Iraq War Responsible for Increased Terror Threat

The latest National Intelligence Estimate blames the Iraq War for the expansion of terrorist threats.  According to the consensus gathered from 16 intelligence agencies, “jihadism” has increased since Sept. 11, 2001, due especially to the war in Iraq.

New York Times:

The classified National Intelligence Estimate attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington involved in preparing the assessment or who have read the final document.

The intelligence estimate, completed in April, is the first formal appraisal of global terrorism by United States intelligence agencies since the Iraq war began, and represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government. Titled Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States, it asserts that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread across the globe.

An opening section of the report, Indicators of the Spread of the Global Jihadist Movement, cites the Iraq war as a reason for the diffusion of jihad ideology.

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