Is Iraq Part of the War on Terror?

Echoing the president, Zarate focused on the evidence that Al Qaeda in Iraq works as part of the broader movement. He noted that al Qaeda’s senior leadership has described it as the central battleground in the war and that victory there is a central element of bin Laden’s vision. Al Qaeda in Iraq was founded by a Jordanian, is headed by an Egyptian and takes direction from leaders bin Laden and Zawahiri, he said. When we turned to the Q&A, NZ Bear of Victory Caucus asked why we are not going after al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan more aggressively. Zarate said that “we have been going after them”–in close partnership with Pakistan. In cases where they are operating within Pakistan’s sovereign territory, the government has worked with the Pakistani army–but the policy has not been “that we don’t go after them.” Zarate said that our strategy and the policy of the Pakistani government have been extraordinarily successful. At best, that’s an ‘eye of the beholder’ claim, considering the inability of the Musharraf regime to clear some areas of the country of al Qaeda, the regime’s reluctance to allow U.S. strikes in those areas, and the overall unstable nature of the Musharraf government. Blake Dvorak of Real Clear Politics next asked about the influence of Iran in Iraq. Zarate said that the president believes that Iran is a “primary accelerant,” and that Iranian involvement in Iraq needs to stop. To that end, the military has detained Iranians in Iraq, including an Iranian intelligence agent who was part of Hezbollah. In the long term, stability in Iraq is to the benefit to Iran, Zarate said, but we wonder if that is true. Paul Mirengoff asked about the ‘diminishing returns’ from speeches by the president, and whether the media and the public will see more of Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus making the case for the war. Zarate’s response was that they’re speaking out on a daily basis. They’re making the case that Al Qaeda is growing more marginalized, and is back on its heels with regard to local popular pressure. He reminded us that Zawahiri pressured Zarqawi several years ago not to offend the local population, and that is what we’re seeing now. The WWS asked about the assertion by Congressional Democrats last week that the administration is ‘moving the goalposts.’ Zarate argued that the White House is doing no such thing — but said that “weneed time to see the effects of this and we need time to be successful… to simply pull out and not allow us collectively–the American people, the Iraqis and our allies–to bring this to full fruition is a mistake.” McQ asked if we are slowing the ability to bring in foreign fighters across the border from Syria? Zarate really keyed on this question, saying that “the flow through Syria is a major area of focus.” He said that Damascus is the only obvious choke point to stop foreign fighters. Because it is critical that they be stopped, the U.S. will increasingly turn to allies in the region as we confront this more aggressively. The U.S. will put more pressure on the Syrian government, as we make the case that Syria will ultimately be threatened by the foreign fighters they are allowing to move through their territory. The WWS also asked about the NY Times poll showing support for the war climbing slightly, and got the expected response: “we don’t track polls.” But Zarate said it may be a reaction by the American people to the message about the threat posed by a lethal dictator, who was also a state sponsor of terror. It’s all part of the argument according to Zarate, that “regardless of whether you think it was a smart idea to go into Iraq, the reality is that AQ is there now and we cannot simply turn our backs on Iraq and walk away.”