Those who follow the geo-politics quite closely may be feeling a bit disdained by the ugly turn of events in the middle east. When the third gulf war started in March 2003 there were couple of objectives that the US had in mind, firstly get rid of Saddam Hussein & secondly to make Iraq as a beacon of hope & democracy in the autocratic & theocratic middle east (never mind the WMD's, they were never a reason).
It has been a brutal & tumultuous 4 years for the region & though Saddam is no more, the region is slowly becoming a nemesis for the coalition. The situation on the ground is unravelling into myriad battlegrounds where the enemy is different in each of them or most of the times its unknown. Iraq post-surge is still as ungoverned and deadly as it was last year end, if not worse. There are subtle indications that things are going to get much worse in the region before they get any better. Shiite and Kurdish are now acting in unison against the Sunnis in north of Baghdad. There is a strong possibility of Turkey making an incursion in northern Iraq to quell the Kurdish insurrection that is definitely bound make the situation more complex. Several Al Queada affiliated organizations are battling it out real hard with Lebanese forces in Palestine refugee camps, meanwhile another anti-Syria politician is killed in Beirut. There are also reports that Syria may be preparing for a war with Israel, and though Israel can easily shrug off Syria in a convention warfare, in an as-symmetrical battlefield (with Hezbolla and Hamas) Syria may just be able to bring Israel to the negotiating table for Golan Heights. Elsewhere Hamas has taken over Gaza strip practically diving the fledgling Palestine state into two & opening up room for more bloodshed in West Bank where Fatah is strong.
The signs don't augur well for the region and definitely things can go much worse with the Iranian connection to all these muck going around. The region is pretty much sitting on a tinder-box right now. So much for the beacon of democracy radiating out the virtues of people rule, Iraq has become a focal point and the breeding grounds for the extremists in the region spilling weapons and fighters for region and far.
