Military upbeat in Iraq, but not delaring victory yet

NCT:

The U.S. military distanced itself Sunday from remarks declaring al-Qaida in Iraq close to defeat, saying the terror network is "off-balance and on the run," but remains a very lethal threat.

However, Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, a military spokesman, said violence has dropped some 70 percent since a U.S. troop buildup began nearly a year ago.

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Driscoll said the number of attacks in the past week had "decreased to the level not seen since March 2004," due to recent military operations against Shiite militias in Baghdad's Sadr City and the southern city of Basra, as well as Sunni insurgents in the northern city of Mosul.

But he warned al-Qaida in Iraq maintains the ability to stage suicide bombings and other deadly attacks.

"They certainly are off-balance and on the run," Driscoll said during a news conference in the U.S.-protected Green Zone in Baghdad. But, he added, the group "remains a very lethal threat."

The U.S. military has been cautious in touting recent security gains amid fears that al-Qaida and other insurgents are trying to regroup after suffering setbacks from military operations as well as a Sunni revolt against the terror network.

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One of the problems with a nihilistic enemy with no one authorized to sign a surrender agreement is even after they are clearly defeated some will continue to fight. In the case of the Klu Klux Klan in the US it took another 100 years to finally defeat them. But in terms of military capacity, al Qaeda is becoming a spent force that might be able to do a human bomb attack and plant an IED, but it is no longer a force that can cause the kind of chaos it plotted a year and a half ago.