Following the attacks of September 11th, 2001 in New York, The United States declared the War on Terrorism. During this time the United States, along with its NATO allies (such as Great Britan), invaded Afghanistan and Iraq.
28 Days Later[]
Prior to the Rage virus outbreak in the U.K., Clint Harris and Derrick had reported from numerous war-torn countries in the Middle East. One of these countries was Iraq, where Derrick had a near-death experience after being captured by an Insurgent Group Crescent Jihad Faction. The conflicts in the Middle East are also mentioned briefly by Harris during a conversation with Selena.
Trivia[]
- Following the Rage Outbreak in Europe (both the U.K. and eventually mainland Europe), it is likely that the War on Terror may have taken a completely different turn as the majority of NATO's member states such as Britan, and eventually, all European nations with forces in Afghanistan (and in some cases Iraq) are forced to pull their forces out of the Middle East altogether to deal with the growing crisis on the continent. Such a scenario would leave the U.S. to deal with terrorists or insurgency groups by itself.
- Some terrorist organizations (e.g. Al-Qaeda) may claim responsibility for the Rage virus outbreak. This would be unlikely (as pointed out by Derrick following a conversation with a CDC scientist on the flight to London) that no terrorist organization has the resources of any kind to create something as lethal as Rage.
- With the reconstruction and the cleanup operation of the U.K. taking precedence, the U.S. Army may have to either scale down or abandon military operations in the Middle East altogether (as a result the war in Iraq could have ended much earlier than expected). The latter may become a possibility following the eventual outbreak in Mainland Europe.
- It is also likely that some terrorist organizations may attempt to infiltrate the U.K. post-collapse for samples of Rage (for usage in possible bio-terrorist attacks). Another possibility is the pillaging of abandoned weapons and ammunition. Guns left behind by deceased British Army or armed police units would be scattered all over the country - particularly at abandoned checkpoints, blockades, army bases or police stations. This would be unlikely to happen as the NATO enforced quarantine would have made access to the British Isles impossible.