After the War in Iraq: Defining the New Strategic Balance

In the immediate aftermath of the war in Iraq certain basic implications for the region are already apparent, though their intensity will become clear only in the future. The fall of Saddam’s regime and Iraq’s strategic decline have signficantly weakened the group of radical countries in the Middle East and are likely to buttress the region’s moderate states. Iraq has been stripped of its military power, including conventional and WMD capabiltiies, which not only limits the threat Iraq poses to the region, but may also slow down the Middle East arms race. The Iraqi crisis has illustrated again the weaknes of the Arab world and its inter-state schisms, while at the same time dramatically increasing United States involvement in the Middle East.