President links Qaeda of Iraq to Qaeda of 9/11

by Jim Rutenberg and Mark Mazzetti

President Bush sought anew on Tuesday to draw connections between the Iraqi group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and the terrorist network responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, and he sharply criticized those who contend that the groups are independent of each other.

At a time when Mr. Bush is trying to beat back calls for withdrawal from Iraq, the speech at Charleston Air Force Base reflected concern at the White House over criticism that he is focusing on the wrong terrorist threat.

Mr. Bush chose to speak in the city where Democrats held their nationally televised presidential debate on Monday, a forum at which the question was not whether to stay in Iraq but how to go about leaving.

"The facts are that Al Qaeda terrorists killed Americans on 9/11, they're fighting us in Iraq and across the world and they are plotting to kill Americans here at home again," Mr. Bush told a contingent of military personnel here. "Those who justify withdrawing our troops from Iraq by denying the threat of Al Qaeda in Iraq and its ties to Osama bin Laden ignore the clear consequences of such a retreat."

Kevin Sullivan, the White House communications director, said the speech was devised as a "surge of facts" meant to rebut critics who say Mr. Bush is trying to rebuild support for the war by linking the Iraq group and the one led by Mr. bin Laden.

But Democratic lawmakers accused Mr. Bush of overstating those ties to provide a basis for continuing the American presence in Iraq. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Mr. Bush was "trying to justify claims that have long ago been proven to be misleading."

The Iraqi group is a homegrown Sunni Arab extremist group with some foreign operatives that has claimed a loose affiliation to Mr. bin Laden's network, although the precise links are unclear.

In his speech, Mr. Bush did not try to debunk the fact - repeated by Mr. Reid - that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia did not exist until after the United States invasion in 2003 and has flourished since.

His comments also reflected a subtle shift from his recent flat assertion that, "The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on Sept. 11."

The overall thrust of the speech was that the administration believes that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has enough connections to Mr. bin Laden's group to be considered the same threat, that its ultimate goal is to strike America and that to think otherwise is "like watching a man walk into a bank with a mask and a gun and saying he's probably just there to cash a check."

Mr. Bush referred throughout his speech to what his aides said was newly declassified intelligence in his effort to link Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and the central Qaeda leadership that is believed to be operating from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.

Although the aides said the intelligence was declassified, White House and intelligence officials declined to provide any detail on the reports Mr. Bush cited.

In stark terms, Mr. Bush laid out a case that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia had taken its cues from the central Qaeda leadership, and that it had been led by foreigners who have sworn allegiance to Mr. bin Laden.

Mr. Bush acknowledged that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian founder of the Iraq group, at first was not part of Al Qaeda. But, he said, "our intelligence community reports he had long-standing relations with senior Al Qaeda leaders, that he had met with Osama bin Laden and his chief deputy, Zawahri," referring to Ayman al-Zawahri.

Mr. Bush acknowledged differences between Mr. Zarqawi and Mr. Zawahri over strategy.

But he recounted Mr. Zarqawi's pledge of allegiance to Mr. bin Laden in 2004 and promise to "follow his orders in jihad" and how Mr. bin Laden "instructed terrorists in Iraq to 'listen to him and obey him.' "

Mr. Bush quoted from what aides said was a previously classified intelligence assessment, saying, "The Zarqawi-bin Laden merger gave Al Qaeda in Iraq quote, 'prestige among potential recruits and financiers.' " He added, "The merger also gave Al Qaeda's senior leadership 'a foothold in Iraq to extend its geographic presence.' " Officials agree that the membership of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is mostly Iraqi but insist that it is foreign-led. Mr. Bush noted that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian, had led the group since United States forces killed Mr. Zarqawi in June 2006.

He listed several other foreigners in the Qaeda in Mesopotamia leadership structure, including a Syrian who he said was the Qaeda emir in Baghdad, a Saudi he said was its spiritual adviser, an Egyptian he said had met with Mr. bin Laden, and a Tunisian who helps manage the foreign fighters in Iraq.

Mr. Bush cited information of the foreign leadership structure gleaned from the recent capture of Khalid al-Mashadani, an Iraqi terrorist leader whom American officials say linked Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and Al Qaeda's leaders in Pakistan.

Last week, the top American military spokesman in Iraq, Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, said Mr. Mashadani funneled information from Mr. bin Laden's network to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia about strategic direction and provided other guidance.

Yet General Bergner said at the time that he could not point to specific attacks in Iraq directed by Mr. bin Laden's group.

Some administration officials have been more conservative in their assessments of any ability and desire that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia might have to carry out attacks here.

"When you look at how they are arraying their capabilities, those capabilities are being focused on the conflict in Iraq at this time," Edward M. Gistaro, one of the principal authors of a recent National Intelligence Estimate on terrorist threats to the United States, said last week.

The New York Times