US Report Says Iraq New “Militants’ Incubator”

The National Intelligence Council, the CIA director’s think tank, said in a report released Thursday that Iraq has become an incubator of “militants”, providing them with training and recruitment ground as well as the opportunity for enhancing technical skills, the Washington Post said.

“At the moment, Iraq is a magnet for international terrorist activity,” NIC Chairman, Robert L. Hutchings, told the daily.

“There is even, under the best scenario, over time, the likelihood that some of the jihadists who are not killed there will, in a sense, go home, wherever home is, and will therefore disperse to various other countries,” said David B. Low, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats.

The bleak reminder of the continuing chaos in Iraq that followed the highly controversial US-led invasion back in early 2003, comes within the context of a report on global trends prepared by the NIC.

The 119-page report, titled “Mapping the Global Future”, is the third in a series of unclassified forecasts of global trends, covering the glob till 2020.

The report was based on consultations with more than 1,000 non-government experts at 30 conferences on five continents over the last year.

In the run-up to the Iraq war, US President George W. Bush claimed that the Iraq war was an integral part of the US efforts to combat “terrorism” and promote democracy in the Middle East.

“A free Iraq can be a source of hope for all the Middle East," Bush had said one month before the invasion, that started March 20, 2003. “Instead of threatening its neighbors and harboring terrorists, Iraq can be an example of progress and prosperity in a region that needs both.”

The report, however, said the US-led war on Iraq has helped spread out the radical ideology of Al-Qaeda network among “extremist groups” around the world.

“The Al-Qaeda membership that was distinguished by having trained in Afghanistan will gradually dissipate, to be replaced in part by the dispersion of the experienced survivors of the conflict in Iraq,” the report said.