In the days after Israel was attacked on October 7, 2023, Joe Biden cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to make the same mistakes the US made following 9/11.
Mr Biden, who was US president at the time, never publicly spelt out what he meant, but it was understood as a warning to Mr Netanyahu, in response to the shock generated by the attack, not to overreact or overreach, as George W Bush had done by invading and occupying Iraq and proposing a US-led democracy agenda that would transform the Middle East.
That war lasted more than a decade with tremendous cost in lives, treasure and US prestige. It also emboldened Iran and spawned extremist groups across the Levant and North Africa, such as ISIS.
If that is what Mr Biden meant, and administration officials made it clear that it was, then it was sound advice – maybe the so
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