Twenty years after the events of September 11, 2001, America launched the Global War on Terror, committing vast resources to eliminate Islamic terrorists and their supporters, moving from Afghanistan to Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, and beyond. In Iraq, the United States is down to 2,500 troops, surrounded by Iranian-funded Shiite militia, reflecting the ongoing challenges and unresolved conflicts in the region. Despite declarations of victory over the years, the situation in Iraq and other areas does not convey a clear sense of triumph, as America continues to grapple with the consequences of its military engagements.

In the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center, American forces shifted focus from operations in Afghanistan to an invasion of Iraq that swiftly dismantled the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein. Coalition troops captured the Iraqi leader, enabling the establishment of a new government amid internal conflicts and persistent violence. The prolonged presence of these forces, primarily American, drew accusations of imperialism and misconduct, fueling domestic debates that framed the Iraq campaign as an extension of the broader War on Terror against radical Muslim jihadists. Political divisions intensified as the Iraq effort became central to electoral contests, prompting an infusion of additional troops intended to stabilize hotspots and support the emerging Iraqi administration while preparing for eventual reductions in force levels. This development illustrated both the challenges of maintaining perspective amid partisan disputes and the tangible gains achieved, including the elimination of Saddam Hussein's regime as part of efforts against the Axis of Evil. Such outcomes reinforced the need for resolve in confronting terrorism, offering a parallel for spiritual perseverance where incremental successes encourage continued overcoming despite surrounding difficulties.

Iraq stands at the center of an impending international clash as the American administration pushes for action against Saddam Hussein's regime while France, China, and Russia oppose any use of force. Although these nations approved U.N. Resolution 1441, which bars Iraq from possessing or obtaining weapons of mass destruction and outlines consequences for noncompliance, they now favor containment over defeat. France maintains extensive economic interests in Iraq, including major contracts funded by Paris and profitable oil-for-food transactions that allow inexpensive oil purchases. Germany and France both supplied critical assistance for Iraq's nuclear weapons program, with Germany providing knowledge and equipment for uranium processing to weapons-grade levels and France delivering tons of uranium ore. The United States likewise contributed chemical and biological support in earlier decades. Iraq remains under the control of a ruthless dictator who has used chemical weapons against his own people and seeks regional dominance modeled after Nebuchadnezzar. The United States and Britain helped enable Saddam's rise through financial, military, and political support, while also pursuing access to Iraq's oil resources. China and Russia resist American aims in order to limit further expansion of United States influence. Jesus' Olivet Prophecy links such deception and war to subsequent famines, pestilences, and the onset of greater tribulations, underscoring the need to focus on the actions of nations rather than their statements in order to discern the larger prophetic pattern.

Iraq figures centrally in the rise of the group that has become known as the Islamic State, an organization originally formed in 1999 and commonly identified as al-Qaeda in Iraq. This Sunni Muslim jihadist group holds an extreme originalist interpretation of Islam, encourages religious violence, and regards all who disagree with its beliefs as infidels or apostates. It played a substantial role during the Iraq War, though its harsh rule eventually alienated many Iraqis. Under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group rebuilt its numbers and regained support within Iraq before expanding into Syria, where it entered the civil war and attacked government and military targets. Together, Iraq and Syria now host an estimated 80,000 fighters under the group's control, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Islamic State's ambitions are embedded in its very name: it seeks to bring as many Islamic regions of the world as possible under its political control in the form of a caliphate, led by a supreme religious and political successor to Muhammad. It considers itself to have made major progress toward this goal, having proclaimed a caliphate on June 29, 2014, with al-Baghdadi named as caliph, now titled Amir al-Mu'minin Caliph Ibrahim. The group's motto, Remaining and Expanding, reflects its determination to press further. Its territorial gains in Iraq have brought it to the very edge of Saudi Arabia, with nothing but sand separating it from the Saudi border, raising concern that it may next set its sights on the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Within the territories it controls in Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State enforces its interpretation of sharia law under penalty of death, torture, or mutilation. It has committed war crimes and mass atrocities amid the turmoil of civil strife in both countries, showing particular cruelty toward Shia Muslims and Christians, and has been accused of ethnic cleansing against the Yazidis of northern Iraq. Executions of enemy combatants and civilians, along with the abduction and rape of women and girls, are described as routine practices. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel characterized ISIS fighters as barbaric, stating that they have no standard of decency or responsible human behavior. This brutality reached a point of global shock with the beheading of American journalist James Foley, intended to pressure President Obama into halting airstrikes against the Islamic State, followed weeks later by the beheading of a second American journalist, Steven Sotloff, whose masked executioner explicitly threatened continued violence in response to American bombings, including strikes near Mosul Dam in Iraq. These events, rooted in the group's continued operations within Iraqi territory, have driven a majority of Americans to support military action against the Islamic State, even as doubts remain about how effectively any international coalition can confront a jihadist movement now backed by state-like power and resources.