美国将伊拉克这一地区强国摧毁，从而把波斯湾的霸权拱手让给了伊朗的什叶派伊斯兰政权。 而波斯湾对于西方利益的重要性无以复加。
America’s destruction of Iraq as a regional power handed hegemony in the Persian Gulf – whose centrality to Western interests cannot be overstated – to Iran’s Shia Islamist regime on a silver platter.