Finally...Hossie and The Smartest Jew in History are both on the same page:
"QUESTION: Is there a U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East?
"
CHOMSKY: Yes. There's been a very consistent U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, at least since the Second World War, whose primary concern has been to ensure that the energy reserves of the Middle East remain firmly under American control.
"The State Department noted in 1945 that these reserves constitute '
a stupendous source of strategic power, and one of the greatest material prizes in world history.'1
"Basically it is a policy meant to keep Saudi Arabia, which has by far the largest known stores of petroleum, under American control. This has been quite explicit since World War II. In fact, during the war the government tried to expel Britain, and later France, from the region.
"There were forms of chicanery used to achieve that end, which was achieved, certainly, by the formation of ARAMCO [Arabian American Oil Company] in 1947.
"Given U.S. control over Western Hemisphere resources, the United States thus effectively controlled the major energy reserves of the noncommunist world, with all that implied with regard to the organization of international society.2
"A number of years later, the American position in the Middle East was extended.
"Following the CIA-backed coup in Iran in 1953, American oil companies controlled 40% of Iranian oil. By the mid 50s, American dominance of the region and total dominance of Saudi Arabia was virtually complete."
BTW, all that control of Middle Eastern oil was taking place at the same time this country was the world's leading oil exporter. So you are right...
"It's not socialism."
It's greed, and millions of Muslims will be maimed, murdered, or displaced in its star-spangled name.
