WASHINGTON — Facing eroding support for his Iraq policy, even among Republicans, President Bush on Thursday called al Qaida "the main enemy" in Iraq, an assertion rejected by his administration's senior intelligence analysts. [...]

Bush called al Qaida in Iraq the perpetrator of the worst violence racking that country and said it was the same group that had carried out the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

"Al Qaida is the main enemy for Shia, Sunni and Kurds alike," Bush asserted. "Al Qaida's responsible for the most sensational killings in Iraq. They're responsible for the sensational killings on U.S. soil."

U.S. military and intelligence officials, however, say that Iraqis with ties to al Qaida are only a small fraction of the threat to American troops. The group known as al Qaida in Iraq didn't exist before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, didn't pledge its loyalty to al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden until October 2004 and isn't controlled by bin Laden or his top aides.

Ooops. Maybe we should just forget about that. Besides that was the Decider talking. I'm sure General Petraeus never said Al Qaeda was the greatest source of violence in Iraq. Right?

U.S. general says al Qaeda remains top foe in Iraq
By Bill Gertz | Published Apr/27/2007

... Al Qaeda in Iraq is "a very significant enemy," Gen. Petraeus said. "I think it is probably public enemy No. 1," he said. "It is the enemy whose actions sparked the enormous increase in sectarian violence that did so much damage to Iraq in 2006, the bombing of the Al Askari Mosque in Samarra, the gold-domed mosque there, the third-holiest Shia shrine. And it is the organization that continues to try to reignite not just sectarian violence but ethnic violence, as well, going after Iraqi Kurds in Nineveh province and Kirkuk and areas such as that as well."

Oh. Well were all entitled to a mulligan once in a while. I'm sure he corrected himself shortly thereafter. Like when he testified before Congress last month:

Yesterday, NBC's Brian Williams picked up that ball with a vengeance, directly challenging General Petraeus on that point:

[Brian Williams]: Over the last two days of testimony, you mentioned Al Qaeda, by our count, 160 times. Now for a lot of Americans, al Qaeda - that's the guys who flew those planes into the buildings in New York, and Washington, and Pennsylvania. Explain what you mean — because Al Qaeda in Iraq wasn't around that day.

Petraues responded that Al Qaeda in Iraq was "part of the greater al Qaeda movement" and "the the organization that has carried out the most horrific, most damaging terrorist actions in Iraq." Petraues had previously referred to al Qaeda as "public enemy number one" in Iraq, even though it represents at most 8 - 15% of the total insurgency — and that's the uppermost estimate. Various intelligence reports put that at a much lower number, all the way down to only 2 -5% of the total insurgency.

By the way, here's Petreaus' opening statement when he testified to the Congress in September if you would like to read it in full. I think he mentions Iran in there somewhere as being the greatest source of violence in Iraq, when he isn't talking about all the actions our forces have taken against Al Qaeda. Or maybe not.

Well, I'm sure he was just misinformed back then. I'm sure he's got all the facts now. Why else would he blame Iran for everything wrong in Iraq one month after telling us it was mostly Al Qaeda's fault?