Updated: New York, Jul 17 16:08London, Jul 17 21:08Tokyo, Jul 18 05:08
Al-Qaeda May Use Iraq Tactics in U.S., Report Says (Update4)
By Jeff Bliss
Homeland Security's Frances Townsend talks about report July 17 (Bloomberg) -- Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist organization may use tactics honed in Iraq to launch an attack in the U.S., according to domestic intelligence agencies.
The group ``is and will remain the most serious terrorist threat to the homeland as its central leadership continues to plan high-impact plots while pushing' other extremist Islamic terrorists to ``mimic its efforts,' the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies said in a report released today in Washington.
``As a result, we judge that the United States currently is in a heightened threat environment,' the agencies reported.
The report comes almost six years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan with the express purpose of wiping out al-Qaeda after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S.
The findings show that the Bush administration was wrong to move forces from Afghanistan to invade Iraq, said Representative Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
``We should have concentrated our efforts on al-Qaeda in Afghanistan from the beginning,' Skelton, a Democrat from Missouri, said in an e-mailed statement. ``We must responsibly redeploy our troops out of Iraq' and ``concentrate our efforts on Afghanistan and the al-Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11.'
Haven in Pakistan
The report says al-Qaeda is gaining strength in the ``safe haven' it has established in tribal areas in western Pakistan along the Afghan border and is putting in place a stable leadership with top lieutenants.
Senior intelligence officials, in a briefing for reporters, said agreements that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf made with tribal leaders backfired, and Musharraf hasn't shown the ability or will to evict the terrorists.
``The existence of this safe haven is critical to al-Qaeda's capability to plan, to train, to organize,' said Thomas Fingar, the top U.S. intelligence analyst. Al-Qaeda can ``hide in plain sight because of sympathy for the ideology, for the groups, for the goals among the local population,' he said.
This resurgence is a reversal of al-Qaeda's condition after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell said.
``They were close to being destroyed,' he said in a speech to intelligence professionals today in Washington.
Debate in Congress
The report says that al-Qaeda's association with its affiliate, ``al-Qaeda in Iraq,' will help it raise money and recruit and indoctrinate terrorist operatives.
The finding that al-Qaeda will leverage ``contacts and capabilities' gained in Iraq to attempt attacks on U.S. soil is released as President George W. Bush tries to fend off efforts by Democrats and a growing number of Republicans in Congress to set conditions for withdrawing troops from Iraq.
House Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam of Florida said the report shows the need to keep fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq ``has explicitly stated its intent to launch devastating attacks on our homeland,' Putnam said in an e-mailed statement. ``This is certainly not the time for our resolve to give way to timidity.'
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