Talks
The Wars of 9/11
by General Sir Robert Fry
Date: Saturday 23 November 2024
The wars that started as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Centre on 11th September 2001, including the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, proved divisive and inconclusive and have defined the time in which we live.
The wars that started in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks represented a complete break with the classical strategic traditions of the previous 200 years. Their conduct proved divisive and inconclusive and leave a legacy that includes militant jihadism, confessional war within Islam and the accelerated failure of the West. They are the events that have defined the time in which we live.
Sir Robert Fry is a Sherborne resident and former Royal Marine. He was Director of Operations in the MoD 2003 – 6, deputy commander of coalition forces in Iraq in 2006 and a subsequent witness to the Chilcott Inquiry. After military service he became a Vice President of Hewlett Packard and chair of a number of companies. He has held visiting posts at Oxford & Reading Universities and remains a visiting professor at King’s College, London. He has written extensively on strategic issues and was an early trustee of Help for Heroes.
