From the CNN Transcript of "Your World Today":

The Washington Post says U.S. generals in Iraq are considering issuing a "declaration of victory" over al Qaeda in Iraq. They cite a number of promising statistics, including a reduction in U.S. casualties -- 22 so far this month -- a sharp drop in suicide bombings from a high of more than 60 in January to less than half that number in July; a reduction in the flow of fighters into Iraq from Syria; and the capture recently of key al Qaeda leaders in Iraq.

Although there is general agreement at the Pentagon that al Qaeda in Iraq has suffered some setbacks since the summer, some U.S. military leaders are reportedly cautioning strongly against issuing any such declaration of victory. They say it is very much premature to do so. …

In an article published in the opinion magazine The New Republic, Peter Bergen is critical of just about every decision the White House has made in what he calls "The war of error." Earlier, we asked Bergen what he considered the Bush administration's biggest missteps so far.

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: I think shortchanging Afghanistan. Afghanistan was the peacekeeping effort where the least number of soldiers were put on the ground since World War II. In term of America's efforts in peacekeeping operations before, it was almost the most underfunded, only 6,000 American troops.

We also prevented other countries from patrolling outside Kabul for the first two years. And we basically squandered an opportunity there. We, of course, also let bin Laden go at the battle of Tora Bora and switched our attention to Iraq, which had the counterproductive effect of establishing al Qaeda in Iraq for the first time. After all, al Qaeda in Iraq only came into existence a year after the invasion.

It's also become the cause celeb for jihadists around the world, according to the national intelligence estimate, which is the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies collectively saying that this is a cause celeb. And, in fact, there is empirical evidence to support that.

A colleague of mine at NYU, Paul Cruickshank, and I looked at jihadist terrorist attacks after the invasion of Iraq and the period after the September 11th attacks. We found a sevenfold increase in the rate of jihadist terrorist attacks. …

Peter Bergen is a Schwartz Senior Fellow with New America Foundation. For the complete transcript, please vist CNN.com.