Commander: Al-Qaida in Iraq is at its weakest

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

1 hour, 10 minutes ago

MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - The al-Qaida terror group in Iraq appears to be at its weakest state since it gained an initial foothold in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion five years ago, the acting commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said Wednesday in an Associated Press interview

Army Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, who assumed interim command of U.S. Central Command on March 28, acknowledged that al-Qaida remains a relentless foe and has not disappeared as a serious threat to stability. But he said an accelerated U.S. and Iraq campaign to pressure al-Qaida has paid big dividends.

"Our forces and the Iraqi forces have certainly disrupted al-Qaida, probably to a level that we haven't seen at any time in my experience," said Dempsey, who served in Iraq in the initial stages as a division commander and later as head of the military organization in charge of training Iraqi security forces.

"They can regenerate, and do from time to time," he added in the interview in his office at Central Command headquarters.

Dempsey was in Iraq last week on a journey that also took him to Lebanon, where he consulted with the government and military commanders on their approach to dealing with Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters.

In separate remarks at a military conference just a few miles from Dempsey's headquarters in Tampa, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Islamic extremist movements like al-Qaida have been "built on an illusion of success" yet in some ways pose a more daunting challenge today than on Sept. 11, 2001.

Gates described these extremist groups as more diffuse and less reliant on a single figure like Osama bin Laden.

"It has become an independent force of its own, capable of animating a corps of devoted followers without direct contact," Gates told an international conference sponsored by U.S. Special Operations Command. He said this adversary is now "capable of inspiring violence without direct orders."

Dempsey, who was the Central Command deputy until Adm. William Fallon abruptly resigned amid reports that his views on Iran differed with those of the White House, is expected to remain as the acting commander until Gen. David Petraeus shifts from his post as top commander in Iraq, probably in September. Petraeus's Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Earlier Wednesday, the Army general who oversees U.S. commando operations in the Middle East said that al-Qaida in Iraq has yet to be vanquished but is increasingly running out of places where local Iraqis will accommodate the group's extremist ideology.

"Is he still a lethal and dangerous threat to us? Absolutely," Maj. Gen. John Mulholland said in an interview with reporters at the headquarters of U.S. Special Operations Command, the organization with global responsibility for providing Army Green Berets, Navy SEALs and other commandos to combat terrorism.

Of the approximately 155,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, about 5,000 are special operations forces, who not only hunt and attack terrorist targets but also help train Iraqi security forces and work with local Iraqi governments.

Mulholland acknowledged that al-Qaida, which U.S. intelligence says is led by foreign terrorists but is populated mainly by local Iraqis seeking to establish a radical Islamic state, still poses a major challenge in the Mosul area of northern Iraq and has occasionally slipped back into areas like Anbar province in western Iraq.

"Do we think he can at least try to regain a foothold in Anbar province? Yes, we do think he's trying to do that," Mulholland said.

While U.S. officials do not believe al-Qaida is succeeding in re-establishing a significant presence in Anbar — which the group was forced to abandon a year ago as local Sunni Arabs turned violently against it — it does appear that small al-Qaida cells can still slip into isolated areas and make trouble, he said.

"I don't want to paint a picture — or to convey to you in any way — that al-Qaida in Iraq is being completely destroyed or rendered irrelevant, because that's not the case," he said. "They are still potentially a threat capable of death and destruction against the Iraqi people and our own forces there. But it is not something he can do easily any more."

Separately, Adm. Eric Olson, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, told a group of reporters that "the nature of the threat" posed by Iran's support for anti-U.S. forces in Iraq is unclear.

He made the remark in response to a question about the ability of U.S. special operations forces to meet the Iranian challenge.

"It's clear that there is some lethal aid originating from across the Iranian border," Olson said. "We can't say what the origin or the source of that is. So we are uncertain about our overall ability because we are uncertain of the nature of the threat. But I would say in general that special operations forces are well prepared and well equipped to meet the nation's expectations in that regard."

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By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer Wed May 21, 4:46 PM ET

By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer

Wed May 21, 4:46 PM ET

NEW YORK - Two weeks before the final primary in their marathon battle, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton were campaigning hard Wednesday. Both were in Florida, but their goals could hardly have been more different — or said more about how each one hopes to bring their historic race to a close.

