Iraq central in 'war against humanity'

2005-11-30 21:06

Annapolis - Iraq has become the central front in al-Qaeda's "war against humanity", President George W Bush said on Wednesday, while acknowledging foreigners were the smallest part of the Iraqi insurgency.

In a major speech at the US Naval Academy, Bush again stressed the need to combat terrorism to defend a 32-month-old war in Iraq that has become increasingly unpopular among the US public.

"The terrorists have made it clear that Iraq is the central front in their war against humanity," Bush said.

"So we must recognise Iraq as the central front in the war on terror."

But Bush said foreign Islamic fighters affiliated with or inspired by al-Qaeda represented "the smallest but the most lethal" group fighting the US-led coalition in Iraq.

He said that "by far the largest group" were "ordinary Iraqis, mostly Sunni Arabs who miss the privileged status they had under the regime of Saddam Hussein" before Saddam was toppled in April 2003.

Bush said the second largest group was "smaller but more determined. It contains former regime loyalists, who held positions of power under Saddam Hussein. People who still harbour dreams of returning to power".

- AFP