Petraeus's Remarks During the House Committee on Armed Services Hearings on Iraq

And the tenacious pursuit of Al Qaida Iraq, together with AQI's loss of local support in many areas, has substantially reduced its capability, numbers and freedom of movement.

This chart displays the cumulative effect of the effort against AQI and its insurgent allies. As you can see, we have reduced considerably the areas in which AQI enjoys support and sanctuary, though there clearly is more to be done.

Having noted that progress, Al Qaida Iraq is still capable of lethal attacks, and we must maintain relentless pressure on the organization, on the networks outside Iraq that support it and on the resource flows that sustain it.

This chart lays out the comprehensive strategy that we, the Iraqis and our interagency and international partners are employing to reduce what AQI needs.

As you can see, defeating Al Qaida in Iraq requires not just actions by our elite counterterrorist forces but also major operations by coalition and Iraqi conventional forces, a sophisticated intelligence effort, political reconciliation, economic and social programs, information operations initiatives, diplomatic activity, the employment of counterinsurgency principles in detainee operations, and many other actions.

Related to this effort, I applaud Congress' support for additional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets in the upcoming supplemental as ISR is vital to the success of our operations in Iraq and elsewhere.

As we combat AQI, we must remember that doing so not only reduces a major source of instability in Iraq, it also weakens an organization that Al Qaida's senior leaders view as a tool to spread its influence and foment regional instability.

Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri have consistently advocated exploiting the situation in Iraq, and we have also seen Al Qaida Iraq involved in destabilizing activities in the wider Mideast region.

Together with the Iraqi security forces, we have also focused on the "special groups." These elements are funded, trained, armed and directed by Iran's Quds force with help from Lebanese Hezbollah.

It was these groups that have launched Iranian rockets and mortar rounds at Iraq's seat of government in the International Zone.

Iraqi and coalition leaders have repeatedly noted their desire that Iran live up to promises made by President Ahmadinejad and other senior Iranian leaders to stop their support for the "special groups."

However, nefarious activities by the Quds force have continued, and Iraqi leaders now clearly recognize the threat they pose to Iraq.