The United States remained rational in attacking Afghanistan because it was an incontestable breeding ground for Islamist terrorism.

On the other hand, by invading Saddam Hussein’s weakened Iraq without having been able to show its links to al-Qaeda, President Bush fell into the trap that was set for him. He aggravated his case by making the Guantanamo Bay camp a zone excluded from the law. Not only did he thus provide recruits for his enemies, but he also succeeded in getting a Muslim extremist elected in Tehran.