PONARS Policy Memo 325 - The Challenge of Terrorism in Post-Saddam Iraq: A View from Russia

Although terrorism was one of the least plausible causes for the recent U.S. war in Iraq and there was a surprising lack of terrorist acts aimed against the United States or U.S. interests during the war, the predicted upsurge of terrorist attacks in postwar Iraq occurred sooner than many expected. Terrorism generated by the conflict in Iraq might have been overshadowed by a stronger and more massive form of resistance—an uprising against the occupying forces that has gone beyond both terrorism and guerrilla warfare— but remains a long-term security problem whose potential negative regional and international ramifications may well exceed those of Afghanistan.