noteworthy wrote:
When you consider the role of oil export in the national economies of the region, it's clear this is not a question of being selfish.

In January, a Boston Globe article reported that

[Iraq's] oil industry ... accounts for about 60 percent of Iraq's gross national product and more than 90 percent of government revenue.

If this oil couldn't reach its customers, Iraq's pain would greatly exceed ours, and theirs would arrive almost immediately, whereas the US has a strategic reserve. Iran has a much larger national economy, but petroleum still accounts for 80% of total exports; none of Iran's oil is headed to the US. For Saudi Arabia, petroleum represents 90% of total exports, about 16% of which is headed to the US.

I'm not blind to the mutual need for oil exporting. Even a temporary closing of the Straits of Hormuz would drastically hurt economies in the region and (when western reserves are depleted) the world as a whole. Its major damage for mature economies, but I wonder if someone like Iran could weather a (temporary) storm. I'll try to find some facts about the oil embargo in the 1970s and its affects on Iran.

Remember, It's not MAD if the otherside survivies...

RE: NewsHour: Interview with Gen. John Abizaid