The day we pull out the bulk of our ground forces in Iraq & Afghan we are basically hoping like hell that Iran and Syria don't just walk in and say "boo we are the boss now". This stuff with the straights & oil are tough, but $5/gal for gas will destroy the US economy and likely cause a far greater issue globally with other economies. We have our ships there regardless of others because until they build a pipeline or find another way to get the oil out we have to have it. Perhaps less because of the actual oil coming from the region and more because of what it does to the oil futures and current prices on wall street. The president of the USA (whom ever that is) and the congress have two choices 1) protect and ensure there is no interruptions to supply as best they can, up to and including military action or 2) find a way to regulate what fuel sells for domestically (gas, diesel, fuel oil, etc), essentially forcing a set price of oil sold here or finding cheaper sources. Which of these two options do you think is easier? Which do you think will actually happen?
This is more than just about nukes in Iran, political crap between the various countries in the region. This is about OIL in some form or another. EVERYTHING is more expensive today because of the craptastic global economy, ours being one of the largest of course and the value of a USD. There are lots of charts, slide shows, etc making the rounds for political reasons but we are not in a better place today than we were several years ago. That's not a slap at Obama, thats just fact and I'm not sure even if Bush had remained we would be much if any better off today. The global economy has changed and sadly we are ALL focused on oil as a driver for the economy, there are just too many new needs globally. You think the great depression was bad, watch what happens if we go to war with Iran and the entire area becomes unstable enough and spooks the oil barons. We could see prices at the pump $5, 7, 10/gal. You'd be hard pressed to fill the busa and go to work @$50/tank for 200-250miles of travel much less your 15mpg trucks or semi's that get far less mpg. Sure if we can take care of some big national and global security concerns while we are there, that's awesome and certainly a motivator but I assure you oil is in the top 2 reasons we are ramping up our presence there. All of the talk about helping Israel and stopping the nuclear production, etc is more political grandstanding and azz grabbing at this point.
I think the General's preso is pretty spot on, sadly I think we will see some form of military interaction in the region sooner than later. And you my friend are right about Africa, though we both know that your (yet) is closer than most folks would want to believe