After all, the significance of the Middle East doesn't reside in its mere act of acquiescence in a presumed American desire to throw its weight around there. The Middle East's oil is by no means vital to the United States. We have other sources of oil, much closer and far more dependable. But Middle Eastern oil is absolutely essential to other areas of the globe -- most notably Western Europe. If it were denied to them, their economies would grind to a halt in a matter of weeks. And that the United States could not permit. Just for one thing, the secondary effects on our own economy would be disastrous.
So Middle Eastern oil must continue to flow, for the sake of the whole world. It is perfectly understandable that there will always be troublemakers eager to upset this state of affairs. The local rulers, to take just one example, will always be on the lookout to increase their profits. And interested outsiders, like Russia and China, will always be tempted to meddle, as a way of complicating life for the United States and Western Europe.
But everyone knows very well that this is one argument the United States and the West simply cannot afford to lose. If worse came to worst, the West would have no choice but to go to war to preserve the status quo. And not even our worst enemies want to push us quite that far.