The 2003 Asia Pacific Security Outlook (APSO) reported that the overall outlook for the region was “bleaker” even though large power relationships in Asia and the Pacific were as healthy as they have ever been. It appeared to us that crises in Iraq and North Korea, both casting long shadows on the outlook and creating anxieties in the region, would come to a head in the early part of 2003. This turned out to be true for Iraq, but regional repercussions were less than many had feared. There were no large demonstrations or threats to social stability in the Muslim countries of the region. The Muslim governments by and large were able to walk the fine line of being critical of aspects of the U.S. policy without alienating the United States. This was partly because they were committed to fighting terrorism at home and cooperating on intelligence, thus contributing to the war on terrorism in their own way. Japan and South Korea also performed careful balancing acts, with leaders of both countries promising to contribute troops for the reconstruction phase in Iraq—when they would be more wanted and needed—after the conventional fighting had ceased. However, the Iraq war reinforced negative stereotypes around the region of a United States that is interventionist and unilateralist (the questionnaire of our analyst team indicated strong agreement with the statement that “U.S. policy is unilateral”).