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Israel is trying to uproot Iran’s influence. Iraq shows how hard that is.

It’s a cautionary tale for any thoughts of remaking the Middle East.

By MAX BOOT

Council on Foreign Relations
October 28, 2024

Having killed two of its leading enemies — Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah’s Hasan Nasrallah — Israel is expanding its military ambitions in the multifront struggle against Iranian proxies. Israel is not only trying to stop Hezbollah from rocketing northern Israel, it is also bombing the group’s financial institutions all over Lebanon to undermine the terrorist organization’s grip on the Lebanese state. Hope is growing, at least in some quarters, that Israel can ultimately defeat Iran and, as a former Mossad chief recently said, “reshape the Middle East.”

For a reality check — and a reminder of how difficult it is to reshape the region or uproot Iranian influence — shift your focus away from Israel’s immediate vicinity. Look, instead, at Iraq, which in 2003 was supposed to be a showcase of U.S. hopes of transforming the Middle East in a more democratic and moderate direction. I once shared that vision, promulgated by the George W. Bush administration. In hindsight, I can’t believe how naive I was — and I hope Israel doesn’t fall prey to the same hubris that led U.S. troops into the Iraqi quagmire.