In September 2001, mass murder in New York and Washington by the Al Qaeda terrorist group propelled the United States and its allies, including Australia, into a 20 year war in Afghanistan which they could not win.

The 9/11 attacks were regarded by the United States as justification for trying to re-make the Middle East, but the Saddam Hussein dictatorship was replaced with chaos and the slaughter of civilians; the war was a fiasco.

In 2014, Islamic extremists parading black flags swept across northern Syria and Iraq smashing the Iraqi Army before declaring a Caliphate across a vast area.

In response to 9/11, the US-led invasion of Iraq strengthens Iran's influence across the Middle East and sharpens its rivalry with Saudi Arabia throughout a long and bloody proxy war in Yemen.