A general's viewpoint on Iraq's status
On foreign suicide bombers:
There are websites that advocate jihad, that advocate attacks against coalition forces. There are also some recruiters spreading word through mosques who say, "If you want to go to jihad I know how to get you there." Foreign jihadists typically are not given the larger picture; they are told go to this airport or this mosque...We have indicators that many don't come here intent on killing Iraqi civilians or themselves. They come here to participate in a jihad. Only late in the process are they made aware they are expected to kill themselves. Some flee, some are coerced, some may embrace it. The extremists who use these unfortunate people want to make sure they do not live to tell about it so they can't compromise them, or tell about coercion and threats to compel them.
On suicide bombers passing through the Damascus airport on way to Iraq:
Border security is an issue of course but borders tend to be porous. We believe the Syrian government could be encouraged to do things that would make it difficult to go through Damascus to go to Iraq. Currently there are no visas required for military-aged Muslim males. So consequently they can come from any point of the globe and go through Damascus en route to Iraq.
On the strategy to stop suicide bombers:
There are several components. The best way is to stop them before they reach Iraq- to pressure the government in Damascus to restrict the flow of people with visas who have no clear purpose in Syria. Iraq of course must gain control of the borders. It's not just putting forces on the border, it's putting forces throughout a province so that as people are being moved there is the potential that they will be questioned by security forces...Another part of the strategy is to sensitize the Iraqi population through government publications and newscasts that in fact they are being slaughtered by foreign terrorists. So that when they are aware of suspicious persons they report them to police.
On the goal of the suicide bomb campaign:
It is an attempt to destroy this government before this government can oversee the drafting of a constitution and the ratification of a constitution through national elections. It is an attempt to destroy the government because the jihadist that believes man has no right to write his own laws one of the most terrible outcomes you can imagine is a constitution written by [a country's] own citizens.
On Muslim extremism in Iraq:
There is a jihadist component to [the insurgency] that has a very extreme view of Islam that does not view all Muslims as true Muslims...That is a quite small element of the insurgency, but it is extraordinarily violent, and is willing to murder innocents of any nationality to achieve its objective. They want to create anarchy, which presents them an opportunity to seize power and ideally they want a civil war. We see them attacking both Kurds and Shia. They have used Al Anbar as an area to stage, to infiltrate, to pass through, to train to indoctrinate, but many of their actions do not take place in Al Anbar. They direct their activities in Mosul or Baghdad.
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