As evidence of Al Qaeda's connection to the Iraqi group, Bush said, after Zarqawi -- a Jordanian-born Palestinian -- was killed by a U.S. airstrike last year, he was replaced by another foreigner, Egyptian Abu Ayyub Masri, whose ties to the Al Qaeda senior leadership are "deep and long-standing."
Bush said that according to the declassified intelligence, many of Al Qaeda in Iraq's other senior leaders are also foreign militants. They include a Syrian who is Al Qaeda in Iraq's "emir" in Baghdad, a Saudi who is its top spiritual and legal advisor, an Egyptian who fought in Afghanistan in the 1990s and a Tunisian who U.S. officials believe plays a key role in managing foreign fighters, the president said.
