98% Victory

US generals keen to claim victory
Correspondents in Washington and Baghdad October 17, 2007

THE US military believes it has defeated al-Qa'ida in Iraq and some generals want to declare victory over the group the Bush administration describes as the most lethal adversary in the country, reports said yesterday.

The US military believes it has dealt devastating and perhaps irreversible blows to al-Qa'ida in Iraq in recent months, The Washington Post said.

But the paper reported that as the White House and military commanders were planning the next phase of the war, other officials were cautioning against a "premature" victory declaration that could create strategic and political difficulties.

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