The 'war on terror' has proven to be a mixed bag

This is a great piece from The Daily Star, a pan-Middle East English language newspaper edited in Beirut, outlining the "mixed bag" called the "war on terror."

Seven years on, America's war on terror is a mixed bag. The situation reflects neither the substantial fear of further assaults that existed immediately after 9/11 nor the misplaced optimism that suggested the United States could radically transform the broader Middle East, as Ronald Reagan had brought about the collapse of the Soviet bloc. Patterned on the Western diplomacy that ended communism, President George W. Bush's Middle East democracy initiative began in late 2003 when the White House mistakenly believed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were largely won. The impetus for that effort came chiefly from the White House, as former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith explains in his book "War and Decision." The president was drawn to the idea, and Condoleezza Rice saw the Arabs as an oppressed people whose circumstances resembled those of blacks in the segregated south, her biographer Elizabeth Bumiller relates...

Yet the Middle East is neither the Soviet bloc nor the American south, and the US call for democratic change really only resonated in one Arab country - Lebanon, the most Westernized. And even this one success was significantly set back when Washington failed to support the March 14 coalition against Syrian and Iranian subversion. After the democracy initiative helped produce a Hamas victory in the Palestinian territories in January 2006, it was set aside in large part.

Blast Targeting Lebanese Army Kills 5

Shaker al-Abssi, leader of Fatah al-Islam

Fatah al-Islam, a Sunni extremist organization with ties to Al Qaeda, is being blamed for this bombing. This is probably a result of the Shia Hezbollah's greater influence in Lebanon and, to use a term that should be revived in the American vernacular, jives with the June 2008 statement made by Shaker al-Abssi, leader of Fatah al-Islam, criticizing Shiites in Lebanon and claiming that the U.S. supports Shiites in Iran and Iraq. Can you feel the love? Here is an excerpt from The Washington Post:

A car bomb exploded near a military bus in the northern city of Tripoli on Monday, killing five people, including four soldiers, and injuring more than 30.

The bombing revived worries about the presence of militant Islamist groups in the city, where government forces last year battled a group with alleged links to al-Qaeda.

Monday's attack, the second to target the army in Tripoli in less than six weeks, took place during the morning rush hour on a road leading to several schools. Security officials said the bomb was placed in a private Renault sedan and was detonated by remote control.

The attack occurred two days after a bombing in Damascus, the Syrian capital, but Lebanese leaders discounted the possibility of a connection...

As in a similar bombing on Aug. 13 that left 14 dead, including nine soldiers, observers blamed Fatah al-Islam, an Islamist group that battled Lebanese forces for 15 weeks last year. The army eventually prevailed, but some members of the group were not apprehended.

For some more background:
Radical Group Pulls In Sunnis As Lebanon's Muslims Polarize