When you trust George Friedman, and he should know better, then funding of both sides actually is a strategy not a mistake. People often think that there is moral involved in those decisions, but there isn't, not at all.
The US economy hinges on sustaining the petrodollar system. http://ftmdaily.com/preparing-for-the-collapse-of-the-petrod...
This is an incredibly uninformed view. Dollar hegemony rests on our being the sole trusted enforcer of the oceans' open navigation. That confers us, directly and indirectly as a large economy, economic advantages which in turn reinforce our military's ability to defend this position.
Petrodollar monetarism is no longer a dominating factor to our financial system. Relying on it as a forecasting model, for economic or geopolitical aims, will produce bad outputs.
If you look at the history of the USA, from its original 13 states, which themselves were a product of imperialism, and at Manifest Destiny, I'm not sure how this is even a serious question.
Chilling insight into foreign policy of a superpower (an euphemism for "empire"). Not that he says something new (if you've read Carroll Quigley), but still... it's a fresh proof from the founder of the "Shadow CIA".
EDIT: It seem that, at least some, of the e-mails of the "consulting" branch are exposed.
Lawrence Wilkerson, "The Travails of Empire"