"Heart and soul" of al Qaeda in Iraq

To the leftist/defeatists in Congress who give lip service to wanting to defeat al Qaeda, consider what Lawrence Wright, author of the indispensable book "The Looming Tower," said recently in an interview with Hugh Hewitt.

Al Qaeda is more diversified now than it was in the past. It's really four separate organizations. There's al Qaeda in North Africa, which is very much more important an entity now than it had been, an organization called the Salafist group for preaching in combat, which is centered mainly in Algeria, has now switched its allegiance to al Qaeda. And they have a training camp in Mali. And you know, they had this big bomb in Algiers just last week. So they really are making a statement, and they pose a real threat to Europe, because the commerce between Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Spain and France. So that's one group of al Qaeda. Secondly, there is al Qaeda in Iraq, which is really the heart and soul of al Qaeda right now, and that's where the main effort is. It's where the jihadis are going to be trained. And when that conflict is over, they will be returning to their own countries, and into the West to cause additional havoc. And then there is al Qaeda in Europe, which is a very widespread, loosely connected, centered largely in London in England, but also in the outskirts of Paris, and in Italy. It's all over, really, all over Europe. And then finally, there's the mother ship, which is headquartered in Pakistan. So those four entities are loosely connected, but have a common cause, and are still directed overall by bin Laden.

So if the "heart and soul" of al Qaeda is in Iraq right now, why, exactly, should we be leaving?

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