Excellent point you made there about the Suez Canal, Q. Yes, that's a major strategic factor in anyone's calculations.

It's true that the USA uses relatively small amounts of Middle East oil, but it seems to be very important to the USA that that oil be sold for American dollars...not Euros. I have read in more than one place that the key move Saddam made that turned the USA against him was he decided to peg Iraqi oil sales to the Euro, not the dollar. That was deemed unacceptable by the USA, and it sealed his fate.