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CBS Report: Iraq War Made Terror 'Worse'

CBS News
Sep 24, 2006

CBS/AP) The U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has increased the number of terrorist groups worldwide and "made the overall terrorism problem worse," a U.S. intelligence official said in a secret study.

The assessment of the war's impact on terrorism came in a National Intelligence Estimate that represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government, CBS News learned Sunday.

CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante reports that the intelligence report contained some broad conclusions:

  • The U.S. presence in Iraq is providing new recruits for militant Islam.
  • The movement has spread and is now "self-generating."
  • While inspired by al Qaeda, the radical movement is no longer directly tied to Osama bin Laden.
  • Because of the Internet, the radical Islamist movement is more connected and no longer isolated.

The details of the Intelligence Estimate were first published in Sunday's New York Times and Washington Post.

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