A Letter from the Terrorists
This was recently recovered by US officials and details curious insights into the mind of the terrorists. Most interesting is the importance Al Qaeda places on the battle in Iraq, unlike many on the left whom seem content that we lose there:
US officials say they were struck by the letter's emphasis on the centrality of Iraq to Al Qaeda's long-term mission. One of the two excerpts provided by officials quotes Zawahiri, a former doctor from Egypt, telling his Jordanian-born ally, ''I want to be the first to congratulate you for what God has blessed you with in terms of fighting in the heart of the Islamic world, which was formerly the field for major battles in Islam's history, and what is now the place for the greatest battle of Islam in this era."
Fearful of an American Empire? How about one led by Osama and his deputies:
Bin Laden's deputy has spoken before about the broad plans for the Al Qaeda movement. In a book smuggled out of Afghanistan in December 2001, Zawahiri said the goal of jihad was to establish a religious state throughout the Islamic world and ''reinstate its fallen caliphate and regain its lost glory."
The writer complained about giving a bad impression to the world with vicious beheadings of captives:
the letter, described by one senior administration official as a ''treatise" from Ayman Zawahiri, also warns Abu Musab al-Zarqawi against alienating the Islamic world, and virtually reprimands the Iraqi branch of Al Qaeda for beheading hostages and then distributing videotapes, officials said
Voice of America states Al Qaeda is in a bad way in Afghanistan:
The letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi also concedes that al-Qaida has lost many key leaders, and is resigned to defeat in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon spokesman says the letter makes a plea for financial support, admitting that funding has been severely disrupted.
Austin Bay also on the lettter.