If you take a look at the map of the world, America is nowhere near the Middle East, and in fact, historically, has had little or nothing to do with the Middle East, until the aftermath of World War II. While there are many reasons as to why America ended up taking a vested interest in the Middle East, the most prominent among them is simply oil; along with the fact that since America was the most powerful, richest and productive nation in the world after World War II, America seemed to be the best choice to assure the western nations that trading routes and oil resources were kept flowing and under the auspices of western civilization.
Since the creation of Israel, America's presence in the Middle East, via its Navy, naval bases, military bases, military exercises, military weaponry, other military personnel, materials, and knowhow has increased tremendously so that even though America is physically far away from the Middle East, its military power, personnel, and logistical skills are sufficient to maintain control over the Middle East under virtually any realistic contingencies. While some people may think the above is all well and good, it is nothing of that sort; and whereas virtually all European nations relinquished their global empires and colonialism years ago, America instead has become the de facto global empire today. What America fails to understand or to heed is that having a military presence in or around foreign Middle Eastern sovereign nations, makes America an easy target for resentment by those native peoples as well as being considered to be provocative in its very nature.
The bottom line is that the American presence in the Middle East should be reduced forthwith, and our military bases as well as our personnel in those areas should be significantly pared back, because the Middle East has been a cauldron of troubling problems, uprisings, and revolutions for years, that on a fundamental level, has little to do with America, but is more akin to sectional warfare and strife between Middle Eastern cultures that the United States does not really understand or care to comprehend. The notion that the United States fails to adhere to is the fact that by reducing our presence, and/or taking more of a hands off attitude to the goings on in regards to the Middle East, will actually make the world safer. America would be far better served by being perceived by the world as a place of sanctuary and freedom, as opposed to one that insists that might makes right.
There isn't really a compelling reason for America to feel obligated to become engulfed in foreign entanglements, as these are often better suited for resolution with other powers or principalities that would have a more historical, a more legitimate, or a more common heritage that would bring something of real overall merit to the region. America wrongly believes that the Middle East won't be OK without her, but in point of fact, that is pure hubris on America's part. In truth, since our involvement of nearly seventy years in the Middle East, there has been nary a noticeable improvement in peace, justice, or democracy to those nations that occupy the Middle East. This fact would strongly imply that it is high time for America to step aside and to instead concentrate on working on domestic issues as opposed to pretending that America knows what is best for every country in every situation, worldwide.