One motive, said Juan Cole, a professor of Middle East history at the University of Michigan, is to frighten Americans, especially the nongovernmental groups and the population of some 25,000 civilian contractors -- mainly security personnel -- working in Iraq who provide a sizable armed "auxiliary" to the U.S. military and the Coalition Provisional Authority.
"The reason this video was made was an attempt to destroy that auxiliary, " Cole said. "It's not going to scare the U.S. troops out of the country, and it's not going to get rid of the CPA. But there are a lot of (nongovernmental organizations) and contractors that are going to decide this is not the time to be doing business in Iraq."
"The reason this video was made was an attempt to destroy that auxiliary, " Cole said. "It's not going to scare the U.S. troops out of the country, and it's not going to get rid of the CPA. But there are a lot of (nongovernmental organizations) and contractors that are going to decide this is not the time to be doing business in Iraq."
