So what was this unfolding strategy to undermine Syria and Iran all about? According to retired NATO Secretary General Wesley Clark, a memo from the Office of the US Secretary of Defense just a few weeks after 9/11 revealed plans to „attack and destroy the governments in 7 countries in five years“, starting with Iraq and moving on to „Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.“ In a subsequent interview, Clark argues that this strategy is fundamentally about control of the region‘s vast oil and gas resources.

Much of the strategy currently at play was candidly described in a 2008 US Army-funded RAND report, Unfolding the Future of the Long War (pdf). The report noted that „the economies of the industrialized states will continue to rely heavily on oil, thus making it a strategically important resource.“ As most oil will be produced in the Middle East, the US has „motive for maintaining stability in and good relations with Middle Eastern states“: