Sections of a seventeen page letter likely written by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an associate and collaborator of Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda lieutenants, have been published in the New York Times. Terrorist leader al-Zarqawi bemoans the lack of support in Iraq:
“Many Iraqis would honor you as a guest and give you refuge, for you are a Muslim brother,” according to the document. “However, they will not allow you to make their home a base for operations or a safe house.”
Other quotes show how he sees more difficulty in the future:
“The problem is you end up having an army and police connected by lineage, blood and appearance,” the document says. “When the Americans withdraw, and they have already started doing that, they get replaced by these agents who are intimately linked to the people of this region.”
“We can pack up and leave and look for another land, just like what has happened in so many lands of jihad. Our enemy is growing stronger day after day, and its intelligence information increases.”
“America, however, has no intention of leaving, no matter how many wounded nor how bloody it becomes.”
“By God, this is suffocation!”
More ominously, he talks of his desire to incite sectarian warfare. He would see tens of thousands of Iraqi’s die for his macabre politico-religious goals:
“So the solution, and only God knows, is that we need to bring the Shia into the battle,” the writer of the document said. “It is the only way to prolong the duration of the fight between the infidels and us. If we succeed in dragging them into a sectarian war, this will awaken the sleepy Sunnis who are fearful of destruction and death at the hands” of Shiites.
“You noble brothers, leaders of the jihad, we do not consider ourselves people who compete against you, nor would we ever aim to achieve glory for ourselves like you did,” the writer says. “So if you agree with it, and are convinced of the idea of killing the perverse sects, we stand ready as an army for you to work under your guidance and yield to your command.”
There is just too much of value in this story to convey without redoing the entire article. It is well worth the time to read the entire thing.
I have also intentionally left out a few very interesting admissions…
Just a quibble: that headline. Surely it’s freedom that’s suffocating them. We’re the ones who are suffering suffocation by (illiberal) democracy.
Just a quibble: that headline. Surely it’s freedom that’s suffocating them. We’re the ones who are suffering suffocation by (illiberal) democracy.
If you read the NYT articles you will see that Zawahiri feels that democracy is the enemy. It is he who is feeling suffocated by democracy. The title is a play on his own words.
I did. (And I’ve just re-read to make sure.) But I guess I didn’t get quite the same things from it you did.
Im with Guy on this one. Yes, throcratic power seekers and religious extremists will feel smothered by freedom and democracy, I jsut wish that is what we had for ourselves. And that I could be sure it was what we were giving them. I think it would be even more effective if it was.
Wouldnt that be nice?
First, what they have now is inconcievably better than they had a year ago.
Second, it is getting al Qaeda knickers in a twist, so it *must* be good.
Not as good as killing them, I agree, but still pleasureful.
However, just so this discussion can move on from utter trivialities to the astounding remarks in the letter, here is what the title came from:
“By God, this is suffocation!” the writer says.
“This is the democracy. We will have no pretexts.”
It may be a distressing surprise to the Islamists that the Iraqi people prefer freedom to their prescription. It shouldn’t be quite such a shock to us.
Yes, it’s amazing the cowards won’t leave, isn’t it?
Who would have thought?
Best news I’ve read all week.