WASHINGTON, July 25 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush's denial the war in Iraq has created more al-Qaida jihadists is "misleading," a former senior CIA official said.

Robert Grenier, former head of the counter-terrorism center at the CIA and the agency's mission manager for the war in Iraq, made the remark after hearing Bush's 29-minute speech at Charleston Air Force Base in which he mentioned al-Qaida 93 times, The Los Angeles Times reported.

In defending a continued presence in Iraq, Bush quoted criticism that the invasion created more terrorists, saying it was "flawed logic that terror is caused by American actions," CNN reported.

"I think what the president is saying is in some sense fundamentally misleading," Grenier told the Times. "If he means to suggest the invasion of Iraq has not created more jihadists bent on killing Americans and that if Iraq hadn't been there as a magnet they would have been attracted somewhere else, that's completely disingenuous."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20070725-07181700-bc-us-bush-react.xml


And in related news



In a Washington Post-ABC News poll released this week, 65 percent of respondents across the country said they were dissatisfied with Bush's job performance.

The newspaper said in records examined dating to 1938, only former U.S. President Richard Nixon had a worse ranking -- 66 percent. Nixon resigned four days after the poll was published in 1974.

Within the most recent poll's respondents disapproving, 52 percent "strongly" disapprove of his performance and 28 percent describe themselves as "angry."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20070725-07440700-bc-us-bush-popularity.xml