait it was officially: "can't you all just along guys, come on, be nice, or the Ruskies will get you."