The US intelligence chief, John Negroponte, last night acknowledged that the war in Iraq was crafting a new generation of terrorists but insisted that America was safer from attack than it had been in 2001.
The National Intelligence Director, who oversees America's 16 intelligence agencies and reports directly to President Bush, was responding to a classified report, approved by him and leaked to The New York Times on Saturday, which said that global terrorism had worsened since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
"We are certainly more vigilant. We are better prepared," Mr Negroponte told an audience at Washington’s Woodrow Wilson Centre last night. "We are safer. The threat to the homeland itself has, if anything, been reduced since 9/11."
Mr Negroponte was careful to limit his assurances to the state of American security. Elsewhere he acknowledged the concerns of intelligence analysts that "the Iraq jihad is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives".
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2375221,00.html