I would imagine he means prior to the war, Don. Of course there AQ there now, but a few AQ hiding out in Iraq prior to the war doesn't exactly make Ira an AQ stronghold. AQ goes where America goes, its like a slutty band groupie instead it wants to kill us not screw us. If we invaded Iran we'd be fighting AQ in Iran, or AQ in Syria, or AQ in Jordan etc.... which then brings us to the whole "we're fighting them there instead of here at least" argument, an argument that, while somewhat true, I absolutely hate

Sorry Mr Iraqi civilian, we weren't so much interested in liberating you guys as we just needed a place to stage a war so we could draw AQ out of the caves, and you guys lost the coin flip. Better luck next time