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Opinion: Sovereign states run the Mideast. American policy should reflect that

The War on Terror was about hunting down terrorist networks. Times have changed, and so should our strategy

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The latest U.S.-Iran standoff has laid bare the outdated lens through which Washington continues to see the Middle East. For nearly a quarter-century, American policy in the region has been locked into the assumptions forged in the post-9/11 era.

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After the September 11, 2001 attacks — when al-Qaida under Osama bin Laden killed almost 3,000 Americans — President George W. Bush launched the “War on Terror.” That campaign marked a decisive break from traditional military thinking. Instead of preparing primarily for clashes with rival states, the U.S. redirected its attention toward loosely organized terrorist networks like al-Qaida and later ISIS.

Opinion: Sovereign states run the Mideast. American policy should reflect that Back to video

“Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them,” Bush told Congress just days after the 9/11 attacks. He went on to say that U.S. military action would........

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