Eventually the US needs to realize that it created the Middle East situation long ago. We put Saddam in power. We packed the Shah over a democratically elected leader in ’53.

Face it, our gamble to control the region for cheap oil has failed. At the moment we are begging the other players to front us more chips and they will. They want something more valuable: recognition and power on the world’s stage. We need to cut our losses and figure out different strategies because the longer the we stay the more we lose.

Why do you think none of “allies” are jumping to help. Because the more we lose, the more they gain.

The world has changed under our feet. We failedour role as the world’s cop (thanks to GW). Now we need to figure our next moves. Russia and China are becoming more powerful and South America is a starting to figure out they don’t need us as much anymore.

Just because we are the richest country in the world doesn’t mean we are the smartest. It’s time to let other nations to take the stage for a while. Let’s figure out our own issues like polarization, our gluttonous and poisonous consumption patterns, why our health-care is so bad compared to others, how we are going to move beyond oil, and how we will protect our own resources.

Sometimes you got to know when to fold ’em…