But wait a minute? Is that really all that bad? Wouldn't that serve American interests? Wouldn't it be the best thing that could happen for the whole world? The objection that it would only destabilize the middle east and fan Islamic terrorism is patently absurd, we have that situation in spades already. But without the US presence, the country would probably enter a prolonged three-sided civil war: Sunni against Shiite, Kurd against Arab. The Iranians might invade to support the Shiites (and the oil fields!), and the Syrians and Turks would then almost certainly move to counter them (and suppress the Kurds). With a little luck and shrewd diplomacy, half the Muslim world would be drawn into the struggle. The Saudi monarchy and the Gulf states would be helpless and have to rely on us for protection, guaranteeing our energy supply and perhaps the Europeans would be forced to get militarily involved in the region instead of relying on their own phony neutrality for protection from terrorism and oil embargo. Everyone would be eager to sell us cheap oil in order to finance their war machines, which the French, Russians and Chinese would only be to happy to provide for them. And everyone would be too busy to fly airliners into our office buildings. The Palestinian issue would be forgotten as the Arab world suddenly found itself threatened by its own fanaticsm and corruption, which they could no longer blame on the Israelis. We need not be complete cynical opportunists, we could provide genuine support and protection (and a democratizing influence) for states which supply us with oil, and we would have some leverage with them, providing we could deal with them as secular political and economic entities, not religious fanatics. It is no different from what any other nation would do under similar circumstances, or has done in the past. The important thing to remember in international politics is that self-interest rules, and always has and will. The US, like its opponents and rivals, is neither an evil empire nor a bastion of virtue. The only difference between nations is strength and competence.

In any event, Arab nationalism, expansionism and Islamic fundamentalism would once again become bogged down in internal rivalry, as it has always done, since the days of the Prophet, and the spice would flow once more, God Willing.