# The seven countries argument > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "The seven countries argument," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-seven-countries-argument/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's dissent from the claim that America's post-2001 wars were fought on Israel's behalf. Taking the list of seven countries country by country, he argues Libya, Somalia and Afghanistan were American decisions made for American reasons, and concludes that the United States cannot blame all of its problems on Israel.* - **The claim examined:** That the seven regime-change wars were fought for Israel - **Kiriakou's position:** American interests and Israeli interests intersect; the decisions were American - **Libya:** "No threat to Israel. Never was, never would be" - **Afghanistan:** "For a while that was a righteous war" - **The line:** "We can't blame all of our problems on Israel" **The seven countries argument** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s dissent from the position that the American wars of the past quarter-century, the list of seven countries whose governments [Benjamin Netanyahu](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/benjamin-netanyahu) is said to have wanted removed, were fought on Israel's behalf. It was put to him during the [2026 Iran war](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/2026-iran-war) that America had started those wars for Israel; he took the list apart country by country.[1] *"Look at them independently,"* he answered. *"Libya was no threat to Israel. Never. Never was, never would be. Libya was a thorn in the side of the United States. The US didn't overthrow and kill Gaddafi for Israel. We did it for ourselves."*[1] Pressed that Gaddafi's plan to decouple oil from the dollar was the real trigger, Kiriakou agreed and said that was his point exactly: *"That was a threat to the American economy. We didn't need the Israelis to egg us on to overthrow Gaddafi."*[2][3] Somalia he treated the same way, *"no threat to Israel at all. Never was"*, but a threat to the United States, or at least to American commerce.[4] ## Afghanistan Afghanistan draws his one partial defence of an American war. *"For a while that was a righteous war. It was a war to destroy al-Qaeda."* What followed was not: *"It morphed into this never-ending war against the Taliban, who had never attacked the United States."*[4] Israeli preference was not the driver: *"It's not that the Israelis wanted us to. It certainly was in Israel's interest, but that was the United States all the way."*[2] ## The conclusion Kiriakou states his own position before drawing the moral, so that the argument is not mistaken for a defence: *"I am not a fan of Israel. I am even less of a fan of Israeli leadership, but we can't blame all of our problems on Israel. We can blame the United States for its mistakes, too."*[2] He does not dispute the influence itself. Told that Israel had held a strong grip on American politicians for thirty years, he agreed, *"I'm not denying that American and Israeli interests intersect"*, while maintaining that on those seven countries *"the US had in their own national interests reasons to overthrow them."*[5] ## See also - [Greater Israel](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/greater-israel) - [Israel-United States relations](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/israel-united-states-relations) - [The Saudi request on Gaddafi](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-saudi-request-on-gaddafi) - [Syria as a regime-change template](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/syria-regime-change-template) ## Sources 1. JOHN KIRIAKOU: Israel’s “Samson Option” Is Real (2026-03-31), at 05:04. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQvN03PMpYc&t=304s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-31-unfiltered-with-s-a-m-john-kiriakou-israel-s-samson-option-is-real/ 2. JOHN KIRIAKOU: Israel’s “Samson Option” Is Real (2026-03-31), at 06:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQvN03PMpYc&t=368s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-31-unfiltered-with-s-a-m-john-kiriakou-israel-s-samson-option-is-real/ 3. JOHN KIRIAKOU: Israel’s “Samson Option” Is Real (2026-03-31), at 06:41. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQvN03PMpYc&t=401s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-31-unfiltered-with-s-a-m-john-kiriakou-israel-s-samson-option-is-real/ 4. JOHN KIRIAKOU: Israel’s “Samson Option” Is Real (2026-03-31), at 05:37. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQvN03PMpYc&t=337s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-31-unfiltered-with-s-a-m-john-kiriakou-israel-s-samson-option-is-real/ 5. JOHN KIRIAKOU: Israel’s “Samson Option” Is Real (2026-03-31), at 07:18. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQvN03PMpYc&t=438s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-31-unfiltered-with-s-a-m-john-kiriakou-israel-s-samson-option-is-real/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-seven-countries-argument/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt