Unfortunately, there is only one way to walk away from the middle east, and that is true isolation. It is pretty clear that no one has the stomach for that, either economically or socially. It may also not work at all, as consolidation of power into the hands of the few will just perpetuate itself.
The option that would be ideal, is to find a way to get the 4.5 million soldiers under arms in north africa to take an active and aggressive role against extremism. Up till now, there isn't much interest in pursuing that, outside of Turkey, Jordan and the recently crushed (by us) army of Iraq.
Long term, we need to find a way to get as much western style education to the masses of these countries as we can. Educated people are rarely a physical threat, or easily swayed by magical arguments.
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"By Grabthar's hammer ... what a savings."
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