Quote:

Matter-eater Man said:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Iraq war gave birth to a new generation of Islamic radicals and the terrorist threat has grown since the September 11 attacks, according to a U.S. intelligence report cited in The New York Times on Saturday.



Bush Disputes, Will Release Leaked Iraq Intel Report

    President Bush forcefully disputed the findings of a leaked intelligence report Tuesday, declaring that it was not a mistake to go into Iraq, and that U.S. forces stationed there have not caused a rise in terror around the world.

    Bush said he was declassifying part of a classified National Intelligence Estimate completed last April because he wanted the public to be able to read the conclusions without filters that "create confusion in the minds of the American people."

    Bush said he agreed with one conclusion — that the effort in Iraq had forced Al Qaeda cells to become more diffuse and independent. But he questioned why such an old document had appeared on the front pages of major newspapers just six weeks ahead of the November midterm election.

    The president said that the leak distressed him because, in part, it shows that someone in the government is trying to play politics, but moreso, because it hurts the intelligence collection process.

    The president rejected claims that the U.S. presence in Iraq has increased terror threats, saying the United States wasn't in Iraq when America was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001; or when the USS Cole was hit; or when the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were bombed.

    "If we weren't in Iraq, they'd find some other excuse because they have ambitions. They kill to achieve their objectives," Bush said. "The best way to protect America is to defeat these killers overseas so we don't have to face them at home."

    Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, whose country is facing an increase in terror after the Taliban were defeated in late 2001, [was also at the press conference and] interjected to offer a similar plea.

    "Terrorism was hurting us way before Iraq or September 11 ... These extremist forces were killing people in Afghanistan for years, closing schools, burning mosques, killing children, uprooting vineyards," Karzai said. "They came to America on September 11, but they were attacking you before September 11 in other parts of the world. We are a witness in Afghanistan.

    "Do you forget people jumping off the 80th floor or 70th floor when the planes hit them? Can you imagine what it will be for a man or woman to jump from that high?" Karzai asked recalling some of the more shocking scenes from the World Trade Center bombing. "How do we get rid of them? ... Should we wait for them to come and kill us again?"