The Holy World War: Halfway Through the Crusade Against Muslim Terrorism

The presidency of George W. Bush will go down in history as the era of the clash of civilizations, the confrontation of the United States with the Muslim world. After the attacks of September 11, Bush decided with Texan bravado to go on a crusade and unleashed a small war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, followed by the invasion of Iraq. In between, he conducted a worldwide manhunt against Al-Qaeda, but the leaders remained at large. Behind the scenes, he helped Lebanon rid itself of the Syrians and threatened Iran because of its nuclear program. He supported Pakistan through thick and thin, but he never got a grip on Islamabad. Both Bush and his major opponents – Osama bin Laden and Iranian President Ahmadinejad – spoke of a major confrontation between good and evil and saw the events in an apocalyptic perspective. After seven years, none of the American interventions have been definitively resolved. The holy world war rages on ... VRT journalist Jef Lambrecht has been following the Middle East for years.