Why 9/11 Baffles Us 25 Years Later

Marking the 25th anniversary of September 11th, this analysis argues the attacks set off a chain of American wars of choice in the Middle East, from Iraq in 2003 to the ongoing conflict with Iran, without a clear resolution to what those wars were meant to achieve. It cites a U.S. Army study concluding Iran emerged as the real winner of the Iraq war, and notes concerns that the current Iran conflict is straining U.S. military resources further while possibly reviving remnants of al Qaeda.

The piece contends the sustained focus on Middle East conflicts let China build toward great-power military competition largely unchallenged, a gap one general reportedly called the era of the Great Distraction. It also raises the possibility that the political fallout from the Iraq war reshaped domestic American politics in ways still being felt today.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.