Regional Rise of the Al Qaeda Threat Following the Iraq War

Abstract

This chapter demonstrates examines that the Iraq War caused Al Qaeda to conduct acts of terror across the Persian Gulf, but particularly in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The research finds that pro-US Saudi Arabia, which is strongly influenced by its Sunni identity, is not considered sufficiently Islamic by Al Qaeda. Both the state and public are threatened by Al Qaeda’s acts of terror. Following the war, regional geopolitics have inextricably linked sectarian conflict to terror, with Al Qaeda supporting radical Iraqi Sunnis who conduct acts of terror against both Shia political figures and the public at large. Acts of terror perpetrated by the bodyguards of Sunni Tariq Al-Hashemi—the then vice President of Iraq—against Shia political figures are one such an example of this form of societal threats.