You could say they give us a foothold in the region to protect oil interests, although we really should be energy independent and that's really an excuse to start foreign excursions to benefit military contractors.
Not really, there were never American troops there. The closest they were on the land nearby until recently (Syria) was in Lebanon where they went (with French and Italians) to save Arafat and his PLO/A from an Israeli siege.
You could say they give us a foothold in the region to protect oil interests, although we really should be energy independent and that's really an excuse to start foreign excursions to benefit military contractors.
Not really, there were never American troops there. The closest they were on the land nearby until recently (Syria) was in Lebanon where they went (with French and Italians) to save Arafat and his PLO/A from an Israeli siege.