With regard to our strategic interests, he said, an overriding concern in the US government is not to have to mobilize and deploy a third time in the Gulf. Related to this is the effort to guarantee the territorial integrity, political independence, and national sovereignty structures of the eight countries in the region, which has been a primary concern. This is essentially a status quo argument, he said, because the Gulf region is flawed in terms of defined boundaries and structures, but it is something that policy makers do not want to take risks with. Apart from those, the larger strategic interests have been served or achieved from a stated American perspective, he said. Our strategic interests are followed immediately by our economic interest in the region, which is viewed solely in terms of access to the region's energy resources, said Anthony.
Oil drives our economy and every economy in the world.
The Gulf has two-thirds of all known proven resources of gas and oil in the world. The United States, out of over two hundred countries in the world, is the single biggest consumer, importer, and waster of oil, said Anthony adding that we are also probably the single biggest complainers about it. Controversy surrounds big oil in the United States because it is highly politicized, whereas Japan and Europe do not debate about it even though they are far more dependent upon it than are we. Somalia, however, has degenerated greatly since then, so the US is down to eleven Arab countries who might agree on a wide number of issues with American policy most or some of the time. Regarding commercial relations, in some respects they are positive, said Anthony.