A sweeping new account reveals how the U.S. and Saudi Arabia’s shifting alliances during the Cold War inadvertently empowered extremist factions, including al-Qaeda, by undermining moderate forces and fueling regional instability. The narrative traces how Washington’s military interventions and Riyadh’s counterrevolutionary policies created fertile ground for radicalization, ultimately contributing to the rise of figures like Osama bin Laden. Historians argue the collapse of Saudi-backed moderates and the U.S. withdrawal from key conflicts left a power vacuum that extremist groups exploited. The analysis challenges conventional wisdom about the origins of terrorism, framing it as a byproduct of geopolitical miscalculations rather than isolated ideology.
America lost wars and Osama bin Laden lost Saudi Arabia