Obama, feeling sure of the Democratic nomination, was trying to stake an early claim to a state that could be crucial in the general election against Republican John McCain. Clinton, insisting she can still be her party's nominee, was making an impassioned plea for the state's disputed primary results to be counted.

Obama plans to contest the final three primaries in Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Montana, but he is already moving on, well into the early stages of a general election plan that will take him to other critical swing states in the coming weeks.

His campaign was offering some new delegate math — before the last votes were cast.

Because of how the party allocates its delegates, Obama almost certainly cannot win the nomination based on the 86 pledged delegates yet to be claimed in the final three contests. But his advisers project that he needs just 25 to 28 more superdelegates to come aboard by the end of the primaries to put him over the top.

The campaign's estimate were confirmed through a separate tabulation by The Associated Press.

As for Clinton, aides said she has two immediate goals: to see the results of the Florida and Michigan primaries restored, and to persuade the remaining uncommitted superdelegates that she would be the better candidate in November against McCain.

While she has signaled that the race will soon end after the final primaries June 3, Clinton is also counting on a meeting of the Democratic Party's rules committee May 31 to bring an end to the dispute over Michigan and Florida, whose delegates were striped after they violated party rules by moving up their contests.

If the committee does not satisfactorily resolve the matter, the New York senator hinted Wednesday she would support a drawn-out battle that could go to the party's convention in August.

"Yes I will. I will, because I feel very strongly about this," Clinton said in an interview with The Associated Press when asked whether her campaign would support Michigan and Florida if they pressed the issue into the summer.

Still, all signs overwhelmingly indicate that Obama will emerge as the Democratic standard-bearer.

A handful of superdelegate endorsements Wednesday on top of primary results in Kentucky and Oregon have brought him within striking distance of claiming the nomination — the Illinois senator is 64 delegates from the 2,026 needed under Democratic Party rules as well as close to becoming the first black nominee of a major party.

In the past, primary results have touched off a wave of superdelegates. It was just a few Wednesday. Privately, Obama strategists said they believed a number were still inclined to wait until after the primaries are over out of respect for the Clintons, who remain major figures within the party.

Joe Andrew, a former DNC chairman and superdelegate who switched allegiance from Clinton to Obama, said that while Obama reaching the majority of pledged delegates was a symbolic moment, "delegates aren't just looking for moments. They are looking for reasons to make a decision that many of them know that is probably inevitable."

He added that until the race ends, "I think they will portray themselves as genuinely torn. I don't mean to say they are play acting. I think most of them in their gut have made their decision. I think they are torn about how to explain that decision and when they should announce."

With Obama's near-certain victory in sight, both sides are now urging unity with the hope of putting the often rancorous primary season behind them.

While little formal outreach has gone on between the two camps — Obama's out of caution for appearing disrespectful, Clinton's because she is still campaigning — advisers on both sides said they will be ready to talk when the time comes.

"I don't know anyone in either the Hillary Clinton or the Obama worlds who has not publicly said and privately believed that we will all come together for the sake of the Democratic nominee," Clinton national finance co-chairman Hassan Nemazee said.

But, he added, "There's a dance that goes on in this. The Obama people in recent weeks have become far more careful in what they say and do in a way that is not overly presumptive."

Several major fundraisers for both campaigns have already joined forces to raise money for the Democratic National Committee that will go toward promoting the eventual nominee. An event in New York honoring former Vice President Al Gore will take place May 31 co-chaired by prominent Obama and Clinton backers, with all proceeds going to the DNC.

At least one committed Clinton hand — her former campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle — has spoken to the Obama campaign about coming aboard after he secures the nomination. But most of her staff and close advisers remain deeply loyal to the New York senator and say they plan to stay with her as long as she is in the race.

As is traditional for the presidential nominee of each party, Obama has already moved to put his own staff in place at the Democratic National Committee. His advisers said Paul Tewes, who planned and ran Obama's victorious Iowa caucus strategy, is Obama's choice to take the reins at the committee once the Illinois senator wins the nomination.

He's also brought aboard a couple of notable staff hires, including Linda Douglass, a former ABC news correspondent who will serve as a message strategist and spokeswoman. Her appointment was seen as a smart move for a campaign with few women in visible roles.

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