Special report: Al-Qaida's chief Zarqawi killed     

Afghan President Hamid Karzai listens as US President George W. Bush speaks during a joint press conference in the White House, Sept. 26, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    BEIJING, Sept. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- A secret U.S. intelligence report released on Tuesday said the Iraq war had become a "cause celebre" for Islamic extremists, breeding deep resentment of the U.S. that probably will get worse if their efforts fail.

    The report was released by the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) hours after U.S. President George W. Bush ordered it declassified to counter media reports he said have misrepresented conclusions about Iraq.

    It stated that the "jihadist movement" is growing both in size and geographic dispersion.

    "If this trend continues, threats to U.S. interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide," said NIE in the report.

    Although Bush and his top advisers have said formerly that the intelligence assessment supported that the world is safer because of the war, more than three pages of report warned new terror cells are likely to emerge, making it "harder to find and undermine jihadist groups," NIE said on global terrorism trends.

    The report stated that U.S.-led counterterrorism efforts have "seriously damaged" al Qaeda's leadership and operations, but that the group still poses "the greatest threat to the homeland and U.S. interests."

    Bush said he agreed with the report's conclusion that successes against the al Qaeda leadership had led to extremists "becoming more diffuse and independent" and that they were using Iraq as a recruiting tool.

    But Bush denied that going into Iraq was a mistake, "I strongly disagree. I think it's naive."

    Bush insists his decision to invade Iraq was necessary to deal with a potential threat. But the American public has become increasingly weary of the war in which about 2,700 American troops have died and sectarian violence is rampant. Enditem

    (Agencies)

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