Oddly enough, I've never read that one
And now that I've read the synopsis in "The Complete Christie", I think Jessica's right:
(Google "they came to baghdad" "agatha christie encyclopedia" the Google Books link is the third link from the bottom. Then go to the third occurrence of "They Came to Baghdad" in the book; it's the book's listing)

I've thought of the possibility I'm confused too, but I was so certain . . . I am definitely going to follow-up and see if it's "They Came to Baghdad."

GoUSN, I don't think you will re-find this book because I think it does not exist. Maybe it was by a different author.
I know all her books, and the only one that has any resemblance with the plot you're thinking of may be They Came to Baghdad. It was written in 1951 though. But it doesn't really have a country that collapses and the word terrorists does not apply to the bad guys.
It does have a few looneys though who would like to see a new world order.
Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."

The extreme oddity of this is that I've never been able to re-find the book I read having that storyline. I know it was Agatha Christie.

Which one is that? The only Middle East books from the 1930s I can think of are Murder in Mesopotamia and Death on the Nile, and neither fits your description.

They're all good, but my favorites are those featuring Hercules Poirot.
She had another set of detectives, Tommy and Tuppence, who did some pretty interesting sleuthing - and in books written before the 1940s.
One Agatha Christie book involves a countries in the Middle East whose structures collapsed, enabling terrorists to come into the country and establish a base there. The book, written in the 1930s, seemed to foresee the rise of Al Queada and the Taliban.

Most of her pre-1950 books are terrific.
~~
Jim Hutton: talented gorgeous hot hunk; adorable as ElleryQueen; SEXIEST ACTOR EVER

I personally have everything she ever wrote. I love them all: the novels, the plays, the short stories, all of it.
While no one as prolific as Christie can be expected to produce a masterpiece every time, I can honestly say that I never came across anything of Christie's that was not at least good, and most of it is very good, excellent, and a few are masterpieces.
For novels:
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED
THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE
DEATH ON THE NILE
EVIL UNDER THE SUN
APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH
THE HOLLOW
TOWARDS ZERO
FIVE LITTLE PIGS
THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
CURTAIN
THE A.B.C. MURDERS
Plays:
TOWARDS ZERO
THE MOUSETRAP (also read the short story for comparison)
THE HOLLOW
TEN LITTLE INDIANS
APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH
VERDICT
GO BACK FOR MURDER (stage version of FIVE LITTLE PIGS)
WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (also read the short story for comparison)
The short stories are too numerous to name here but they are every bit as good as the novels and the plays.
Never mess with a middle-aged, Bipolar queen with AIDS and an attitude problem!

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The thing about Christie is that most of her stuff is amazing. Naturally, none will top And Then There Were None. That is her classic number one book, but there are plenty others that are just as good.
I know your post is old, and you've probably read the ones you picked out already, but for giggles, I'll still add my favorites (most of these have been made into movies as well, some more successful than others):
Lord Edgware Dies
What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!
(a.k.a
4:50 from Paddington
)
Death on the Nile
(also my favorite movie)
Murder on the Orient Express
The ABC Murders
Cards on the Table
Those are my absolute favs and believe it or not, there is a 4-in-1 book that has
Death on the Nile
,
The ABC Murders
,
Cards on the Table
and
Thirteen at Dinner
, which is economical.
Agatha Christie was my first favorite adult author. I began reading her stuff when I was 10.
Spare me your 6th grade Michael Moore logic! ~ Secretary Heller; 24, Day 4, 7:30:00 a.m.

If you liked The Murder at the Vicarage, I'd also recommend The Thirteen Problems, which is a series of short stories featuring Miss Marple.

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I'm a fan so I plan to read everything she's written regardless if people say it's 'good' or 'bad', lol. I've read about half of her mystery collection (there's eighty something books, I believe) so far and I've enjoyed them all, some more than others, though.

The 1930s and 1940s were her peek years - she still produced some good ones in the 1950s, but after the mid-1960s things were hit-or-miss, with the exception of ENDLESS NIGHT (1967), which was a startling departure for an author by then in her mid-70s: a novel of psychological suspense and quite different from anything she'd done before. The last two novels published, CURTAIN (1975) and SLEEPING MURDER (1976) were written in the 1940s/1950s, so their quality is superior to that of the several novels that preceded them after ENDLESS NIGHT.
"Remind me to tell you about the time I looked into the heart of an artichoke."

Mt top 10 Agatha Christies:

1. And Then There Were None
2. Death On the Nile
3. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
4. Sleeping Murder
5. Five Little Pigs
6. A Murder Is Announced
7. Murder in Mesopotamia
8. Peril At End House
9. Cards On the Table
10. Body In the Library
    "Life after death is as improbable as sex after marriage"- Madeleine Kahn(CLUE, 1985)

Yes, my and brother and I are fans of Agatha Christie and have almost all her books in a number of editions. I'm surprised the above posts haven't mentioned 'Death on the Nile' and 'Evil Under the Sun'. I think these are my favourite and the solutions are very clever - they're also quite easy to read.
The film versions of them are very good also.

At Bertram's Hotel
Cat among the pigeons
..::::..__..::::..
What is mind? - Doesn't matter.
What is matter? - Never mind.

I agree, I much prefer Miss Marple.

I'm not really a hercule poiroit fan but my fav one's are

1. And then there were none
2. The secret adversary
3. Murder on the Orient Express
4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

I love Agatha Christie, she's a great writer, the queen of mystery. A couple of the most famous, and best, are (besides And Then There Were None)-
Murder on the Orient Express
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The ABC Murders
Just give her a chance (every once in a while there's a book that's just a little boring or not quite as developed, but most of hers are excellent), and you should really enjoy her writing, as alot of fans all over the world do.

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