> Nowadays anyone can trade with anyone, and there's really no need to have political control
You're forgetting just one small thing - oil. It's still vitally necessary to the US (and everyone else). And if OPEC is left all-powerful then they can turn off the spigot at any time for any reason. Obviously Iraq is one way of getting around OPEC's power - badly misguided IMO, but undeniably successful in the narrow goal of securing a large non-OPEC source of middle eastern oil.
The broader point, though, would be that without some kind of global naval "police" then anyone finding themselves in the position to block trade might decide to. The US navy has traditionally enforced, at least by implication, the "freedom to trade" you speak of. I wish they would stick to this rather noble goal!
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> Nowadays anyone can trade with anyone, and there's really no need to have political control
You're forgetting just one small thing - oil. It's still vitally necessary to the US (and everyone else). And if OPEC is left all-powerful then they can turn off the spigot at any time for any reason. Obviously Iraq is one way of getting around OPEC's power - badly misguided IMO, but undeniably successful in the narrow goal of securing a large non-OPEC source of middle eastern oil.
The broader point, though, would be that without some kind of global naval "police" then anyone finding themselves in the position to block trade might decide to. The US navy has traditionally enforced, at least by implication, the "freedom to trade" you speak of. I wish they would stick to this rather noble goal!