USA/ FILE: A new U.S. intelligence report says the war in Iraq has become a primary recruitment vehicle for violent Islamic extremists.

Record ID: 402189

  • Title: USA/ FILE: A new U.S. intelligence report says the war in Iraq has become a primary recruitment vehicle for violent Islamic extremists.
  • Date: 26th September 2006
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (FILE) (REUTERS) U.S FLAG AND EXTERIOR OF WHITE HOUSE
  • Embargoed: 11th October 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA5F42244HX5AXRRUHZTXDF3LQT
  • Story Text: With the U.S. war in Iraq becoming increasingly more difficult, this past weekend the Iraq war took on an added political dimension as a classified intelligence document said Iraq had become the main recruiting tool for the Islamic militant movement. The conclusions of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) - leaked to two newspapers -- appear to contradict the crux of the argument made by President Bush just two weeks ago -- that the war in Iraq has made the U.S. safer from terrorism. The head of U.S. national intelligence, John Negroponte, said the report was taken out of context. "These news stories left the incorrect impression that this NIE dealt principally with the relationship between Iraq and international terrorism. In fact, the estimate provides a broad strategic framework for understanding the trends that will define the primary international terrorist threats to United States interests over the coming five years," said Negroponte at a dinner in Washington Monday evening (September 25).
    P.J. Crowley was a former National Security Advisor to President Clinton. He says extremists are finding in Iraq, some of the resources taken from them in Afghanistan.
    "In Iraq, which had no operational connection to al Qaeda according to the 9-11 Commission - to some extent we have given al Qaeda and the Jihadist movement back some of the tools they had lost from Afghanistan. They now have a new training ground, a new rallying point, a new recruiting tool, and because of the occupation or perceived occupation in Iraq, you're seeing the al Qaeda movement shift from being a relatively small closely knit cadre of veterans from wars in Egypt and wars in Afghanistan, to almost like a global movement where the recent attacks, and recent plots are less al Qaeda supported than al Qaeda inspired. That's the real catalyst that Iraq has given to the Jihadist movement," Crowley said.
    But President Bush has said the war against al Qaeda in Afghanistan, and the war against Saddam Hussein in Iraq are all part of the same global war against extremism, and that a pullout from Iraq would only encourage America's enemies.
    "Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out, the terrorists would leave us alone. They will not leave us alone. They will follow us. The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad. Osama bin Laden calls this fight "the Third World War" -- and he says that victory for the terrorists in Iraq will mean America's "defeat and disgrace forever." If we yield Iraq to men like bin Laden, our enemies will be emboldened; they will gain a new safe haven; they will use Iraq's resources to fuel their extremist movement. We will not allow this to happen. America will stay in the fight. Iraq will be a free nation, and a strong ally in the war on terror," Bush said during an address on September 11, 2006.
    U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte said, in a written statement, that news reports on the NIE characterise "only a small handful" of the conclusions from a broad strategic assessment of global terrorism. The report itself is classified, and not released to the public.
    Dr. James Carafano, Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think-tank, says that it's irresponsible to make conclusions about the report.
    "These are the worst kind of news stories because it's a bunch of people talking about a classified document that nobody's seen, and they're making public policy announcements about where we should or shouldn't take this. You would think that after all the debacle over Iraq and intelligence reports and the assumptions people made and talking about intelligence when they really didn't know the genesis of the intelligence, the scope of the intelligence, the context in which it was made that people wouldn't do this anymore, but instead we have exactly the same old Washington blame game. Somebody takes a report. They take out of it what they want, and they start pronouncing how it confirms everything they have said," Carafano told Reuters.
    No matter the analysis in the NIE, the reality in Iraq is that there are daily attacks, where often times, dozens of people are killed and injured. With mid-term Congressional elections nearing, the White House continues its effort to quell the violence and explain the difficult war effort.
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