Foreign policy analyst Scott Horton says America invaded Iraq to destroy al-Qaeda, ended up empowering Iran, and is now backing al-Qaeda to fight the very forces its own invasion strengthened.
That isn't a contradiction in U.S. Middle East policy; it is the policy.
Every war creates the enemy used to justify the next one.
America invaded Iraq in 2003, overthrew Saddam Hussein and spent trillions trying to remake the Middle East.
But Saddam was Iran's greatest regional enemy, and when the U.S removed him, something incredibly predictable happened.
Iraq's Shiite political parties rose to power, many with deep historical ties to Tehran, and Iran's influence exploded.
The U.S had just fought a war to supposedly make itself safer and ended up handing its biggest regional adversary one of the greatest strategic victories in its history.
So Washington panicked and tilted back toward the Sunnis.
The problem was some of the most effective Sunni fighters in the region were exactly the people America had supposedly spent years fighting.
Then came Syria.
Obama backed the rebellion against Assad while al-Qaeda's Syrian branch emerged as one of the most powerful forces on the battlefield.
One of its leaders was Abu Muhammad al-Jolani.
Scott points out that Jolani had gone to Iraq to fight American troops.
He served under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's network and was sent into Syria by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
And when he later split with ISIS, it wasn't because he'd suddenly become a Western liberal.
Scott says he remained loyal to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Now that same man leads the government in Damascus, and Trump is publicly floating the idea of Syrian forces helping fight Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Just think about the historical loop here.
Twenty years of war, trillions of dollars, thousands of dead Americans.
And Washington has somehow gone from fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq to potentially relying on its former fighters against the enemies of Israel.
Yesterday's terrorist becomes today's partner, while yesterday's ally becomes tomorrow's threat.
But the one thing that never changes is the war.
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