When major combat operations ended in Iraq in March 2003, victory was declared but a bigger and much harder 'war' ensued - an ideology war. In the West, the tenuous support for the war, built upon a now perceived nebulous threat of weapons of mass destruction, had begun to wane. With this as momentum, an insurgency rose up against the forces 'occupying' Iraq and the 'stabilization operations' quickly dissolved in irregular warfare. A 'jihad' of convenience evolved, and Iraq became the major front in the Global War on Terrorism.