Agent in Iraq Sought al-Qaeda's Help to Spark Religious War
Baghdad (dpa) - An al-Qaeda operative in Iraq wrote the network's leadership seeking support to spark a religious war in the country with the hope that it would draw the United States into a prolonged conflict and eventually defeat the U.S.-led occupation.
A U.S. official in Baghdad said Monday that the memo, which is believed to have been penned by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian long suspected by Washington of being a terrorist, was aimed at tearing the "country apart".
The letter was consistent with other "efforts by foreign terrorists to ignite a sectarian war in this country and inflict bloodshed on this country by tearing it apart and pitting one ethnic group against another", said Daniel Senor, a senior adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority occupational forces.
The memo said extremists have struggled at recruiting and advocates launching attacks on Iraq's Shiite majority, hoping it would spark a retaliation against the minority Sunnis and rally Sunni Arabs to the fight.
"So the solution, and only God knows, is that we need to bring the [Shiite] into the battle," said the memo, which was viewed by The New York Times.
The United States obtained the letter, which was stored on a compact disc, when an al-Qaeda courier was captured, U.S. officials said.
The writer also expressed frustration over U.S. successes in Iraq and said the ethnic conflict needed to occur before the June 30 deadline for returning sovereignty to a provisional Iraqi
government.
"The Americans will continue to control from their bases, but the sons of this land will be the authority," the letter said. "This is the democracy. We will have no pretexts."
U.S. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director for coalition operations, said the belief that al-Zarqawi, who is on the U.S. list of wanted terrorists, wrote the 17-page letter is "credible".
While the letter is a sign of desperation, Kimmitt said, it is also something U.S. authorities are taking very seriously. He added
that al-Zarqawi takes credit for about 25 suicide attacks, some of which have the fingerprints of al-Qaeda.
Al-Zarqawi is believed to be behind some of the bloodiest attacks in Iraq since the invasion, including the August bombing of the U.N.
headquarters in Baghdad, the blast that killed Shiite leader Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, and a bombing at the U.S. administration building in January, Kimmitt said.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the memo showed the insurgency has not given up.
"They describe the weaknesses that they have in their efforts to undercut the coalition's efforts, but at the same time, it shows
they haven't given up," Powell said.
"They're trying to get more terrorists into Iraq, and they're trying to create more terrorist organizations to try to defeat our
purposes," he said. "But they will not succeed."
Copyright 2004 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
link
Baghdad (dpa) - An al-Qaeda operative in Iraq wrote the network's leadership seeking support to spark a religious war in the country with the hope that it would draw the United States into a prolonged conflict and eventually defeat the U.S.-led occupation.
A U.S. official in Baghdad said Monday that the memo, which is believed to have been penned by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian long suspected by Washington of being a terrorist, was aimed at tearing the "country apart".
The letter was consistent with other "efforts by foreign terrorists to ignite a sectarian war in this country and inflict bloodshed on this country by tearing it apart and pitting one ethnic group against another", said Daniel Senor, a senior adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority occupational forces.
The memo said extremists have struggled at recruiting and advocates launching attacks on Iraq's Shiite majority, hoping it would spark a retaliation against the minority Sunnis and rally Sunni Arabs to the fight.
"So the solution, and only God knows, is that we need to bring the [Shiite] into the battle," said the memo, which was viewed by The New York Times.
The United States obtained the letter, which was stored on a compact disc, when an al-Qaeda courier was captured, U.S. officials said.
The writer also expressed frustration over U.S. successes in Iraq and said the ethnic conflict needed to occur before the June 30 deadline for returning sovereignty to a provisional Iraqi
government.
"The Americans will continue to control from their bases, but the sons of this land will be the authority," the letter said. "This is the democracy. We will have no pretexts."
U.S. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director for coalition operations, said the belief that al-Zarqawi, who is on the U.S. list of wanted terrorists, wrote the 17-page letter is "credible".
While the letter is a sign of desperation, Kimmitt said, it is also something U.S. authorities are taking very seriously. He added
that al-Zarqawi takes credit for about 25 suicide attacks, some of which have the fingerprints of al-Qaeda.
Al-Zarqawi is believed to be behind some of the bloodiest attacks in Iraq since the invasion, including the August bombing of the U.N.
headquarters in Baghdad, the blast that killed Shiite leader Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, and a bombing at the U.S. administration building in January, Kimmitt said.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the memo showed the insurgency has not given up.
"They describe the weaknesses that they have in their efforts to undercut the coalition's efforts, but at the same time, it shows
they haven't given up," Powell said.
"They're trying to get more terrorists into Iraq, and they're trying to create more terrorist organizations to try to defeat our
purposes," he said. "But they will not succeed."
Copyright 2004 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
link
