In a single bombing run, the regional perception of the United States and its future role in the Middle East changed.

The Bush 43 invasion and Obama withdrawal from Iraq left Iran as the predominant regional power. The disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan returned the al Qaeda allied Taliban to power, armed with a complete inventory of American weaponry.

Middle East countries watched in amazement as American concessions to religious extremists allowed Iran to become intolerably closer to possessing nuclear weapons. These countries could only wonder how long before the world’s leading exporter of terrorism would use those nuclear weapons against them.

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