INTERESTING LITTLE NOTE ABOUT AL QAEDA & IRAQ

I haven't been able to find the briefing or the interview referred to below but the admission that Al Qaeda WAS NOT operative in Iraq before we invaded - from an offical - is startling.

al-Qaida Plots New Attacks on U.S. Soil
New Intel Report: al-Qaida's Expanding Resources Pose Heightened
Threat to U.S.
By KATHERINE SHRADER Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
Jul 18, 2007 (AP)

At a briefing and in a later interview, Ted Gistaro, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats, said al-Qaida in Iraq did not have any active cells when the U.S. invaded in March 2003. He said the watershed moment was when its now-deceased leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, declared his allegiance to bin Laden in an October 2004 Internet message.

Currently, it seems that Al Qaeda in Iraq is simply a regional group affilated with Al Qaeda in Pakistan. According to DNI Mike McConnell,

Al Qaeda will try to enhance its capabilities to attack the homeland through greater cooperation with regional terrorist groups. I mentioned al Qaeda and Iraq earlier. They are engaged day to day. They're battlehardened. They have lots of experience. They know how to build explosives that can be incredibly destructive. And al Qaeda in Iraq helps al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan energize a broader extremist community, raise resources, recruit and indoctrinate operatives.