Qaddafi’s Ghost Haunts the White House’s War With Iran

Newsweek · Tom O'Connor · 2026-10-20 09:00 UTC

A former intelligence official warned the U.S. military's limits are "also failing in Iran and at far greater cost to America."

Fifteen years after Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi died in a rebellion backed by NATO airpower, his ghost looms over President Donald Trump’s war in Iran.

In some ways, the chaos and conflict mismanagement that followed the slaying of Libya's Muammar el-Qaddafi in October 2011 helped pave Trump's path to power.

An explosion of migration across the Mediterranean to Europe, the deadly storming of a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi and a swell of anti-establishment sentiments directly link the death of Qaddafi to the political triumph of Trump five years later.

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