This Letter Proves Once Again how Iraq did support Terrorism, had ties with Al Qaeda & needed to be Taken Out

Al-Qaida No. 2: U.S.
‘ran’ from Vietnam

By Katherine Shrader
Associated Press

Al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader has told his top deputy in Iraq that the United States “ran and left” in Vietnam, and his fighters 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 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 might return home early next year. Yet skeptics have suggested such statements simply give the insurgents an idea how long they must wait for the Americans to leave.
In a wide-ranging letter, which spanned more than 12 pages in the English translation, al-Zawahri also recommends 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 writes.
The letter lays 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 writes, would be a clash with Israel, which he says was established to challenge “any new Islamic entity.”
The letter, dated July 9, was acquired during U.S. operations in Iraq. It was written in Arabic and translated by the U.S. government. Defense officials briefed reporters last week on portions of the document, but the full text was made available 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 operation would be compromised.
Rep. Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said his committee is reviewing the letter. He cautioned “against reading too much into a single source of intelligence.”
In his letter, al-Zawahri, a member of Islam’s Sunni sect, devotes significant attention to al-Zarqawi’s attempts to start a civil war with the rival Muslim Shiites, the majority in Iraq, which now dominates the new Iraqi government. Ultimately, al-Zawahri concludes 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 writes.
Al-Zawahri also is critical of the Taliban, which was overthrown in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, because he said they did not represent the Afghan people. He said students of the Taliban retreated to their tribes, where their affiliation was stronger.
“Even the devout ones took the stance of spectator,” al-Zawahri wrote.
Contrasting that, he sees fearlessness in battles waged in the Iraqi cities of Fallujah, Ramadi and Al Qaim.
At times, the letter gets personal. Al-Zawahri says 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 also died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
To this day, he wrote, he did not know the location of their graves.
The letter immediately transitions 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.