In this episode Jon O'Gorman hosts Michael Dennis, Burack Kadercan, and Anand Toprani. They discuss oil in the Middle East as the driver of this war, why it effects the strategic calculus of the region and our viewpoints towards it from a policy perspective and as an after effect of the Carter doctrine. The conversation then moves to the problems with strategy in the war and why the services could not agree on a strategy due to factors of service parochialism and the failure of the Gold War Nichols Act to truly fix institutionalized service mindsets. They look at technology as a poor substitute for policy and strategy and also discuss Israel and the price the United States pays for having it as its ally in the region. Finally, they come back to the issue of oil as the reason for long term engagement in Iraq and the middle east and what it means for the fight against ISIS.