Iraq War Breeds Muslim `Resentment,' U.S. Report Says

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By Brendan Murray and Roger Runningen
Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The conflict in Iraq is breeding a new generation of terrorist leaders and feeding resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world, an intelligence assessment released tonight by the Bush administration says.
President George W. Bush ordered declassification of the ``key judgments'' from an April National Intelligence Estimate after disclosure of the document brought renewed criticism of his policies in Iraq.
The four-page document, posted on the Web site of the Director of National Intelligence, says that while U.S. counterterrorism efforts have ``seriously damaged'' al-Qaeda's leadership, the terrorist movement is growing and the threat of attacks worldwide will increase if current trends continue.
``The global jihadist movement -- which includes al-Qaeda, affiliated and independent terrorist groups, and emerging networks and cells -- is spreading and adapting to counterterrorism efforts,'' according to the summary of the report's findings.
Release of the document comes six weeks before congressional elections in which Democrats and Republicans are making national security a central issue. Democrats have seized on the assessment, a consensus of intelligence analysts from 16 federal agencies including the Central intelligence Agency, to advance their argument that the war in Iraq has made the U.S. less safe.
Bush has countered that Iraq is a central front in the war against terrorism and a defeat for extremists there will be a serious blow to terrorists worldwide.
Recruiting Tool
The report portrays the conflict in Iraq as a potent draw for terrorists globally.
``The Iraq conflict has become a `cause celebre' for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement,'' it says.
At a White House news conference earlier in the day at which he announced release of a portion of the assessment, Bush said he wasn't surprised that terrorists were exploiting the situation in Iraq.
``They're using it as a recruitment tool because they understand the stakes,'' he said.
To believe that radicals would fade away if the U.S. wasn't in Iraq is to ``ignore 20 years of experience,'' Bush said, citing the Sept. 11 attacks and other strikes against the U.S.
``If we weren't in Iraq, they'd find some other excuse, because they have ambitions,'' Bush said. ``They kill in order to achieve their objectives.''
Other Factors
The assessment also cites other factors fueling the growth of terrorist movements, including corruption and injustice in many countries, the slow pace of economic, social and political reforms in predominantly Muslim countries and ``pervasive anti- U.S. sentiment among most Muslims.''
It warns that the dispersal of terrorist organizations and ideological grievances are making the world more dangerous.
``Anti-U.S. and anti-globalization sentiment is on the rise and fueling other radical ideologies,'' the report says. ``This could prompt some leftist, nationalist or separatist groups to adopt terrorist methods to attack U.S. interests. The radicalization process is occurring more quickly, more widely and more anonymously in the Internet age, raising the likelihood of surprise attacks by unknown groups whose members and supporters may be difficult to pinpoint.''
Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, in a speech last night in Washington, said the full National Intelligence Assessment, which hasn't been released provides a ``broad framework'' of the trends confronting the U.S. ``The discussion of Iraq represents a small portion of the overall NIE,'' he said.
Drawing Conclusions
Bush acted to declassify the conclusions after they were leaked to the New York Times and the Washington Post and the newspapers published stories about it in their Sunday editions.
``Some people have guessed what's in the report and concluded that going into Iraq was a mistake,'' Bush said at the press conference. ``I strongly disagree,'' he said, adding that such views were ``naïve.'' With portions of the report public, ``everybody can draw their own conclusions,'' he said.
Bush contended the report was leaked for political purposes. ``Here we are, coming down the stretch in an election campaign and it's on the front page of your newspapers,'' he said. ``Isn't that interesting?''
Bush is facing a public increasingly skeptical about the conflict. In a Sept. 16-19 Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll, 55 percent of adults said the war was not worthwhile and 60 percent said it was diverting resources that could be used to fight terrorism.
Congressional Reaction
Members of Congress from both parties welcomed Bush's decision.
``That's good news,'' said Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, a vocal critic of the Iraq war. Kennedy said he's read the entire assessment and that media characterizations about its conclusions -- that Iraq is helping drive the spread of Islamic radicalism -- are accurate.
``I think the president made the right decision,'' House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said. ``Instead of leaked information, you ought to see the whole truth.''
Representative Jane Harman of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said the administration is withholding a newer draft report on Iraq that is ``highly negative.''
``I have written to Negroponte asking him to send it up to Congress,'' Harman said in an interview.
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are demanding Negroponte give them a classified briefing on the full intelligence assessment. ``Now we have a consensus view'' from U.S. intelligence agencies ``that, in fact, this war in Iraq is adding a new generation of Islamic terrorists,'' Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net ; Brendan Murray in Washington at brmurray@bloomberg.net