Twenty-five years ago this week, Benjamin Netanyahu infamously described the 9/11 attacks as “very good” for US-Israeli relations. Netanyahu recognized that the one-day calamity would be exploited for a long-term project. As a recent article in Foreign Affairs notes, the “primary goal” of US policy in the Middle East for decades “has been to lock its disparate allies into an order built around protecting Israel.” To that end, the Bush administration quickly drew up a plan to topple seven disobedient countries, starting with Iraq and culminating in Iran, as Gen. Wesley Clark recounted. The principal targets shared the distinction of being bastions of support for Palestinian self-determination and bitter foes of Israeli military occupation. Netanyahu would go on to use the century’s other major day of infamy, October 7th, for the same agenda.
Every major conflict in the Middle East, now caught in a new cycle of turmoil, can be traced back to the US-Israeli pursuit of their post-9/11 order.
