Al Queda First grew to prominence and influence after America meddling in afghanistan and now they get a membership boost due to US actions in Iraq.
Not only did Bin Laden receive funding, training, and more from the CIA, but our abandonment of the country after the USSR's retreat is the reason the Taliban rose to power.
As for Iraq, much of the chemical weapons used by Hussein against Iran and the Kurds were purchased from the US. Also, as late as 9 months before Hussein invaded Kuwait, Bush Sr. pushed through another $1 billion in aid, despite knowing full well what the money was being used to fund. Next we can talk about the devastating economic sanctions, which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Iraq.
You would think the american government would learn that they are, rather than fighting terrorism, helping its recruitment drives instead.
It's almost as if they know exactly what they're doing, which is even more frightening. I mean, what's the point of basing nearly a quarter of the country's economy on arms production if there's no intention of using or selling them?