New 'quid pro quo'?

Since the assassination, an Arabic word, of General Qasam Suilamani, the media is awash with the response to the question, "Why are we in the Middle East?" Its answer: "To protect U.S. interests."

Undoubtedly, our interests halfway around the world centers on oil, the lubricant that greases the wheels of all societies in the Western Hemisphere. It advances technologies at the foundation of our military power, unfathomable prowess that has superseded all countries in world history.

Osama bin Laden, in protest to American occupation in Saudi Arabia, went to Afghanistan and assisted to form the Taliban and al-Qaida. He masterminded the attack that killed more than 3,000 people in 2001. Barack Obama, in May 2, 2011, directed his assassination.

Qasem Soleimani, killed by an airstrike in January 2020, presumably targeted by Donald Trump, has been accused of ordering the killing of more than 3,000 over the past 4 decades, debatably, for the same reason that bin Laden did in 2001.

Is this an additional definition of "quid pro quo?"

James D. Cook

Schaumburg