Gen. David Petraeus asserted Wednesday that al Qaeda leaders have made Iraq their “central front of al Qaeda’s global war of terror.”
Speaking at the National Press Club after two days of tense testimony before four congressional committees, the top commander in Iraq said intercepted communications from al Qaeda headquarters in Pakistan show that the terror group has made winning in Iraq its top priority.
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He said the CIA and the nation’s top battlefield terrorists hunter, Army Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who heads U.S. Joint Special Operations Command, agree that Iraq is al Qaeda’s “central front.”
Sharp differences exist between Democrats and the White House on the impact of al Qaeda in Iraq. President Bush has said fighting terrorists in Iraq is better than fighting them at home. Democrats say al Qaeda never would have come to Iraq if theUnited States had not invaded in 2003.
Sen. Barack Obama, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, said at a hearing Tuesday that the invasion spurred “the creation of an environment in which al Qaeda in Iraq could operate, because it didn’t exist prior to our invasion.”
Other Democrats say the Iraq conflict draws military assets away from Afghanistan, where al Qaeda operates. Some say terrorists will leave Iraq once the United States exits. Petraeus said al Qaeda’s ambition to win in Iraq is one reason his command has devoted so many counter-terror operations to destroying terror cells since the surge of U.S. troops began in February.
“They’re much more on the run than they have been at any time that I can recall since they really established themselves in Iraq,” the four-star general said.
Commanders believe they have chased most al Qaeda cells from Anbar Province, Baghdad and Baquba, north of the capital. The group is trying to create a base in the northern city of Mosul, Petraeus said.
President Bush is expected to tell the nation tonight that he has accepted Petraeus’ recommendation to end the troop surge by next July with the removal of about 30,000 troops, leaving a force of about 132,000 in late 2008.
