Suppose for the sake of argument that back in 2003 the US powers-that-be, with their British counterparts in tow, did some soul-searching and set themselves ten long-term goals.
Goal 1: Removing or at least destabilising every Middle Eastern government that has a sporting chance of keeping the region under control.
Goals 2: Turning the region into a blood-soaked chaos, with the rule of heavily armed mob as the sole discernible authority.
Goal 3: Making sure the chaos expands rapidly, threatening to engulf the West’s allies in the region and beyond.
Goal 4: Injecting murderous passion into the whole Islamic world, giving them a common sense of purpose that may eventually trump their internal strife and unite them against the West.
Goal 5: Creating the right conditions for Iran to develop nuclear weapons and use them to blackmail, and possibly attack, Israel first and the West second.
Goal 6: First washing their hands of the region, then not just allowing but positively begging Putin’s fascist regime to take charge, establish a massive military presence, create puppet states and found a naval base compromising Nato in general and its southern flank in particular.
Goal 7: In exchange for Putin’s generous agreement to accept a huge strategic advantage, taking steps towards removing Western sanctions and thereby perpetuating Putin’s brand of kleptofascism at a time it looks wobbly.
Goal 8: Inundating Europe with a flood of Muslim immigrants, thereby drowning the continent’s historical demographics, culture and social order.
Goal 9: Creating every precondition for a series of murderous terrorist attacks by Muslims on the West, with the use of nuclear devices a distinct possibility.
Goal 10: Making Israel’s existence ever more precarious.
Now imagine the same powers, with a slightly different cast of characters, rubbing their hands with glee as they go over the above list, item by item: done… sorted… accomplished… achieved… fulfilled… attained… tick… tick… tick… another tick… Congratulations! We’ve managed to do everything we set out to do.
No, I hear you say. No such meeting ever took place, and nor could it possibly have taken place. The suggestions that it did could only have come from a deranged mind.
To which my answer is, how do you know? I base my supposition on hard evidence, analysis of every step taken by the USA, with Britain in the capacity of the proverbial poodle, since it embarked on the criminal venture going by the name of nation-building and democracy-installing.
What do you base your counterarguments on? General belief in the goodness and wisdom of Western governments run by assorted Dubyas, Tonys, Baracks and Daves? Really.
In fact, my view of these lads is a great deal more optimistic than yours. I give them credit for planning every detail of the ensuing global catastrophe and executing the plan with unwavering commitment and ingenuity.
You, on the other hand, seem to suggest that they are so stupid and immoral that they plunged into these troubled waters without even considering the consequences.
Shame on you. And congratulations to them.