The War of All Against All

Thomas Hobbes once described life as a "war of all against all." Nowhere is that observation closer to being true than in the situation in Iraq. Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi has issued a threat to neighboring Shi'a Iran to stop its support for Iraqi Shi'a militias or face attacks herself. In a 50 minute video address, the militant also warned Sunni and Arab business interests in Iran to break off ties and gave them two months to extricate themselves. Baghdadi went on to chastise Iraqi Kurdish leaders for their collaboration with the Iraq Shi'a-dominated government, highlighting his remarks with claims that his group has carried out two bombings in Kurdistan. Bringing the Iraq situation even nearer to the Hobbesian formulation are recent reports that indicate that Turkey has massed approximately 140,000 on its border with Iraq perhaps in anticipation of a move by Turkey to quash the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is believed to have carried out terrorist attacks in Turkey and reportedly uses the northern Iraqi mountains as sanctuary from Turkish reprisals.

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