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US: Al Qaeda operative sought civil war in Iraq
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-02-10 08:57 An anti-American operative in Iraq appealed for
help from al-Qaeda leaders to help spark a sectarian war between Shiite and
Sunni Muslims in an effort to "tear the country apart," U.S. officials said
Monday.
The officials confirmed a report Monday in The New York Times about the
alleged plan, which was outlined in a 17-page letter that U.S. forces
confiscated from an al-Qaeda suspect in Iraq.
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| The US-led coalition believe Zarqawi, seen
here on a mugshot, wrote a memo that proposes that Al-Qaeda provoke a
Sunni-Shiite conflict to disrupt the planned handover to a transitional
government in Iraq. [AFP/File] | "We believe
the report and document are credible. We take the report seriously," Brig. Gen.
Mark Kimmitt, deputy chief of operations, told a news conference. He said the
letter would be made public later.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the letter was on a
computer disk found on Hassan Ghul, a senior al-Qaeda courier arrested last
month by Kurdish forces as he tried to enter the country from Iran.
The Times said its reporter viewed the Arabic document and a military
translation on Sunday. It said the document is the strongest evidence to date of
contacts between extremists in Iraq and al-Qaeda.
Kimmitt said the letter was believed written by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a
Jordanian who is suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda.
"We are persuaded that al-Zarqawi was the author of the letter. It is our
understanding that this letter was being taken out of the country for delivery
abroad," he said.
Coalition spokesman Dan Senor said the letter talks about "a strategy of
provoking violence, targeted at Shiites leaders that would result in reprisals
against other ethnic groups within the country."
The strategy is "focused on provoking ethnic sectarian warfare in this
country in the hope of tearing this country apart," Senor said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan, speaking aboard Air Force One, said
the United States would not be detered from its mission of establishing
democracy in Iraq.
"Iraq is the central front in the war on terrorism. There are foreign
terrorists who realize the stakes are high and they seek to do everything they
can to undermine the aspirations of the Iraqi people," he said. "But democracy
and freedom are taking root in Iraq and there's no turning back."
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the the letter was very revealing
because it shows that insurgents "haven't given up."
"They're trying to get more terrorists into Iraq and they're trying to create
more terrorist organizations to try to defeat our purposes," Powell said. "But
they will not succeed."
The Times report quoted unidentified U.S. officials as saying that American
forces arrested a man who had the document on a computer disc and was taking it
to Afghanistan to get it to al-Qaeda's senior leaders.
The author of the document claimed he had directed about 25 suicide bombings
inside Iraq, but said the resistance against the U.S. occupation was struggling
to recruit Iraqis and to combat American troops.
Senor said "it is clear that the type of techniques we have seen all these
have fingerprints of al-Qaeda and foreign fighters."
The letter expresses frustration over efforts to force the United States out
of Iraq and suggests that attacks on Shiites would prompt retaliation against
Sunnis and a cycle of widening violence, the newspaper said.
"It is the only way to prolong the duration of the fight between the infidels
and us," the letter says, according to the New York Times. "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, it said.
Kimmitt said the wording of the document reflects the author's desperation.
"In many ways this guy is disappointed at his lack of success ... What it
does show is that concerted efforts (on part of the Iraqi people and the
coalition) is the greatest power he is afraid of. It is almost a sign of
desperation," he said.
Senor said the author of the letter talks about "taking action and setting up
operations before the June 30 hand over" of power by the Americans to a
sovereign Iraqi government.
He said the letter also warns that "the biggest bulwark against the success
of this strategy would be the continued standing up of Iraqi security forces,
the continued American resolve and the hand over of sovereignty to an Iraqi
government."
"All three we are in the process of doing right now, he
said.
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