Seized Letter Outlines Al Qaeda Goals in Iraq

[Lounge Daddy]

[quote]Al Qaeda's top deputy urged the leader of his Iraq branch in July to prepare for the inevitable U.S. withdrawal by carrying out political as well as military actions, and he lectured him that he risked being shunned by an Islamic world angered over his gruesome and not "palatable" killings of fellow Muslims, according to an intercepted letter released yesterday by the U.S. government.

The 6,000-word letter from Osama bin Laden's chief lieutenant, Ayman Zawahiri, to Iraqi insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi amounts to a detailed portrait of al Qaeda's long-term goals in Iraq and the Middle East, and includes a striking critique of how Zarqawi has gone about waging his war against not only U.S. troops but also Iraqi civilians. The letter was posted yesterday on the Web site of Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte -- [url="http://www.dni.gov/"]http://www.dni.gov/[/url] -- after senior intelligence officials released excerpts of it last week.

Invoking the specter of the United States abruptly abandoning Iraq as it did to Vietnam, Zawahiri counseled immediate political action: "We must take the initiative and impose a fait accompli upon our enemies, instead of the enemy imposing one on us."

Throughout, Zawahiri -- the Egyptian doctor who fused his own Islamic movement with bin Laden's al Qaeda in the late 1990s and is believed to operate now as the group's top commander -- comes across as a strategist trying to rein in a guerrilla operating at odds with the movement's political goals. The official said that in its repeated criticism of Zarqawi, the letter also amounts to a reproof from "an al Qaeda elder to an occasionally hotheaded field commander."

"He comes down like a ton of bricks on what has happened tactically," the official said.

"This is not a rant. It is more chilling in a sense because it's so well-argued, clean and calm," the official added. "There's a high political content. Zawahiri calls for political action equivalent to military action."[/quote]

[url="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/11/AR2005101101353_pf.html"]FROM HERE[/url]

[Snarf]

And the funny thing is, they couldn't wait for us to invade in the first place. They read us like a cheap novel.

[Lounge Daddy]

[quote name='Snarf' date='Oct 12 2005, 10:47 PM']And the funny thing is, they couldn't wait for us to invade in the first place.  They read us like a cheap novel.
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ya... um i guess thats why they got Clinton to sign the "Iraq Liberation Act of 1998" [url="http://www.iraqwatch.org/government/US/Legislation/ILA.htm"] Public Law: 105-338 (10/31/98) [/url] ... they suckered our government into thinking that Iraq was a threat...
those filthy terrorists

[White Knight]

Dang Terrorists...

[toledo_jesus]

Great, now everyone will understand that the terrorists just have to wait for us to lose interest, and then they win. Ho Chi Minh and the Nicaraguans did it, now Zawahiri can too!


The best ally the terrorists have is the American attention span.

[Aloysius]

except Iraq is already different. even the sunnis are participating in the elections process and popular opinion supports the iraqui government being build up right now. we just have to leave them with a government supported by popular opinion and a police force trained well enough to handle the insurgents and they will be alright.

these terrorists sure don't know how to get the people on their side. they even attack sunni political parties now.... they basically attack everyone making no one like them.

Zarqawi is a smelly cat.

[Lounge Daddy]

[quote name='toledo_jesus' date='Oct 15 2005, 11:28 AM']The best ally the terrorists have is the American attention span.
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aweee yaaaa!

[Socrates]

I read that the letter in question was shown to be a hoax.

[Lounge Daddy]

[quote name='Socrates' date='Oct 16 2005, 02:24 PM']I read that the letter in question was shown to be a hoax.
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nah - it hasn’t been shown to be a fake.
What has happened is this –
This letter contains some comments where this terrorist leader admits some crippling defeats, and huge losses on their part, huge victories for the allied forces, an admission that Pakistan's army is hunting for al Qaeda, and how the arrest of a top operative affected the network, etc ... all of this is information that would give aid and comfort to their enemy – being us
now when al qaeda caught wind of the story of this letter's interception - they naturally issued a press release saying its a fake and none of it is true

now this naturally lead to the pentagon to double check this document, and there are some in the pentagon saying that – although everything really checks out just fine – they would can only question the risk … simply because he was taking such a huge risk in communicating this information KNOWING it could possibly get intercepted
of course – maybe they really are having some pretty serious communications issues, and alternatives are getting hung up

[Lounge Daddy]

[quote]Ken Katzman, a terrorism expert with the Congressional Research Service -- the in-house think-tank of the U.S. Congress -- said the letter contained elements that raised doubts about its authenticity. "The purported letter has Zawahri admitting to certain things that it's not realistic for him to admit, because he would know there's a potential this letter might be intercepted," Katzman said.

He said they included a request for money from Zarqawi, an admission that Pakistan's army is hunting for al Qaeda and how the arrest of a top operative affected the network.

A U.S. security official said: "There's every reason to believe it's legitimate. We have high confidence that it's legitimate." The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to say what steps were taken to authenticate the letter for fear of revealing intelligence sources and methods.

Michael Scheuer, a former CIA analyst and critic of the U.S. war against terrorism, also said the letter appeared authentic. Scheuer said the letter's admission of setbacks were typical of al Qaeda. "They have always been almost puritanical in talking about setbacks."

Several experts said the letter contained far fewer Koranic references and quotations than other Zawahri statements.

The letter was released days before Iraqis were to vote in a referendum on a new constitution in which U.S. authorities hope for a large turnout among Sunni Muslim Arabs.

Many Sunni Arabs oppose Saturday's referendum, and some experts say that Zarqawi declared war on Iraq's majority Shi'ites last month to curry favor among the disaffected. [/quote]
[url="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051013/wl_nm/iraq_qaeda_letter_dc_3"]STORY _ (Reuters) via YahooNews[/url]

[termitescoming4u!]

That's so true. I would also question why Zawahiri would send such a damaging letter about their operations in Iraq, to Al-Zarqawi, knowing very well that US counterintelligence operatives may get it. But if it's really aunthentic, then I agree that Al-Quaeda doesn't have the support of the majority Iraqis. Only a handful of Iraqis, who are ardent supporters of tthe deposed Saddam, would support the terrorists.
But I don't understand how Zawahiri wants the iraqi terroists to participate more effectively in iaqi politics? Does he have any specific plan/strategy in mind? just wondering....

[Lounge Daddy]

[quote name='termitescoming4u!' date='Oct 23 2005, 01:24 PM']That's so true. I would also question why Zawahiri would send such a damaging letter about their operations in Iraq, to Al-Zarqawi, knowing very well that US counterintelligence operatives may get it. But if it's really aunthentic, then I agree that Al-Quaeda doesn't have the support of the majority Iraqis. Only a handful of Iraqis, who are ardent supporters of tthe deposed Saddam, would support the terrorists.
But I don't understand  how Zawahiri wants the iraqi terroists to participate more effectively in iaqi politics? Does he have any specific plan/strategy in mind? just wondering....
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wouldnt they take notes from the communist movements - and use a country's political structure against it? its the whole "treat your enemy like your friend" mentality