Ex-US Commander Urges Using Al-Qaeda Terrorists to Battle against ISIL

Ex-US Commander Urges Using Al-Qaeda Terrorists to Battle against ISIL
Thu Sep 3, 2015 17:39:09

Former US military commander David Petraeus said on Wednesday that terrorists from Al-Qaeda could be used to take on the ISIL group as he warned that US credibility has been damaged in Syria.

The decorated four-star general said a controversial move to harness fighters from a group linked to Al-Qaeda - which was responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks - was "an option that has some prospect for achievement".

Petraeus, who was feted for changing the course of the Iraq war in 2007, said the focus was not on cooperating with the leaders of Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front but with its fighters, using similar strategies from the previous conflict.

Petraeus' comments followed a statement he issued to CNN Tuesday about using Al-Qaeda-linked Terrorists, with the proposed move reflecting the complex military campaign the US-led coalition is waging against ISIS in Syria.

Petraeus, who led the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, fell from grace earlier this year when he was given two years' probation and fined US $100,000 for providing classified information to his mistress and biographer Paula Broadwell; AFP reported.

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