One of the most significant developments since 9/11 is the way in which Iraq, rather than developing into a model of a ‘new' Middle East, has degenerated into a battleground for extremism and sectarian violence. One of the reasons cited by the Western allies for the attack on Iraq was the possibility of a terrorist threat, with the war presented as a continuation of the Afghan campaign -- part of a single extended effort to eradicate the threat from al-Qaeda. However, one of the effects of the Iraq conflict was that al-Qaeda supporters were provided with a base from which they could engage with their enemies after they had been denied the Afghan arena with the fall of the Taliban regime. And while al-Qaeda supporters are only one player among many in Iraq, nevertheless their involvement in the conflict kept al-Qaeda's name on the agenda in what is seen by many in the region and the wider Muslim world as ‘resistance' to US occupation, although Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's extreme tactics and videotaped beheadings alienated many who had previously sympathized with al-Qaeda.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2006/09/useful-link-chatham-house/7437/
