Al-Qaida leaders flee Baghdad

BAGHDAD, June 23 (UPI) -- Eighty percent of the top al-Qaida leaders in Baghdad fled the city before U.S. troops began a major offensive there this week, it was reported Saturday.

Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the second-highest ranking U.S. commander in Iraq, compared the flight with the escape of al-Qaida leaders from Fallujah ahead of a U.S. offensive that retook that city in 2004, the New York Times reported.

Odierno, talking with reporters Friday, portrayed the al-Qaida leaders as cowardly, saying "when the fight comes, they leave," abandoning their fighters to face the strength of U.S. troops.

Odierno said the U.S. offensive in Baghdad held "a good potential" for reducing the al-Qaida threat to the point that U.S. force levels in Iraq could be reduced by next spring.

But aware of how quickly things can change for the worse in Iraq, Odierno added, "You know, there's so many things that could be happening between now and then, as we've all learned."