In the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, one of the most hawkish voices pushing the United States to catastrophe was Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel’s current prime minister spoke in Washington about the need for “moral and strategic clarity” to win the war on terror, saying that targeting civilians to achieve political ends was terrorism. He claimed Baghdad was developing nuclear weapons and insisted forceful application of military power would spark democracy.
Such was his confidence that he made a promise to Congress: “If you take out Saddam [Hussein] – Saddam’s regime – I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region…. People sitting right next door in Iran…will say the time of such regimes, such despots, has gone.”
At least he has been consistent, even if consistently wrong – as well as hideously hypocritical with all that talk about the immorality of targeting civilians given his own subsequent war crimes. In reality, that idiotic invasion ended up strengthening the regime in Tehran and inflaming global terrorism after Iraq collapsed into sectarian chaos, despite initial military success. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Yet this did not deter its cynical salesman. Shrugging off a starring role in the worst Western foreign policy failure this century, he returned to his theme after finding a weak and naive narcissist in the White House who might fall for his patter again. Once again, negative reverberations are shaking the world.
Netanyahu is a key architect of this latest US disaster in the Middle East, which exposes Donald Trump’s foolishness, leaving Washington in a quagmire and threatening to blockade the Strait of Hormuz. “All of this happened because we initiated it, we acted, we attacked,” said the Israeli leader defiantly on Saturday, even as his troops kept on pounding Lebanon and prepared for new attacks on Iran after the predictable failure of peace talks between Tehran and Washington. He pressed Trump for months to launch this attack. Then in February, he reportedly persuaded the president at a White House presentation that bombardment would destroy Iran’s missiles – leaving it too weak to threaten allies or the Strait – and incite regime change.
Trump, falling for the old fallacy of a short war, deserves maximum opprobrium – especially after brushing aside reported objections from military and political aides that Netanyahu’s vision was “farcical” and “bullshit”. The mighty US military machine has failed so far to defeat a nation spending one hundred times less on defence, exposing its vulnerability to modern methods of warfare. A cruel dictatorship has been emboldened, demonstrating power over the global economy and with internal hardliners seemingly strengthened.
Meanwhile, Washington has shattered crucial alliances and shredded any vestiges of moral authority when the president brazenly threatens genocide. At least former US president George W Bush and his lapdog, former prime minister Tony Blair – for all their incendiary mistakes – acted in the supposed pursuit of democracy in 2003.
Trump dominates the headlines, of course. This conflict was his choice and he must own the consequences just as surely as he would have claimed any success in the most self-glorifying style. Yet it is crucial not to ignore Netanyahu’s central role amid the damage this shameless and equally self-serving politician is doing to his nation and the wider region. Most Israelis may still support his war, although backing is sliding, but sympathy for Israel has crashed around the world since the repulsive Hamas killings, kidnaps and rapes in October 2023.
One study by the Pew Research Center last week showed a clear majority of US citizens now take an unfavourable view of Israel, matching sharp slumps in support across Europe. This is most pronounced among younger generations – in striking contrast to my own student days when I worked on a kibbutz by the Golan Heights during their first invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
The man behind that invasion was former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, who said it would last two days but instead trapped Israel into an occupation of almost two decades that started to curdle his country’s image in the West. He was nicknamed the Butcher of Beirut after failing to prevent militia from slaughtering refugees in Lebanon. Yet as prime minister during the Iraq War build-up, this former war hero warned Bush against invasion and glib ideas about imposing democracy through bombardment. Towards the end of his life, he launched a very different offensive by clearing thousands of settlers from Gaza and talking of Palestinian statehood. This was a founding father of his nation, after all, who, for all his faults, wrote in his autobiography about the importance of Jews and Arabs living peacefully together.
Contrast this with Netanyahu, the longest-serving leader of Israel, who long pressed for military action against Iran and opposed negotiations over its nuclear build-up. In Trump, he found a willing partner in crime – and someone prepared to accept his gruesome coalition government’s atrocities in Gaza, what the UN has called ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and continuing assault on Lebanon despite the supposed ceasefire. Now there are threats to occupy the border land that would prevent the return of 600,000 displaced people. Meanwhile, Israel tarnished its democratic credentials this month with the passing of a discriminatory death penalty pushed by the far-right that is seen as punishing Palestinians militants while protecting Jewish extremist murderers.
Netanyahu spent decades calling for strategic clarity, claiming Israel is best protected by striking hard at enemies. Yet his record is dire, with suspicions that his driving motivation is to save himself from corruption charges. “Mr Security” oversaw the failures that let Hamas unleash savagery on his citizens. Hamas is still operating in Gaza, Hezbollah is still firing rockets from Lebanon and Iran is still in possession of its stockpile of enriched uranium while now choking the global economy. And this man, who talked of moral clarity, equating killing civilians for political gain with terrorism, faces charges of war crimes in the International Criminal Court.
Like his soulmate in Washington, Netanyahu stands exposed as a man who learned nothing from the Iraq debacle and whose self-serving actions are weakening his nation, shedding support among allies and making the world less safe.
Hence then, the article about behind trump lies the real architect of a global disaster was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Behind Trump lies the real architect of a global disaster )
Also on site :