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Iraq war has worsened terrorist threat: report

A new generation of radicalism created, says intelligence

WASHINGTON: The Iraq war has contributed to an increased threat of terrorism, according to an intelligence assessment that has not lessened Republican leaders' defence of the U.S.-led invasion three years ago and occupation.

The classified assessment of the war's impact on terrorism came in a National Intelligence Estimate that represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside Government, an intelligence official said on Sunday. The official, confirming accounts first published in Sunday's New York Times and Washington Post, spoke on condition of anonymity because the report is classified.

The report found that the war has helped create a new generation of Islamist radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Republican, said he had not seen the classified report, which was completed in April, but said Americans understand the U.S. must continue to fight terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere.

``Either we are going to be fighting this battle, this war overseas, or it's going to be right here in this country,'' Mr. Frist said on Sunday on ABC television's ``This Week,'' echoing an argument that President George W. Bush frequently makes.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat, said in a statement that the assessment ``should put the final nail in the coffin for President Bush's phoney argument about the Iraq war. How many more independent reports, how many more deaths, how much deeper into civil war will Iraq need to fall for the White House to wake up and change its strategy in Iraq?''

Mr. Frist said Mr. Kennedy wants to ``cut and run''. — AP

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