>>10
Israel is a pretty useless client state though.
There are 5 countries that matter in the Middle East:
Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Saudi-Arabia and Egypt.
Turkey = NATO so that's ok
Iran = The US should have intervened to keep the Shah in power
Iraq = If despite US intervention the Islamic revolution in Iran was succeful, the US should have fully supported the war between Iraq-Iran to completely destroy Iran and vassalize whatever remains. Possible Iraqi invasion of Kuwait should happened with out intervention.
Saudi-Arabia: they could comply to become client state and get aid, or reject the offer, bu then they'll stand alone against Saddam's legions.
Egypt needs some support too (allow them to take over Israel + Pal territories?)
If the US did it like that, almost the entire ME oil would be in the hands of US client states, and the Suez canal too.
Now THAT's what I call "controlling the Middle East".