Davos, Switzerland ? The war in Iraq has become a homing beacon for Islamic militancy, threatening to destabilize neighboring countries and embolden terrorists to attack elsewhere, a senior RAND Corp. analyst told business and political elites Saturday at the World Economic Forum.

The head of Human Rights Watch echoed that sentiment, warning high-profile abuse scandals such as Abu Ghraib have become the “recruitment poster” for terrorists around the globe.

“In terms of perception, we’ve already lost the war,” said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism analyst who heads the Washington office of RAND Corp., a think tank known for its problem-solving research. “I believe that a cult of the insurgent has emerged from Iraq.”

Hoffman did not say whether he thought the 2003 invasion was justified, but did criticize the Bush administration for failing to consider its consequences. He said the success of the insurgency had shown potential terrorists everywhere how best to defeat a superpower. That, he added, will come back to haunt the West.

“The insurgents have been able to inflict a degree of pain on the United States military, the most vaunted military in the world, that Saddam Hussein’s conventional forces couldn’t have achieved,” Hoffman said.

Kenneth Roth, the chairman of Human Rights Watch and member of a panel looking at the state of global terrorism, cautioned that human rights violations in Iraq also are likely to spur more bloodshed.

“The pictures from Abu Ghraib have become the recruitment posters for terrorists around the world,” said Roth, referring to photographs of Iraqi prisoners being abused by American jailers.