'Chilling' Al Qaeda Memo Obtained
Oct. 6, 2005
(CBS) The U.S. has obtained a 13-page letter written by Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri, to Abu Musab al Zarqawi in Iraq, outlining with what one senior official calls "chilling clarity" al Qaeda's stretagy for Iraq and beyond, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.
The letter, which was written shortly after the London bombings in July, calls Iraq "the place for the greatest battle of Islam in this era."
Zarqawi is America's most-wanted insurgent in Iraq. Zawahiri, the man most intelligence analysts believe is the brains behind bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist organization, is considered the world's second most wanted man.
As outlined by Zawahiri in the letter, al Qaeda's battle plan calls for driving the Americans out of Iraq, establishing an Islamic regime in as much of the country as possible and then extending the holy war to other Arab countries, including Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.
In the letter, Zawahari complains to Zarqawi that some of his violent tactics are hurting public support for al Qaeda's cause, particularly the videotaped beheadings of hostages.
"We don't need this," the letter says. "Use a bullet instead."
Zawahiri also complains about Zarqawi's all-out war against the Shiites of Iraq, saying the Arab man in the street doesn't understand why suicide bombings are killing so many fellow Muslims.
The letter also indicates Zawahiri's life in hiding has left him cut off from news and financial support. He asks Zarqawi to provide him more information about operations in Iraq, saying he should know at least as much as the enemy knows, and he even asks Zarqawi to send money.
The letter is 6,300 words long and a senior official calls it the clearest and most comprehensive exposition of al Qaeda's objectives and strategy the U.S. has ever seen.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/06/eveningnews/main924484.shtml
Bush: Militants Seek to Establish Empire
Friday October 7, 2005 1:01 AM
By TOM RAUM
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said Thursday the United States and its allies had foiled at least 10 serious plots by the al-Qaida terror network in the last four years, including plans for Sept. 11-like attacks on both U.S. coasts.
In a speech designed to revive flagging public support for the war in Iraq, the president also said the U.S. and its partners have stopped at least five more efforts by al-Qaida to case targets or infiltrate operatives in the United States.
``Because of this steady progress, the enemy is wounded, but the enemy is still capable of global operations,'' Bush said. ``Our commitment is clear: We will not relent until the organized international terror networks are exposed and broken, and their leaders held to account for their acts of murder.''
Bush said Islamic radicals are seeking to establish a ``radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia'' with Iraq serving as the main front. He singled out Iran and Syria as ``allies of convenience'' for Islamic radicalism.
The White House initially would not give details of the 10 plots that Bush mentioned in his morning speech before the National Endowment for Democracy, saying some information remained classified. But in the evening, the White House released a fact sheet with a brief, and vague, description of each.
Three targets cited were in the United States, including plans to use hijacked airplanes to attack the West Coast in mid-2002 and the East Coast in mid-2003. The White House said at least one planner of the West Coast attack was a key figure behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
The third was the case of Jose Padilla, a former Chicago gang member who converted to Islam and allegedly plotted with top al-Qaida commanders to detonate a radioactive ``dirty bomb'' in a U.S. city. Padilla, whose plot never materialized, was designated an enemy combatant by Bush and is being held without criminal charge at a Navy brig in South Carolina.
The White House said the other seven attacks included plans to:
-Bomb several sites in Britain in mid-2004;
-Attack Westerners at several places in Karachi, Pakistan, in spring 2003;
-Attack Heathrow Airport using hijacked commercial airliners in 2003;
-Carry out a large-scale bombing in Britain in spring 2004;
-Attack ships in the Arabian Gulf in late 2002/2003;
-Attack ships in the Straits of Hormuz, a narrow part of the Persian Gulf where it opens into the Arabian Sea, in 2002;
-Attack a tourist site outside the United States in 2003.
Excerpted
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5326895,00.html