system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:Why does the US have such a vested interest in the Middle East?

Compared to many other issues of foreign policy, particularly drug cartels in Central America, why is so much time and effort spent deliberating the Middle East. Why doesn't the US just leave the Middle East be?
gpt
1) Oil.  It's essential to our economy, and the Middle East is a large enough supplier that chaos there causes lots of economic harm in the US.

2) Israel.  Some bad things were done to Jews prior to WWII, and part of the world's reparations to them was to grant the Jews their longtime wish, a country all their own in Palestine.  They picked the Middle East, but the US is the enforcer of the world's decision.  

3) Broken Windows.  When bad things are going on in an area, bad folks move there and set up shop.  The Middle East has been broken since the Treaty of Lausanne broke up the Ottoman Empire following WWI.  The British (the US of the day) decided that breaking the empire up into several countries of mixed religious and tribal heritage would encourage the development of secular governments.  That mostly didn't happen, and the resulting wars and failed sates are evidence that it might not have been a good idea.  Failed states that let nutty Madrasahs teach the value of being a suicide bomber can lead to big problems for the US.  It ignored the situation in Iran for decades under the Shah, and the revolution that followed proved the harm that comes from not taking a vested interest.