Posted on 10/12/2005 8:43:46 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
In a letter to his top deputy in Iraq, al-Qaida's No. 2 leader said the United States "ran and left their agents" in Vietnam and the jihadists must have a plan ready to fill the void if the Americans suddenly leave Iraq.
"Things may develop faster than we imagine," Ayman al-Zawahri wrote in a letter to his top deputy in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "The aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam — and how they ran and left their agents — is noteworthy. ... We must be ready starting now."
Senior U.S. military commanders have said that Iraqi security forces are improving significantly and some U.S. forces could return home early next year. Yet skeptics have raised concerns about whether such statements simply let the insurgency know how long they must wait for the U.S. to leave.
In a letter taking up 13 typed pages in its English translation, al-Zawahri also recommended a four-stage expansion of the war that would take the fighting to neighboring Muslim countries.
"It has always been my belief that the victory of Islam will never take place until a Muslim state is established ... in the heart of the Islamic world," al-Zawahri wrote.
The letter laid out his long-term plan: expel the Americans from Iraq, establish an Islamic authority and take the war to Iraq's secular neighbors, including Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
The final stage, al-Zawahri wrote, would be a clash with Israel, which he said was established to challenge "any new Islamic entity."
The letter is dated July 9, and was acquired during U.S. operations in Iraq. It was written in Arabic and translated by the U.S. government. The Pentagon briefed reporters last week on portions of the document, but the full text was not available until Tuesday.
In a statement, the National Intelligence Director's office said the letter "has not been edited in any way" and its contents were released only after it was clear no military or intelligence operations would be compromised.
House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., said his committee is reviewing the letter, but he cautioned "against reading too much into a single source of intelligence."
In his letter, al-Zawahri, a Sunni, devoted significant attention to al-Zarqawi's attempts to start a civil war with the rival Muslim Shiite sect, the majority that now dominates the new Iraqi government. Ultimately, al-Zawahri concluded that violence, particularly against Shiite mosques, only raises questions among Muslims.
"This matter won't be acceptable to the Muslim populace however much you have tried to explain it, and aversion to this will continue," he wrote.
Al-Zawahri was also critical of the Taliban, which was toppled in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, because, he said, they did not have the representation of the Afghan people. He said students of the Taliban retreated to their tribes.
"Even the devout ones took the stance of spectator," al-Zawahri wrote.
Contrasting that, he saw fearlessness in battles waged in the Iraqi cities of Fallujah, Ramadi and Al Qaim.
At times, the letter got personal. Al-Zawahri said he tasted the bitterness of America's brutality, noting that his "favorite wife's chest was crushed by a concrete ceiling" during an apparent U.S. attack. His daughter died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
To this day, he wrote, he did not know the location of their graves.
The letter then switches to the court of public opinion.
"More than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media," he wrote. "We are in a media battle in a race for the hearts and minds of our umma," or community of Muslims, he wrote.
The line is an apparent reference to a phrase — "hearts and minds" — often used by President Bush.
Ha!!! Only in Al Queada's wet dreams.
There's a lesson to be learned here...
Not really. If the dems get the power in congress or the WH, then they pull the troops out like Nam and Iraq falls. That simple. They know we turned tail and left the South Vietnamees holding the bag, with no support, and no chance. They are simply waiting for the American public to cave and demand the troops pull out. They are fully supportive of the anti-American, anti-war bunch.
This is unfortunately true. It proves several points that we have argued for decades. The people behind the anti-war movement are directly responsible for every single death since 9/11.
There is enormous amounts of blood on the hands of the American left. Hopefully there is a special reward in hell for opportunists, cowards, and traitors like Hillary, Billy, Chuckie, Johnnie and the rest of the gang.
Second, I guess the book is closed on the importance of Iraq and Al Queda's plans for it. IMHO we must install friendly regimes in Iran and Syria as well.
Not entirely true.
We are turning over power to the Iraqi people. However, like Nam, the terrorist know that we will not send in anymore troops for a big finish. They know that we have maxed out our troop level at about 145k.
At this point either good or bad we have to depend on the Iraqi people to liberate themselves.
Gee, I thought Iran was just such a "Muslim state"?? You mean Al-Queada has a DIFFERENT type of "Muslim state" in mind??
Sad but true. The US was trying to fight a "police action" using rules of engagement that negated our military advantage. We were never intended to win that war, our political goal was to fight to a stalemate and the North Vietnamese wanted to fight a war of attrition.
The end result was the loss of thousands of good men and an embarrassment. I hope that we never get in a situation like that again. If we commit to a war, we should be committed to winning.
Here is the proof that Al Queda and the American left pines for the days of Vietnamm.
Not only that, they pine for the destruction of America and the west in general. Sick SOBs that they are.
Isn't that the war that JFK and LBJ got us involved in to begin with and then Nixon took ALL of the heat.
i read the entire letter (available in pdf from the Foxnews website.
Aside from the ramblings of a madman, intersprinkled with "God willing" statements every other line, there was one thing we *may* have in common.
He/they think the media is a bunch of lying, deceitful infidels, sreading rumor and creating dissent.
Too bad about his family (sarc)I hope a mountain fell and crushed his cave dring the earthquake
That's per usual Republican-bashing, double in Nixon's case. But I don't believe in passing the buck to JFK/LBJ. There was a consensus that we needed to do it. Those reasons were valid and supported by American determination to halt/defeat Communism. The mistakes and sell-outs came later.
But, but, but... I thought that if we pulled our troops out of Iraq then the insurgents wouldn't have anybody to fight anymore, and then everybody would be happy and live in peace and harmony, and sing kumbaya and hold hands and stuff...
/sarc
Yes we did. With democrats like Walter Kronkite, Teddy Kennedy, John Kerry in the lead, preventing us from even sending money and materiel to the South Vietnamese.
These democrats have the blood of 100,000 Vietnamese who died trying to escape, another 100,000 in "re-education" camps, and eventually up to 2 million who died in Cambodia.
How we even allow them to speak in public I'll never know.
It is a FACT we turned and ran from Vietnam. We might be "turning over power" to the people of Iraq, but that is not completely a DONE DEAL yet. IF we pull out, that country will go down like a house of cards. The stinking socialist democrats will not leave the troops there if they are in power. Their liberal/leftist/socialist/communist/homosexual backers will demand the withdrawal immediately upon the oath of office being taken.
Which "number 2" is talking here. There have been so many I lose track.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.