The seven countries argument is 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 is said to have wanted removed — were fought on Israel’s behalf. It was put to him during the 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]