“For the past three years, a band of Islamic radicals called Ansar al-Islam, led by a suspected Iraqi intelligence operative, have waged a terror campaign against Kurdish officials. According to a [May 13, 2002] report in Time, the group was trained by Al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan and returned to Iraq after the battle of Tora Bora [in December 2001]. As a result, U.S. officials now believe there are hundreds of Al Qaeda cadres operating in Iraq.”
– Lawrence F. Kaplan and William Kristol, The War Over Iraq, Pages 23-24