Kite & Key Media: Why Are We Always In The Middle East?
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/09/23/kite__key_media_why_are_we_always_in_the_middle_east.html

Why is America always in the Middle East? There's a serious argument that our national security interests require it. There's an equally serious one that we should just wash our hands of the region. Both are a lot more complicated than they sound.

Across decades of polling, nearly every American intervention in the Middle East has ended up unpopular with voters. The region's not that popular with presidents either. Over the past 50 years, nearly every commander-in-chief's plans for the region have come undone.

Yet there are powerful factors tethering us to the region. While America is no longer dependent on Middle Eastern oil, the region's effect on global supply is still so significant that it determines gas prices here at home. And the specters of nuclear proliferation and terrorism emanating from the region don't simply go away if we refuse to engage them.

Which is why the honest answer to Why are we always in the Middle East? is so unsatisfying: because the costs of leaving are so high. So, too, are the costs of staying.