The USG spends at least $60 billion a year on the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, reactivated in 1995 as a salient part of the Clinton Administration's "Dual Containment" policy of isolating and punishing the regimes in Iraq and Iran, labeled "backlash states" (the precursor to Bush's rogue states) by National Security Adviser Tony Lake. The backlash states were deemed in need of disciplining for daring to buck the international trend of integrating into Western-dominated international economic structures and for being generally uncooperative with the U.S.
The ostensible reason the fleet still exists in the post-Saddam era is to continue the isolation and punishment of Tehran, but also to maintain the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz -- 40% of the world's oil uses it as a transit point. Yet there is virtually no chance the Iranians will block the Strait, as their economy is crucially dependent on oil and they would be unable to utilize their oil platforms in the Persian Gulf in the event of a blockage.
Further, the USG can still promote its interests in the region via continued cooperation with the Saudis, maintenance of the permanent military fixtures in Kuwait, increased cooperation with Israel (virtually an American colony as is), and utilization of the 6th and 7th Fleets as needed (the 7th Fleet was used for the Gulf War -- that worked well enough). Alternatively, cost-sharing agreements can be implemented to develop an international fleet to plug the gap the 5th Fleet will leave, a definite possibility since ensuring the continued flow of oil is in everybody's interest, not just ours.
So, something like $600 billion saved over the next ten years ($447 billion present value, using the typical 3% inflation assumption) in a way that allows us to act less like world police and yet preserves our ability to project into the region as needed? Sounds like a bargain, something far better than across-the-board cuts ala sequestration which end up hurting the little guy (tuition assistance for soldiers has been suspended for an indefinite period).
