scoone
02-11-2004, 02:19 PM
Wed February 11, 2004 01:13 PM ET
BAGHDAD (*******) - A letter purportedly written by a fugitive with alleged links to Osama bin Laden urges suicide bombings against Iraq's Shi'ite majority in a bid to spark civil war, according to a copy released by U.S. forces Wednesday.
The U.S. military said it had intercepted a computer disc bearing the letter, which it said was written by Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian al Qaeda suspect for whom they doubled a reward on offer to $10 million.
No independent verification of the letter's authenticity was available. U.S. military officials said Monday that the letter was seized last month from an al Qaeda courier.
The letter outlines a broad strategy for foreign fighters to infiltrate Iraq and attack U.S. forces, Iraqi police and security forces, minority Kurds and the Shi'ite Muslim majority.
The thrust of the strategy is to carry out attacks aimed at pitting Shi'ites against Iraq's Sunni Arab minority, who enjoyed much power under fellow Sunni Saddam Hussein and are the dominant Muslim sect across the rest of the Arab world.
"Fighting the Shia (Shi'ites) is the way to take the nation to battle," read the document, provided only in an English translation by the U.S. authorities in Baghdad.
"The Shia has taken on the dress of the army, police and the Iraqi security forces and have raised the banner of protecting the nation and its citizens," it said.
"As far as the Shia, we will undertake suicide operations and use car bombs to harm them."
In the past 24 hours, two suicide car bombings -- one at a police station and the other at an Iraqi army facility -- have killed about 100 Iraqis.
The U.S. military has said it is too early to link the attacks to the violent campaign described in Zarqawi's letter
http://www.*******.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4337029
BAGHDAD (*******) - A letter purportedly written by a fugitive with alleged links to Osama bin Laden urges suicide bombings against Iraq's Shi'ite majority in a bid to spark civil war, according to a copy released by U.S. forces Wednesday.
The U.S. military said it had intercepted a computer disc bearing the letter, which it said was written by Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian al Qaeda suspect for whom they doubled a reward on offer to $10 million.
No independent verification of the letter's authenticity was available. U.S. military officials said Monday that the letter was seized last month from an al Qaeda courier.
The letter outlines a broad strategy for foreign fighters to infiltrate Iraq and attack U.S. forces, Iraqi police and security forces, minority Kurds and the Shi'ite Muslim majority.
The thrust of the strategy is to carry out attacks aimed at pitting Shi'ites against Iraq's Sunni Arab minority, who enjoyed much power under fellow Sunni Saddam Hussein and are the dominant Muslim sect across the rest of the Arab world.
"Fighting the Shia (Shi'ites) is the way to take the nation to battle," read the document, provided only in an English translation by the U.S. authorities in Baghdad.
"The Shia has taken on the dress of the army, police and the Iraqi security forces and have raised the banner of protecting the nation and its citizens," it said.
"As far as the Shia, we will undertake suicide operations and use car bombs to harm them."
In the past 24 hours, two suicide car bombings -- one at a police station and the other at an Iraqi army facility -- have killed about 100 Iraqis.
The U.S. military has said it is too early to link the attacks to the violent campaign described in Zarqawi's letter
http://www.*******.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4337029