Iraqi Invasion Reverberates Across The Middle East by Robert Fisk

The reality is that the Iraqi invasion now reverberates across the Middle East. Hariri was the leading proponent of a Syrian military withdrawal - which the US supports, primarily because it holds Damascus responsible for helping Iraqi insurgents. Lebanese officials have even claimed privately that Hariri’s friendship with the Iraqi interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi - himself half-Lebanese - brought about his death, a suggestion which neither the Americans nor the UN takes seriously.

Now the smaller Arab nations of the Gulf await the next assault - which no amount of expatriates and foreign soldiers can protect from al-Qa’ida.