In a briefing on June 4, Odierno acknowledged Al Qaida mass-casualty strikes in 2010. But the general said AQI has been reeling from the capture or killing of more than 80 percent of insurgency commanders.

"Over the last 90 days or so, we've either picked up or killed 34 out of the top 42 Al Qaida in Iraq leaders," Odierno said. "They're clearly now attempting to reorganize themselves. They're struggling a little bit."

Odierno said a key development was the infiltration of AQI headquarters in the northern city of Mosul. He said Mosul marked a key element in the Al Qaida network in Iraq.

"We've been whittling away at this for a very long time," Odierno said. "We picked up several of their leaders that did the financing, that did planning, that did recruiting — some of their lawyers that worked on bringing detainees who were released and bringing them into Al Qaida. We were able to get inside of this network."

But the general said AQI could still restore its command network. He did not rule out the prospect that junior commanders would be promoted to a leadership role.

"There are still some very dangerous people out there, and there are some mid- and low-level leaders," Odierno said. "We don't want them to develop into senior leadership."

Over the last two months, the U.S. military reported the death of AQI commanders Abu Ayoub Al Masri and Abu Omar Al Baghdadi. In late May, AQI's commander in Baghdad, Abbas Najem Abdullah Al Jawari, and Baghdad assassination chief Mohammed Yassin Al Abadi were captured by Iraqi security forces.

"I think it's going to be difficult for them to continue to recruit," Odierno said.

The general reported the continued paring down of the U.S. military presence in Iraq. Odierno said 88,000 troops were left in Iraq, nearly half of that in early 2009.

"We are on track to be at 50,000 by the 1st of September," Odierno said. "We are on our plan."

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