Iraq’s chaos: “Iraq is overridden with partisan warfare by former regime loyalists, organized rebellions by disgruntled Iraqis, terrorism by foreign and domestic Islamist extremists, and a wave of crime by organized gangs.1 Rather than an all-out war of national liberation against coalition forces and Iraqi authorities, groups with nothing in common—except the demand that the coalition leave—are fighting against U.S. forces in an insurgency that spikes and ebbs. We may also see different ethnic or sectarian groups pitted against one another in a massive fight over who gets what, and when and how. Signs of such multi-layered conflict do not augur well for Iraq’s future stability.

…The insurgency can evolve, and indeed, from the vantage point of summer 2004 appears to be evolving, into patterns of complex warfare and violence. Should this evolution continue, the prospects for American success in bringing about Iraqi security, political stability, and reconstruction will be nonexistent.” — Ahmed S. Hashim, a professor of strategic studies at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island; he returned from Iraq in April 2004 (Boston Review)