So were we at constant war in the ME and meddling in virtually every countries internal affairs before the need for oil became such a monster?

You really need to get away from the ridiculous mentality that world history began the day you started paying attention. The world has always been about international trade and about conflict. Long before the colonists discovered the New World, all major trade occurred between Europe and Asia and the Middle East was the train station, the hot point. All trade had to go through that narrow strait. In fact, one of the reasons that the accidental discovery of America took place was because a Christopher Columbus was attempting to navigate those three ships around the Cape Horn of Africa and come up to India, in order to reach India without having to worry about the Isthmus of Suez. (Before the Suez Canal was dredged.) That's Columbus named the first natives he saw Indians. He thought he had reached India.

What about the "petro dollar" and the need to force others top trade oil in our currency?

Well, as a matter of fact, (and you should have known about the reason Columbus came to the New World from regular school history, but I guess your teachers were busy instructing you on lesbian dance theory history instead), the American dollar is considered the world's Reserve Currency. It is one of the reasons why America is the only country in the world that doesn't pay $10 a gallon for gasoline. The value of the dollar was never indexed to the price of oil. There was never any "forcing others to trade oil in our currency." To bring you up to speed on the history of how we got here from there, in the very early Seventies when the first alleged oil spikes took place, (you'd probably better ask your parents about that, since it sounds like you were born much later), Nixon announced he was going to take the American Dollar off the Bretton Woods Gold Standard. OPEC ministers warned him that there would be problems because the price of oil depended on the value of the world's reserve currency. Indeed that was the origin of the first major spikes in the cost of oil. There were never any oil shortages, like the left wing media so desperately tried to make us believe.


No, oil is the main cause of modern tensions with the ME. We can't even afford to run our own country much less be world police.

WRONG. The Middle East has always been the center of major conflict in the world, long before oil was discovered. Today, oil finances terrorism. And Bill KKKlinton taught us a valuable lesson: We can't just ignore the Middle East and assume we'll be safe. 9-11 was a five year operation, most of which occurred under his negligent nose, while he was getting his knob polished in the Oval Office. His ignorance of world affairs reminded us that America was no longer safe. Two oceans no longer guard us against the crazies on the other side of the world. The fall of the World Trade Center was our wakeup call.

We actually have a president today who does NOT want to be the world police.So far, he has not gotten us into as many shooting battles as the KENYAN VILLAGE IDIOT. If it becomes necessary to use the American military, he will not give the order unless there is a definite mission and a deadline for us to get out of it.

We are the only world superpower today. Whether you like it or not, your freedoms depend on our military keeping the fighting on the other side of the world. If we just pull all our military home, the crazies won't just sing Kumbayah and leave us alone. Nor will they leave our allies alone.