Brigadier General Jeffrey Buchanan says that Al-Qaeda is still a threat in Iraq and will remain so.

Senior US commander Brigadier General Jeffrey Buchanan said on Saturday that Al-Qaeda's ability to infiltrate foreign fighters into Iraq had been severely restricted, but that it was still a threat and would remain so.
  
Buchanan, director for strategy for US forces in Iraq, said that the deadly attack in Baghdad targeting Christians and explosions in Shiite neighborhoods across the capital over the past week demonstrated that Al-Qaeda remained deadly. “The attacks demonstrate that Al-Qaeda remains determined and dangerous,” he emphasized.

He said that American and Iraqi forces had "degraded" Al-Qaeda's ability to plan and coordinate attacks, raise finance and recruit fighters inside Iraq. "But I think Al-Qaeda remains a threat and will continue to remain a threat in the future," he pointed out at an informal round-table discussion with journalists in Baghdad.
  
Asked about reports that foreign militants were involved in the assault on the cathedral, Buchanan said Al-Qaeda's flow of foreign fighters joining its ranks had slowed to a trickle. "We have had a significant impact on degrading the network that Al-Qaeda used to bring foreign fighters from other countries. But it has not been shut off," he said.
  
"There are still a small number of foreign fighters that have been and continue to come across the border. Dominantly they have come through the Syrian border, but that does not mean they originate there."
  
Buchanan said that Al-Qaeda was slipping in only "five to 10 percent" of the number of fighters it was bringing into Iraq a few years ago, without giving any figures.