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From Ayman to Zarq With Love - Full July 9 Letter Contents
A senior American intelligence official said Tuesday that a document obtained this summer by American forces in Iraq had provided the United States with "a comprehensive view of Al Qaeda strategy in Iraq and beyond" and a revealing glimpse into "the intentions of the enemy."A complete version of the 6,000-word document, a letter in Arabic from Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No. 2 leader in Al Qaeda, to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the group's top agent in Iraq, was made available Tuesday for the first time. In it, Mr. Zawahiri told Mr. Zarqawi that the American occupation of Iraq had provided Islamic militants with a historic opportunity to win popular support. "Our planning must strive to involve the Muslim masses in the battle, and to bring the mujahed movement to the masses and not conduct the struggle far from them," Mr. Zawahiri said in the letter, dated July 9. Officials at the Defense Department and other government agencies first disclosed the existence of the letter last week, but at the time agreed to release only three sentences. In releasing the full text on Tuesday, in Arabic and English, the office of John D. Negroponte, the new director of national intelligence, took the extraordinary step of posting it on his office's Web site, www.dni.gov. The letter, written in calm, sophisticated language, included injunctions to Mr. Zarqawi to keep in mind the political as well as the military aims of the anti-American insurgency in Iraq, where Mr. Zarqawi leads the group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. The senior American intelligence official said a comprehensive review had left no doubt that it was sent by Mr. Zawahiri, an Egyptian physician who has served as Al Qaeda's principal strategist. The letter alluded to difficulties facing Al Qaeda's leaders, including what Mr. Zawahiri calls "the real danger" posed by the Pakistani military in its searches for militants in northwestern Pakistan, near the Afghan border, where Mr. Zawahiri and Al Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, are believed to be hiding. Full 13-page letter available at link Posted by: Captain America 2005-10-12 |
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