Iraq Group Said Main Threat to U.S. Forces

An Iraqi extremist group whose main base was destroyed by U.S. and Kurdish forces last spring has emerged as the key terrorist threat to American forces in Iraq, a senior U.S. general said Thursday. Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz, director of operations for the Pentagon’s joint staff, said American forces in Iraq are concentrating on Ansar al-Islam, a shadowy group that the United States calls a terrorist organization with links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network. Schwartz referred to the group as “our principal organized terrorist adversary in Iraq right now.” He noted that one of Ansar’s highest-ranking members, Aso Hawleri, was captured recently by soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. He would not say whether interrogations of Hawleri have provided any useful information. Full Story