Despite the end of the Cold War, the United States continues to act in a Cold-War manner, building on and spreading its armed services around the globe in the effort to utilize its position as global hegemon to police the world, engage in clandestine imperialist operations, and enhance its position as the world's empire. These endeavors are oftentimes achieved at the direct expense of the peoples and resources of nations around the globe. Behaving in such a destructive manner obviously invites the potential for blowback, or violent repercussions such as 9/11 from those around the world affected by America's actions. Furthermore, throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, the conception of the military-industrial-intelligence complex has become an institution with massive influence over US foreign policy and has crafted all aspects of war into a profitable pursuit. This thesis will use the case of Iraq War II to show how the US uses both its military power and the ideology of "free-market" globalization as both a lucrative pursuit and an instrument of global control while highlighting how the rise of Islamic State is a direct result of United States intervention in foreign events around the world.