The most serious unintended consequence of the war is the emergence of a powerful Shia challenge to the West’s Sunni allies in the Middle East. America’s destruction of Iraq as a regional power handed hegemony in the Persian Gulf – whose centrality to Western interests cannot be overstated – to Iran’s Shia Islamist regime on a silver platter.
人们没有预料到的这一战争最为严重的后果是在中东出现了什叶派穆斯林对于西方逊尼派同盟的强大挑战。美国将伊拉克这一地区强国摧毁，从而把波斯湾的霸权拱手让给了伊朗的什叶派伊斯兰政权。而波斯湾对于西方利益的重要性无以复加。