(SEMI-)CROSSPOST: RICK PERLSTEIN: Bush’s War Is Finally Over: Al Qaeda Has Won
Osama bin Laden’s one concrete strategic goal was to end the American military presence in the Gulf and on the Arabian Peninsula. A generation later, Donald Trump’s war on Iran has apparently delivered it for him:
Retired General Barry McCaffrey says the US has “probably permanently lost access to 15 Persian Gulf bases”.
(SEMI-)CROSSPOST: RICK PERLSTEIN: Bush’s War Is Finally Over: Al Qaeda Has Won
<https://rickperlstein.substack.com/p/bushs-war-is-finally-over> <https://rickperlstein.substack.com>
Al Qaeda won.
Rick Perlstein
Sep 16, 2026 ∙ Paid
One of the not-original points I will be making in The Infernal Triangle: How America Got This Way is one stressed by the CIA’s Al Qaeda expert Mike Scheuer in the years after 9/11: that, far from attacking the U.S. because of some vague hatred of “our freedom,” as George W. Bush liked to say, but instead be a use of his “hatred for a few specific U.S. policies and actions,” most prominently that George H.W. Bush persuaded Saudi royal family to turn the birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest shrines into a base to wage war against Muslims. Perpetuating that, Scheuer argued, guaranteed Islamic militancy would keep metastasizing, including among those not yet radicalized…
<https://rickperlstein.substack.com/p/bushs-war-is-finally-over> <https://rickperlstein.substack.com>
Brad DeLong here: And there the Rickipedia paywall sets in. Below the fold he, first, makes the point that the terrorists hoped to terrorize us and succeeded:
“Terror wants derangement”—and so we gave it to them, and in the silliest of ways… surr[endering] the possibility of a disciplined approach to regional security in the Middle East by lashing out, serially, in dumb wars…making America more solipsistic, narcissistic, recriminatory, cruel, cowardly… it takes a cowardly nation, after all, to elect and reelect a strongman like Donald J. Trump)…. Now, however… the great Lucian Truscott IV puts [it] forth… far blunter…
And here is an extended quote from Truscott:
Lucian Truscott IV: Osama bin Laden’s dream come true: U.S. bases on the Arabian Peninsula are gone <https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/osama-bin-ladens-dream-come-true>: ‘It took him 25 years, but Osama bin Laden is winning his war on the Great Satan. He wanted to bring to an end the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula, and it is happening. Retired four-star General Barry McCaffrey assessed recently that the U.S. military has “probably permanently lost access to 15 Persian Gulf bases,” due to Trump’s war on Iran. The Pentagon Inspector General, in a report released today, said that “hundreds” of buildings on U.S. bases across the Middle East were destroyed by Iranian attacks that also caused $184 million in damages to diplomatic facilities in the region. All that damage was caused by thousands of missiles and drones fired by Iran.
Two F-15 fighters were destroyed during the war, along with one A-10 fighter. Five KC-135 refueling aircraft were destroyed on the ground, along with numerous helicopters. At least 30 Predator drones were destroyed “in various circumstances,” including being hit by drones and missiles while they were on the ground. The Pentagon has not released the number of Navy and Army weapons systems that were destroyed where they were deployed on U.S. bases, but it has been reported that several radar systems that cost in the billions of dollars were destroyed by Iranian missiles in Saudi Arabia…
With some CBS News pictures.
With a quote: “These are not ‘squirters’ getting through”, referring to the claims of moronic Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “We’re not defending these bases. We’re just watching them get destroyed…”
And there is a thoroughly weird piece on this from the Stimson Center:
Kristian Alexander: The Future of US Basing in the Gulf After the 2026 Iran War <https://www.stimson.org/2026/the-future-of-us-basing-in-the-gulf-after-the-2026-iran-war/>: ‘The old equation that American presence equals reduced vulnerability was temporarily inverted. This does not mean the bases failed. They supported defensive operations, intelligence collection, logistics, and the projection of U.S. power under wartime conditions. But the conflict punctured the assumption that fixed facilities could function as protected rear areas. Bases, radars, communications nodes, fuel stores, and intelligence installations became elements of the front line….
Iranian attacks reportedly inflicted billions of dollars in damage…. Iran… identif[ied] and attack[ed] the nervous system of the American posture… sensors and intelligence nodes…. Successful defense… bec[a]me strategically costly… [as] relatively inexpensive drones, decoys, and missiles… compel[ed] defenders to use scarce interceptors… [as] even a few penetrating weapons… damage costly sensors or concentrated equipment….
A U.S. base is an instrument of American power projection and deterrence, but it is not automatically a defense guarantee for its host. Gulf governments will consequently seek greater clarity over consultation, protection, and risk-sharing…
As I understand it, Diego Garcia 3000 and Muwaffaq Salti in Jordan 900 miles from Tehran are the logistics bases, with strikes being now launched form carriers and from Muwaffaq Salti; and with few if any air assets positioned at any of Al Udeid in Qatar, Al Dhafra in UAE, Prince Sultan, or Ali Al Salem, Camp Arifjan, or Camp Buehring, due to their vulnerability.
If this is true, how is this these bases not failing?