Posted on 10/13/2005 2:43:00 AM PDT by The Raven
Ayman al Zawahiri and George W. Bush don't agree on much. But al Qaeda's No. 2 leader and the U.S. President are in accord on one thing: Iraq is the central battlefield.
This is just one of the many insights into the mind of the terrorist braintrust gleaned from an extraordinary document obtained this summer by U.S. forces in Iraq and released yesterday by the White House. It is a 6,000-word letter from Zawahiri, presumably in hiding in Pakistan, to al Qaeda's commander in Iraq, Abu Musab al Zarqawi.
We're glad the Administration made the decision to declassify it. It goes a long way toward letting Americans see what we are up against in Iraq and elsewhere in the world. The letter's full text is up on the Web site of the Director of National Intelligence at www.dni.gov.
Those who want a premature U.S. withdrawal from Iraq will now have to explain why that won't play into the hands--and plans--of the enemy. Zawahiri makes it quite clear that al Qaeda's ambitions extend well beyond the borders of any one country. The goal is a fundamentalist Islamic regime that begins in Iraq, extends into the neighboring secular nations of the region, assaults Israel and moves on from there. And yes, he uses the word "caliphate."
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Exactly. Let's have them start 'splaining.
Stay the course..BUMP!
This is in fact a crusade.
"No wonder that mom and dad reminded me that the biggest threat to their son isn't some other country on many days, the threat is this country."
What struck me with this letter was the tone. We have hurt AQ bad.....and I mean bad...you can sense that in this letter.
Al Qaeda is broke.
There is division in the Muslim world (note the Shi'a comments), and infighting is a matter of accepted inevitability.
The primary battlefield in this war is, by Al Qaeda's own admission, Iraq, not the U.S.
There have been no (successful) terrorist attacks on the US mainland since September 11, 2001.
The Bush battle plan is a complete success, but the media is now spending its time focusing our attention on Harriet Miers and Bush's popular rating.
A$$holes...
Hi Luis..nice to see you again....its been a while.
The only formidable enemy we have left in this war is our own media. The left has a lot to lose with a Bush victory here, don't look for them to capitulate, even after it is pretty obvious al-Qaeda has thrown in the (head) towel.
If I were a shite, I would be terribly concerned by the highlighted sentence because Zawahiri does not outright condemn the attempt to initiate a civil war but implicitly condones it.
bttt
Surely an understatement.
OK, now that Al Qaeda themselves have said they are in Iraq, I am waiting for the first liberal to come forth with an apology for calling Bush a liar and repeating for three years that Al Qaeda is not in Iraq.......
Me too!
The letter was insightful, AQ is hurting in many ways...imagine, AZ asking for 100K from AQ in Iraq..HAH!
They're on the run and on the ropes..with any luck, their cave collapsed in the earthquake and we never hear of them again.
Butting in here....is anyone watching FOX? Missed the beginning of it, Brian was doing a tribute to Josh Kynoch. It seems his death was the result of an especially heroic action in Iraq. Can anyone give me details?
I do see the goal posts moving to a point where the leftists will be suggesting that Al Qaeda only started to fight after the Coalition got there. I also think that the left will continue to aim at the lack of an Al Qaeda relationship with Saddam before the coalation invaded even though I thought many had shown there was a relationship.
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