Tweet
Here's a letter from al Zawahiri (al Qaeda #2) to al Zarqawi (al Qaeda Iraq) that is a very interesting read. Read entire. It will take you a good half hour, but it's worth it.
Al Zawahiri is a very shrewd political fellow. He takes al Zarqawi to task for the beheadings of hostages and the terrorist attacks on normal shiites. He makes a practical argument rather than a moral argument regarding these actions.
He also says that al Qaeda Iraq must have a political component, implying that, as of now, there is no political component in al Zarqawi's movement. He almost sounds like he's advocating democracy.
He also believes the US is weak and we will leave Iraq soon. He takes great pains to ensure that al Qaeda isn't caught flat-footed by the US leaving very soon.
There are lots of idiosyncracies to the letter. For instance, al Zawahiri spends a lot of time trying to convince al Zarqawi that all of the divisions among the Sunnis are less important than kicking American and Jewish ass.
All-in-all the letter takes the tone of objectives that are positively medieval. But the argument is rooted in the modern world and is crystal clear.
Some may say that this is merely US propaganda. I don't know if that's the case. It's good propaganda, if nothing else. But as I understand, our intelligence services and military are precluded from releasing knowingly false information to Americans. If they want to lie, they release information to the British press, or have British intelligence/military release the information.
Al Zawahiri is a very shrewd political fellow. He takes al Zarqawi to task for the beheadings of hostages and the terrorist attacks on normal shiites. He makes a practical argument rather than a moral argument regarding these actions.
He also says that al Qaeda Iraq must have a political component, implying that, as of now, there is no political component in al Zarqawi's movement. He almost sounds like he's advocating democracy.
He also believes the US is weak and we will leave Iraq soon. He takes great pains to ensure that al Qaeda isn't caught flat-footed by the US leaving very soon.
There are lots of idiosyncracies to the letter. For instance, al Zawahiri spends a lot of time trying to convince al Zarqawi that all of the divisions among the Sunnis are less important than kicking American and Jewish ass.
All-in-all the letter takes the tone of objectives that are positively medieval. But the argument is rooted in the modern world and is crystal clear.
Some may say that this is merely US propaganda. I don't know if that's the case. It's good propaganda, if nothing else. But as I understand, our intelligence services and military are precluded from releasing knowingly false information to Americans. If they want to lie, they release information to the British press, or have British intelligence/military release the information.
Comment