The Pentagon has paid more than $14 billion in contracts for fuel in the Middle East. Aram Roston asks whether "U.S. taxpayer dollars [are] enriching the ruling potentates of friendly regimes just as the youthful protesters and the Arab Spring have brought a new push for democracy across the region?":
Consider Kuwait, where Arifjan, the major U.S. base, serves as the chief military supply route to Iraq. Like the Al Nahyan family in Abu Dhabi, the al-Sabah clan runs Kuwait, as well as its national oil concern, Kuwait Petroleum Co., which has received some $4 billion in Pentagon contracts since 2005, much of it in sole-source contracts.
(Photo: The tarmac at the Al Dhafra military base in the United Arab Emirates. By Witt-Sipa /AP)
The Dish 