What would I consider acceptable evidence? Hmm. An official government
report. An official CIA report. A military intelligence report. A
report by an outside country; e.g. Interpol, the UN, etc. An article
describing specifics from a major news outlet. An online article
describing the evidence, from a site that is not a blog. Probably many
others.


How about the National Intelligence Council, which is described as the
CIA director's think tank. I've download and read part of the
referenced document and while it is heavy going, it makes good reading.

This article was in part the reason for my original question.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2005Jan13.html

(As these links sometimes disappear after a time, I've copied the first
bit of the article)


Iraq New Terror Breeding Ground
War Created Haven, CIA Advisers Report

By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 14, 2005; Page A01

Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next
generation of "professionalized" terrorists, according to a report
released yesterday by the National Intelligence Council, the CIA
director's think tank.

Iraq provides terrorists with "a training ground, a recruitment ground,
the opportunity for enhancing technical skills," said David B. Low, the
national intelligence officer for transnational threats. "There is even,
under the best scenario, over time, the likelihood that some of the
jihadists who are not killed there will, in a sense, go home, wherever
home is, and will therefore disperse to various other countries."

Low's comments came during a rare briefing by the council on its new
report on long-term global trends. It took a year to produce and
includes the analysis of 1,000 U.S. and foreign experts. Within the
119-page report is an evaluation of Iraq's new role as a breeding ground
for Islamic terrorists.

President Bush has frequently described the Iraq war as an integral part
of U.S. efforts to combat terrorism. But the council's report suggests
the conflict has also helped terrorists by creating a haven for them in
the chaos of war.

"At the moment," NIC Chairman Robert L. Hutchings said, Iraq "is a
magnet for international terrorist activity."

Before the U.S. invasion, the CIA said Saddam Hussein had only
circumstantial ties with several al Qaeda members. Osama bin Laden
rejected the idea of forming an alliance with Hussein and viewed him as
an enemy of the jihadist movement because the Iraqi leader rejected
radical Islamic ideals and ran a secular government.

Bush described the war in Iraq as a means to promote democracy in the
Middle East. "A free Iraq can be a source of hope for all the Middle
East," he said one month before the invasion. "Instead of threatening
its neighbors and harboring terrorists, Iraq can be an example of
progress and prosperity in a region that needs both."

But as instability in Iraq grew after the toppling of Hussein, and
resentment toward the United States intensified in the Muslim world,
hundreds of foreign terrorists flooded into Iraq across its unguarded
borders. They found tons of unprotected weapons caches that, military
officials say, they are now using against U.S. troops. Foreign
terrorists are believed to make up a large portion of today's suicide
bombers, and U.S. intelligence officials say these foreigners are
forming tactical, ever-changing alliances with former Baathist fighters
and other insurgents.