Iraq’s Atomization

The late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may have been the most effective terrorist in history. Zarqawi set out to prove false a premise central to the US invasion of Iraq: the belief that Iraqis are foremost nationalists and only secondarily sectarians. The February bombing of the Askariya shrine, one of Zarqawi’s last attacks, succeeded in provoking sectarian violence that may permanently atomize Iraq.