A classified report by US Intelligence found that the war in Iraq has “spawned new terror” activity and a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terror threat has grown significantly since September 11, 2001 . The National Intelligence Estimate creates a more direct link between the Iraq war and fueling terrorism than earlier reports by the White House or House Intelligence Committee.

An anonymous Intelligence official was quoted saying that “the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse” and rather than being in retreat, terrorism has metastasized and spread across the globe. The report interviewed more than a dozen US officials and outside experts, who all spoke only on condition of anonymity as they were discussing a classified intelligence document, concluded that the Iraq war was a catalyst for the diffusion of jihad. Afghanistan provided the perfect training ground for Islamic terrorists, formerly called “Mujahideen,” to fight the “Evil Empire.” The report says that the Iraq war is being used a training ground to fight the “Great Satan” so terrorists can return to their home countries and therefore “exacerbating domestic conflicts or fomenting radical ideologies.”

Republican lawmakers however argue that despite such reverses the US should continue fighting “this war overseas, or it’s going to be” fought in the US . These kinds of selfish notions is what most nations, friendly or otherwise, object to most—that it is alright to inconvenience and disrupt livelihoods of people in other parts of the world as long the lives of the US population remains unaffected. The Democrats have been trying to capitalize on these reports by calling for the “final nail in the coffin for President Bush's phoney argument about the Iraq war.”