1967

1973

1979

1981

1983

Israel decimates its neighbors in Six-Day War, leading to huge surge in popularity among American Jews and policy-makers and corresponding decline of nationalist and pan-Arabist thought in Middle East and rise in influence of Islamist thinkers like Sayyid Qutb, who had been executed in Egypt in 1966 for radicalism.

US pulls out of Vietnam; N Vietnam conquers S in 1975; end of Truman Doctrine; US aid to Israel in Yom Kippur War leads to OPEC oil boycott in retaliation, opposition to US among Islamists

Islamist revolution in Iran; hostage crisis; USSR invades Afghanistan; Camp David accords make peace between Israel and Egypt. Carter Doctrine of 1980 in response starts World War IV, according to Bacevich. US decides to "give the Soviets their own Vietnam" by arming mujaheddin and even making jihadi videos.

films: Charlie Wilson's War, Argo, Rambo III

Islamist officers in Egypt assassinate President Anwar Sadat("pharaoh") for making peace with Israel, leading to 30-year "emergency" reign by Hosni Mubarak, dethroned in Arab Spring, 2011; Iran hostages released

attack on Marine barracks in Lebanon, first major suicide bombing, leads to US withdrawal and a general sense that it will fold up its tent rather than fighting (see Bacevich's point about Somalia a decade later)

al Qaeda ("the base") founded in Afghanistan in August; Reagan Doctrine in full force; USSR withdraws from Afghanistan, beginning in spring 1988 and ending in Feb. 1989

films: Invasion USA, Red Dawn, Under Fire, Salvador

Operation Desert Storm quickly drives Iraqi army back into Iraq but does not dislodge Saddam Hussein. US troops stay in Saudi Arabia, the home of the two holiest cities in Islam, enraging Islamists. The next year, Saudi Arabia expels Bin Laden, who moves to Sudan.

films: Jarhead, Three Kings

1993

1994

"Black Hawk Down" mission in Somalia, now believed to have involved members of Al Qaeda, kills 18 US Marines; terrorists attempt to destroy World Trade Center by exploding a car bomb in the basement parking garage. Powell Doctrine: US must have overwhelming force, a clear objective, and an exit strategy when it gets involved in the world

rise of Taliban in Afghanistan

Bin Laden fatwa declares jihad against "Crusaders and Zionists": "The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it"; Al Qaeda bombs US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; US missile strike at Bin Laden in Afghanistan misses by hours