CIA chief: Iraq no longer main front in broader war on terrorism

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said yesterday that al-Qaeda remains the single greatest threat to the United States but that Iraq is no longer the central front in the broader war on terrorism, the Washington Post news paper said on Friday. “Today, the flow of money, weapons and foreign fighters into Iraq is greatly diminished and al-Qaeda senior leaders no longer point to it as the central battlefield,” Hayden told an audience at the Atlantic Council, a bipartisan group that deals with international affairs. He warned that al-Qaeda remains “a determined, adaptive enemy” that is resilient and operating “from its safe haven in Pakistan ‘s tribal areas.” “If there is a major strike on this country, it will bear the fingerprints of al-Qaeda,” he said. While law enforcement and diplomacy have their place, Hayden said, “this war — and no one should mistake it as anything else — is far from over.” SH (P) 1